distilled water...

[codemonkey]

I thought distilled water takes nutrients out since there are no nutrients in the water? Would this be a problem using it in my humidifiers, substrates, and whatever else pertaining to my grow?

Should not be a problem.

[anticheffy]

its good for humidifiers as it keeps the build up of minerals down

Other things? well, I dont use it, some others do

[codemonkey]

Originally Posted by anticheffy

its good for humidifiers as it keeps the build up of minerals down

Other things? well, I dont use it, some others do

Alright, what do you use?

Hrm... I just remembered I just installed a water softener the other day. I'll just use that water instead of investing in a bunch of distilled..

I use tap water for everything.

[codemonkey]

thanks for the responces :-)

[perrch01]

Originally Posted by dial8

I use tap water for everything.

Ditto

[anticheffy]

tap

[anticheffy]

soft water may contain salts that you dont want, so draw the water from a hose connection outside the house, they are usualy not connected to the softner

[morthos]

A method you don't want to use distilled water for would be a 12~24 hour dunk, as the osmosis principle will draw nutrients out of a cake; concentrations of matter balance themselves. I doubt this would be significant, but in principle your cake would lose some margin of producing ability.

A fart spreads through a small room until it all stinks, see?

You are well advised to use it for spore syringes, as I've heard spores can germinate in normal water.

[1984isnow]

I am wondering if distilled water
that could be bought in gallon form
is sterile, or if it should be sterilized
prior to use? It seems it would be
but a FOAF used spring water straight
from the bottle and had problems...
Anyone?

[the_chosen_one]

It may be but I never trust anything that says it's sterile or not..syringes..needles etc. I usually just fill a pint jar 2/3 full and use silicon sealant on 2 injection holes (1 for extracting the water..the other for venting) and PC for twenty minutes. Works great!

[Pixie Dust]

Thanks snow, I was going to use spring water straight from the jug... Last time, I just boiled tap water for a good half hour.. worked good for me..

[Sky Rayven]

Originally Posted by the_chosen_one

It may be but I never trust anything that says it's sterile or not..syringes..needles etc. I usually just fill a pint jar 2/3 full and use silicon sealant on 2 injection holes (1 for extracting the water..the other for venting) and PC for twenty minutes. Works great!

What do you mean one for venting? Do you have a syringe with out the plunger with polyfill in it instead and sticking out of one hole?

[the_chosen_one]

Sort of. I usually use a 16ga 1" long needle with the syringe end filled with pollyfill. This way it can fit into the PC. Also, I put the rubber side down on the lid so it creates a nice seal but a huge vacuum won't form during the cooling process. When I want to shake it up I just pull out the needle. There are several LC venting teks though. Lazlo made a real good one with the vanilla LC and Hip did the airport. Both in the archives..both great!

[arezap]

Distilled water is boiled and the steam is greater than the liquid water temp of 212F. The steam is collected and cooled in a heat exchange process, usually some kind of condenser, and bottled. I tend to believe that since the steam is at a higher temp than the boiling water it would kill off any contaminants and the distillation process seperates any particulate matter from the pure water.

[Odin 13]

Believe what you want, but this is a true experience: I once worked in the plastics industry selling the plastic gallon jugs for water to bottling/filling plants. One day in the deep south, I was visiting a very small plant which was having problems of some sort, the matter which is not relevant here. What IS relevant, however, is whenever the filler operator came across a dented jug, he would PUT IT UP TO HIS MOUTH & BLOW IN IT TO REMOVE THE DENTS! Poor old boy just didn't have a nickel worth of brains! So the next time you might think whatever is sterile in that jug, picture this TRUE story. Sterile my ass!

[~Hippie3]

proly fairly rare though, odin.
most are sterile enough until opened
my airport system is perfect for pulling sterile water right out of an unopened jug

[Pixie Dust]

Do you really need to go to that extreme to avoid contams? I mean boiled water wont work?

[~Hippie3]

did i say that ?
no.
boiled water too is sterile
assuming you boiled it long enough.
but
i personally do not consider sticking on a blob of silicon or filter tape
so one can draw up over 3700 cc of sterile water
anywhere anytime
to be 'extreme'.

so suit yourself,
boil water every time
or learn to use the airport system.

[Sky Rayven]

Hmm....It doesn't seem so extreme. looks really simple. less time spent. Stick this here, stick that there and kaboom, no mus no fus IMHO.

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by Odin 13

Believe what you want, but this is a true experience: I once worked in the plastics industry selling the plastic gallon jugs for water to bottling/filling plants. One day in the deep south, I was visiting a very small plant which was having problems of some sort, the matter which is not relevant here. What IS relevant, however, is whenever the filler operator came across a dented jug, he would PUT IT UP TO HIS MOUTH & BLOW IN IT TO REMOVE THE DENTS! Poor old boy just didn't have a nickel worth of brains! So the next time you might think whatever is sterile in that jug, picture this TRUE story. Sterile my ass!

I've had some troubles thoughout the years with syringes that were factory sealed and labelled sterile. One bout not all that long ago..some strange white shit. Out of all the distilled water I've found maybe a few gallons with bacteria. One not that long ago either and one could even see the bacteria under a microscope. These sorts of problems are rare but they do occur. I almost always sterilize just to be sure but I suppose one could go for years without and never have a problem.

[1984isnow]

Yeah Hippie that is exactly what was going to be done. The water jug already has blobs of RTV adhesive and the airport is ready to go. Just didn't want to screw a bunch of stuff up.

No fuss... that is what the goal is here.

Thanks for the input. So it is safe to say problems with contamants in bottled distilled water are rare.

[Pixie Dust]

Damn, I didnt even think of the possibility of unsterile needles.. Can the spore solution be contaminated (at manufactureurs fault)?

So how long must you boil water?

and I will use the airport system in next grow

[~Hippie3]

Originally Posted by 1984isnow

Yeah Hippie that is exactly what was going to be done. The water jug already has blobs of RTV adhesive and the airport is ready to go. Just didn't want to screw a bunch of stuff up.

No fuss... that is what the goal is here.

Thanks for the input. So it is safe to say problems with contamants in bottled distilled water are rare.

i recommend taping over the rtv adhesive blob just to make sure it doesn't accidently pop off as needles enter/exit, doesn't stick as well on plastic so tape is extra layer of security just in case

[~Hippie3]

a 20 minute boil should sterilize plain water well enough pixie.
and yes of course using unsterile syringes would contam the solution.

[Bobcat]

That airport system rocks....

So you are saying that distilled water is just good to go, just use an airport???

Thats a hell of an idea... I always just assumed the water was sterilized per the distillation process but that the jugs were filled in the open air.....

[~Hippie3]

if one had an ultraviolet sterilizer
one could make sure still without opening it...
but i've tested enough to be pretty confident that like 95% are sterile
if it's distilled,
don't try that on spring water or the cheap shit,
get pure steam distilled and you should be good

i suppose if one was careful
one could microwave them enough
to ensure full sterility
without melting the jug
but you'd need to zero in on the needed power/time duration
for your particular 'wave and brand of water.
submersing the jug in a hot water bath to heat it would also work,
it's essentially clean anyway
just worried about a few stray microbes
so pasteurization temps of about 160*F
would raise sterility from that 95% figure to more like 99.9%
but frankly i think such extremes are un-needed,
if you get a bad one i'd switch brands.

[iamsmiley]

i have injected distilled water out of jugs and had better than 90% colinize on mycobags i mixed to dry and i think distilled water is generally fine to use straight out of the bottle.I just stuck the syringe directly into the soft plastic cap without ever opening the bottle up to the air.I even use distilled water in perlite to prevent bacteria but i find salt in city tap water to work just as well

[Cryingblackoil]

They are all UV sterilized after being sealed so that they can be stored almost indefinitly (for example in a tornado shelter). Read the fine print on the label.


That being said still use the airport because the second you open it its no longer sterile :P

[the_chosen_one]

So the bacteria I saw were most likely dead.

[Bobcat]

95 -99% is just plain awesome. And the ease of use is unbeatable.

In stamets books he talks about always having 'blanks' for your various stages. That way if you get a contamed set of jars, you can look to the blanks to better determine which vector of contamination is in play. Well, if one was concerned their bottle falls in the 1 -5% of contamed bottles, and they are doing a big or important grow, that person could just use a blank a few days before to test it. Agar users would have even better results.

Brilliant idea, imo.

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by cortez

It is never completely steril, they never thaught that to you in science classes? But normally you shouldn't have probs I guess

So maybe they weren't dead...just suntanned

[~Hippie3]

Originally Posted by Cryingblackoil

They are all UV sterilized after being sealed so that they can be stored almost indefinitly (for example in a tornado shelter). Read the fine print on the label.


That being said still use the airport because the second you open it its no longer sterile :P

doesn't say anything about sterility on the label of the jug right beside me ATM

[Bobcat]

What does ATM mean?

[~Hippie3]

at the moment

[shadyfigure]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

proly fairly rare though, odin.
most are sterile enough until opened
my airport system is perfect for pulling sterile water right out of an unopened jug

wow, that's great i never thought of doing it like that. no more microwaving cups of tap water and burning my hands. hurray!

i'm with TCO
i always just PC a 1/2 pint of distilled water and use the airport tek..
it's just nice to know it's sterile and i normaly throw it in with the syringes or LC jars
LOST

[cap]

nice. i have some uv sterilization lights available to me...always wanted to build a UV sterilizing hood to keep in the glovebox but always too scared around the spores and whatnot.. i guess it could be designed to shield light on the sides but i havent put any thought into it hehe has anyone played around with these lamps before?

[Cryingblackoil]

Really, hip? What brand is it? Never seen that before but I'll definitly take your word for it. Ech, that would be an unpleasant surprise.

Easy fix there, look for one that does. The brand walmart carries is. As is the kroger brand. I forget what kroger is called up north though.

[~Hippie3]

brand = hyvee generic