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Organic Gardening

I think I need a filter for my muni water

woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a

9 years ago

What's a good, economical hose filter for my crappy municipal water. I know the ph is way high(8.1), but it's all the other crap I'm sure that's in it that is probably, slowly but surely, deteriorating my soil food web as the season goes along.

Or would it just be cheaper to make up compost tea ever couple weeks to keep the microbes in the soil?

Where should I shop?

Kevin

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Comments (9)

glib
9 years ago
I think the best protection is lots of organic matter for chemical buffering. I have yet to water this year, but for sure my tap water is not great (pH=9.2). In my water, there re about 30,000 ppm of Ca, a larger amount of CaCO3, and 0.6 ppm of Cl. I have no doubt that it is the Ca, and not the Cl, that makes it worse.
planterjeff
9 years ago
So if you really want a filter in your hose, I do have a way. I have a drip hose that runs from my a/c condensation and do this for it. It gets out most heavy metals, chlorine and all that. Not going to do much for bacteria, but you really don't need to worry about that.
Buy a britta water bottle replacement filter. One like this: https://www.brita.com/products/replacement-filters/bottle-filters-2-pack/
They are long and skinny and about the exact width of a hose. put a rim of caulk around the filters top and shove it into the hose. The caulk will dry and form a seal so that all water must pass through your filter as it exits the hose. Just pull it out after about 3-6 months and replace as needed.
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I don't think your pH is at a critical stage but it can be adjusted. Can you explain PCM/5. Is this a device that monitors pH levels and adjusts chemical feeds or monitors flow rate (either flow or no flow), or actually gpm? Do you have water sent to other locations where chemical feed is not needed, say outside faucets, so that the chemical pump is not actuated when you are watering your garden? Let me see if I understand what was recommended. The Stenner pump injects a liquid solution, which is what: Sodium hydroxide? Do you have copper/galvanized plumbing? I suppose you have one-inch plumbing at the pressure tank to the house, right? Liquid pH adjustment chemicals are usually recommended for very acidic conditions, below 5.4 pH. By putting this chemical feed, you may very easily jump your water to base levels too high. I have seen water jump to 12-13 pH due to poor settings and monitoring. I don't recommend the Stenner pump, not because it is not a good piece of equipment--I like them very much--but because of the method of pH adjustment. At 6.7, I don't think there is a need to mix Calcite with corosex. Calcite (marble or lime chips) alone should be sufficient. Hardness is raised about 1-2 gpg for every 0.5 pH rise. The nice thing about this sacrificial media is that the pH will reach a certain level and go no further. At a pH of 6.7, the media will last a long time and the media volume or contact time does not need to be great. Now, your iron is well above the 0.2 ppm level, which becomes a nuisance leaving stains. A greensand filter works between pH levels of 6.2 and 8.8 or there abouts. Greensand filters will work but require a correct set up, regular maintenance and "adequate backwash rate". I don't particularly like them (they can be a mess) but they have been around a long time and many use them exclusively for iron removal. My recommendation would be an upflow Calcite filter and an efficient softener. Not sure why you don't want to go this way (water softener) as your water is hard and hard water results in many negative water condition aspects. A backwashing pH adjuster can also be used. Andy Christensen, CWS-II
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Sorry, I didn't see your comment until now - better 2 years late than never. My plumber installed an Aqua Pure filter about 20 years ago and I've never had a problem with it. If you haven't already installed something, try looking at their 102T or 141T models. There are other equally good brands though - my current water treatment company uses Big Blue. The most important thing is to choose the replacement cartridge that you want to use and then choose the appropriate assembly to go with it. Small carbon filters can be very slow (the first one I installed was 3 gpm), so you'll want a bigger one with a high flow rate if you're filtering the water for your entire house. I currently use an Aqua Pure AP817 filter which has a 10gpm flow rate. It works well, but it's pricey (about $32.50 through Amazon Subscribe & Save).
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grubby_AZ Tucson Z9
9 years ago
One problem with trying to filter water in a hose is the flow rate. You can certainly keep up with hose flow if you are using a particle filter, the pleated paper kind, but if you want to treat water, say with a carbon filter, you will have so little contact time that the only result will be a waste of pressure.
planterjeff
9 years ago
grubby_me, have you ever seen how a britta carbon filter works? There is not impeding of the water flow and the filtration is instant based on charged carbon ions. You would be correct if you were talking about block filters that require pressure, but the item i am mentioning is a loose carbon based filtration. These do significantly reduce chlorine and other chemicals.
glib
9 years ago
Of course, one is left with the problem of giving pressure to the water coming out of a Brita filter. Drip will not work, a soaker hose will not work, and a handheld hose will not work. Only flooding will work.
hilnaric
9 years ago
Try an RV filter that attaches to the end of the hose. They aren't that expensive, but they don't last very long if you go through a lot of gallons watering.
planterjeff
9 years ago
Ok one last try here: The brita filter i listed is not a drip, it is a full flow, no impeding. These are free flow driven and are instant filtration. Obviously previous posters do not know how a britta filter works and must not own one. They filter just as fast as you can pour water through them.

LAST TRY:

This filter will not slow your flow!
hilnaric
9 years ago
Neither will an RV filter, and for plants you don't want to filter out all the minerals that a Brita will remove.
art_1
9 years ago
I am not sure that it is worth it, unless you can tell that you need it or there is a great improvement somehow. Maybe the RV filter or something like that, but for the most part a filter that attaches to a hose may not filter very much that hasn't already been filtered out of drinking water. If you really wanted to you could get large containers like rain barrels and a filter system that fills the barrels, more slowly than a garden hose would.

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