Is Distilled Water Bad to Use for Watering Your Plants?

Alexander Supertramp said:
Its about the number of electrons each water molecule has.And distilled water molecules generally lack one dut to the distillation process.
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Water always has the same amount of protons as it has electrons, or it would ionic.

You actually can't have ions in nature that aren't paired with other ions of opposite charge , and water is not ionic anyway. If water had charge, it would zap you.
 
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Distilled water is fine as long as you have good nutes and micros to put in the water.
Check out my grow in my sig,It was done using only distilled water with nutes and 250 watt hps.
 
Hydrogen atoms and Hydrogen radicals vary greatly between rainwater, R/O water and distilled water. Just like rainwater can vary greatly between different geographical areas. Not all water is the same...
 
You are parsing unnecessary information and concluding incorrectly. These ions are fleeting, since the world is full of complementary ions to neutralize the charge.

Clearly people here (myself included) have grown soil with straight RO for generations. There is no liability with a natural soil. Chem hydro or bottle-feeding a soil-like medium might be a different matter.
 
Alexander Supertramp said:
Hydrogen atoms and Hydrogen radicals vary greatly between rainwater, R/O water and distilled water. Just like rainwater can vary greatly between different geographical areas. Not all water is the same...
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Are you talking about the "two rare isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen?" That's the only thing I can find that explains how 1 hydrogen atom and 2 oxygen could be "different" by geographic location.

In a laboratory I can see how that distinction would be important. But, they would exist with RO as well as distilled water. (They're in the tap water too from which both distilled and RO come from.). When we add 800ppm of minerals to pure (0-20ppm) water, it seems like those rare isotopes would be far overshadowed by the ions and isotopes of that stuff existing with a frequency.

But, your point is that it only exists in distilled water. How does distillation create those rare isotopes? (Or, if you're not talking about those, then what specifically are you talking about at that atomic level?).
 
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You hear the same filtration argument from companies that sell filters. Their filters generally don't remove everything, so they tell you you don't want everything removed. lol They'll tell you that you must drink ions or you will leech yourself dead.

There are so many free ions in our food that the RO water doesn't affect Jack. I use RO water daily to make coffee and cook with.
 
schuylaar said:
when you distill the water you are removing vital nutrients for your plant..imho, that's the worst water.

i use tap, straight up and my weed smokes fine.
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RO filtering does the same thing, right?

That's what I'm trying to understand. Distilled is depicted as being different somehow. But, so far I don't understand how. RO water filters away vital nutrients. Maybe not as well as distillation. Distilled might get down to 2-5ppm where RO gets down to 10-20. But, either require supplementation.
 
bottom line is, any water will work, if you use r/o or distilled, you need to make sure your nutes have enough micros to replace what was removed, or you add it back in.
Now, buying distilled instead of making your own R/O. not on the top of my list.
 
az2000 said:
RO filtering does the same thing, right?

That's what I'm trying to understand. Distilled is depicted as being different somehow. But, so far I don't understand how. RO water filters away vital nutrients. Maybe not as well as distillation. Distilled might get down to 2-5ppm where RO gets down to 10-20. But, either require supplementation.
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My RO comes out @ 3......from 450.
 
Gaberlunzie said:
My RO comes out @ 3......from 450.
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RO is expected to be less pure than distilled due to the fact that the filtering membrane degrades over time. It may start at 3 (I'm not even sure this can be measured with a ppm meter. We're probably talking about deviations in a meter's accuracy when we get down to the 0-20 range.). It will rise to 30 or higher (depending on whether the consumer is watching it closely, at what level they decide to replace their membrane.).

My example was just to acknowledge difference between the two. But, as you point out, it can be slight. (My point is that it's not always a slight difference.).
 
churchhaze said:
Water always has the same amount of protons as it has electrons, or it would ionic.

You actually can't have ions in nature that aren't paired with other ions of opposite charge , and water is not ionic anyway. If water had charge, it would zap you.
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have you seen the thread in tech and science on: water speaks?
 
It does not matter. Not interested in looking at threads with more dis-information. The science is simple and well understood, and there will always be dozens of threads that promote "urban legend science"
 
az2000 said:
Or, just add a pinch of sugar to encourage bacterial growth which will exhaust the slight disinfectant in the tap water. Tap water comes from a closed system. The amount of chlorine/chloramine is small because the system isn't expected to be unsanitary. It doesn't take much to exhaust that capacity to disinfect.
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That's really interesting and all but first off, do you know how long exactly, this would take?

Secondly have you you yourself actually done this?

Filtering it, for me is way quicker and a sure thing...

I don't have the time or space to have a bunch of jugs/buckets sitting out for hours/days waiting for a reaction that may or may not be happening, and myself and most people don"t have anyway of measuring whether it's actually worked or not...

But what do I know I'm
 
az2000 said:
RO filtering does the same thing, right?

That's what I'm trying to understand. Distilled is depicted as being different somehow. But, so far I don't understand how. RO water filters away vital nutrients. Maybe not as well as distillation. Distilled might get down to 2-5ppm where RO gets down to 10-20. But, either require supplementation.
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why are you worried about PPM's?

distilled is through steam extraction..RO is through filters.

i can tell you are new..don't spend any money on your plants other than the basics..order online after thorough research what will work with your current set-up; stay away from hydro.

everyone in this biz and their brother wants to sell you something to make your plants better..guess what? the plants have been growing on this earth since time began (7,000 years ago for some):mrgreen:

NEWBS:
~if you're not gonna invest $150 on a carbscrub, don't grow.
~on nutes: less = more.
~on when will my grow be done?: a watched pot doesn't boil.
~recommended for professional results inexpensively: GH Floraduo A/B..you need nothing else.
~increase yield easily, like a pro..just bend over cola in mid veg while she's thirty and pliable affix with soil staple (home depot) or zip tie.
~guide used for my first grow: google>cannabis dummies+guide+v4.pdf
 
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