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Aquarium Tap Water Conditioner

11 years ago

Since my municipal water supply contains chloramines (instead of chlorine) setting it out over night to evaporate won't do any good. I've been using water filtered through my refrigerator but was wondering if anyone here uses aquarium conditioner to treat tap water for their house plants. Thanks.

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Comments (3)

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 years ago
Always used tap water - recently (2 weeks ago) installed a small RO water system that supplies up to 75 gallons of RO water per day with 0 DS (dissolved solids). It was $200 delivered and took 10 minutes to set up. First thing I did was get rid of the Brita filter - it makes great drinking water, too. Should have done it years ago. It's only been 2 weeks, so can't tell if it makes a difference. I'm guessing it would make a lot more difference for those forced to water in sips to avoid root issues.

Sorry - can't help with the chemical conditioner.

Al
larry_b
11 years ago
Hi Ultra_violet,

I have been seriously considering the same thing. I have chloramines in my tap water also. As you know chloramines do not dissipate and stay around for a long time. I am starting to wonder whether that's good for the plants in the long run.

I would also be curious if anybody else has tried this.

Have you asked this question over on the African violet forum?

Larry

PS: I would only use the the de-clorinater. I would not use the conditioner that adds slime to the water.

This post was edited by larry_b on Mon, Apr 15, 13 at 15:28
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ultra_violet
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks to everyone for their comments.

@Al: I'm seriously considering installing an under-sink RO unit--my tap water has a ton of dissolved solids in addition to chloramine. I'm very interested in hearing updates on how your plants respond to the RO water.

@Larry: My house plants, especially those with pointy foliage, like my spider plants, have tips that are browning just fast enough to raise my suspicions. I really think it has something to do with chloramines in my tap water. My African violets have some brown edges but it may be b/c of something else. But I'll repost this question over on that forum.

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