new member looking for advise on misting system - Page 2 - Orchid Board

Ross · #11 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 08:03 PM

Couple points - you claim water is soft, but levels of carbonates I see will clog the mister nozzles shortly. Second, chloromines cannot be removed by chemical admixtures. This is done by municipalities to assure safe levels of chlorine after long periods of time. Thus setting the water overnight, etc. will NOT remove them. If this were my setup, I'd buy bottled distilled water to use in misting or install an RO unit. Just my opinion.

aquanut415 · #12 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 09:38 PM

so you are saying with carbonates in the water the nozzles will clog eventually, slowly in water with low KH and TDS, and faster with water of higher KH and TDS. so you say to avoid the clogging all together use RO water??
and what does chlroamine have to do with anything? are you saying its bad for plants, or the nozzles?

Ross · #13 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanut415

so you are saying with carbonates in the water the nozzles will clog eventually, slowly in water with low KH and TDS, and faster with water of higher KH and TDS. so you say to avoid the clogging all together use RO water??
and what does chlroamine have to do with anything? are you saying its bad for plants, or the nozzles?

OK, a lesson. First of all pure water means water with NO additives. No carbonates or hardening minerals, no chloromimes, no nothing. Pure and simple H2O, that's it! With this you will get no buildups on the nozzles or glass. No deposits of any sort.

Now second, if you add anything - fertilizer, minerals, chloromimes, etc. then you will get not only buildups on the nozzle ports, but the glass as well. Spotting on the glass is usually a result of this.

Third, to soften water, utility departments add stuff to replace the natural calcium and carbonates with sodium or something else. This is bad (in our case here.)

Forth, chloromimes are added to kill bacteria but unlike free chlorine, chloromimes stick aroun d to do their job much later. Chlorine is bad for plants, especially orchids.

Trust me, if you want to do this right buy distilled water or invest in a RO unit.

aquanut415 · #14 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 10:02 PM

but this all relates to nozzle maintenance... correct?

Ross · #15 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 10:11 PM

Nope! Well, not directly. We assume here you want maintenance free (or low maintenance) or why wouldn't you just spray the plants with a 25 cent sprayer?

aquanut415 · #16 (**permalink**) 05-09-2007, 10:26 PM

aquanut415 · #17 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 01:35 AM

wow.. terribly sorry to disturb you....

Restrepia · #18 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 01:17 PM

aquanut415,

You would be best to use RO water not only for ease of maintenance with regards to your spray system and growing case but for the general well being of your plants.

I only use RO water as Pleurothallids can be really fussy when it comes to quality of water.

I do not have an RO unit however I purchase my RO water from a local aquatics store who stock marine fish. A lot of people do this in England; you may want to check whether your local aquatic store does the same.

aquanut415 · #19 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 01:59 PM

thanks for a response without the attitude Restrepia... now i see what was trying to be explained so poorly earlier...

my local fish shop (LFS) does indeed carry RO water, and a friend of mine just bought a unit for his new saltwater setup and was asking if i could use any cause he was making more than he needed... so i guess im gonna take the plunge and go ahead with the mistking unit and an external reservoir with RO water...

thanks again!

Marty · #20 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Nope! Well, not directly. We assume here you want maintenance free (or low maintenance) or why wouldn't you just spray the plants with a 25 cent sprayer?

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanut415

wow.. terribly sorry to disturb you....

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanut415

thanks for a response without the attitude Restrepia...

Aqua, just my two cents. Ross didn't come across with an attitude. Once you use a misting system for a while, you'll understand that passing any other water then RO or distilled will cause mineral build-ups in the nozzles, which will translate to additional maintenance.

The orfaces in the nozzles are incredibly small and these nozzles actually atomize the water into super fine mist.

These aren't the home depot style misters with large openings which are designed for 'misting' with tap water. Ross was saying 'maintenance free' not in a sense that you're lazy and don't feel like doing maintenance, but in a sense that when you invest in a misting system, it is to improve your husbandry and also to reduce the amount of manual work that you do around your tank.

When you use regular (tap) water for a long period of time, you'll notice sputtering, prematurely clogging nozzles and waterspots on the glass, which will add to your maintenance. If you use RO or Distilled, your misting system and to some extend your vivarium will become maintenance free - your nozzles will never clog and spray pattern won't change for the worse, and above all no water spots on the glass. Which is like a little miracle, glass gets wet, dries and it's perfectly clear. Hope that clears it up. Ross knows his stuff on the orchid front, vivarium and misting system front and he's not typically one to have an attitude (at least as far as I know

), so I think you've misunderstood his post. Just wanted to chime in as I saw this post started rolling down hill. Hope that helps and clears any black mist in the air.

btw, If you're not sure if you will like my misting system. Get whatever misting system you want and if you're not happy with it after few weeks of running it, I'll give you a full refund including the shipping.