# Will tap water (or any non-RO, non-demineralized water) really clog MistKing nozzles?



## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

I had been hoping just to fill my reservoir with tap water and apply the appropriate dosage of Seachem Prime to eliminate the chloramine that's evidently in it.

The MistKing instruction manual, however, said never to use anything except RO water or water demineralized through whatever means.

I'm wondering: is this just manufacturers being hyper-cautious? Or is it realistic or likely that a few years of mineral-laden water flow will mess up the ultra-fine MistKing nozzles?

I already returned my RO system from Amazon like a week or two ago, believing I wouldn't need it, but that was before I realized I ought to get a MistKing system. Now, I'm not certain. (Also, I'm uncertain how to fill a reservoir with this strange RO system, but I may be able to figure that out on the fly.)

Are any users here with experience able to help?


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

from experience I will tell you that tap water WILL clog the nozzles. Even if you run that water through like, your fridge's carbon filtration system lol.


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

Okay. I guess I'll order an RO system, then.

I still don't really understand, though, how it fills a reservoir. My only mental picture of it is as an addition to a water source, like a faucet, that just changes the faucet system into pouring RO water, instead of tap water. But I'm told that that's not how it works. I don't understand how it gets water but does not dispense it from an already-established water route like an indoor water faucet or an outdoor hose.

*EDIT*: I looked at some pictures and I _think _I got the gist of it. Basically, in places where the faucet line forks, you can use one of those heads to go through the RO system, which then deposits water into something, like a bucket or a box.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Kinstrome,

You can configure r/o systems in a few ways. Some people want _all_ their water filtered so they will put an R/O system inline with their kitchen faucet so that the faucet output is actually coming from a pressurized reservoir of r/o water.

For me, my tap water is entirely fine for household use so I only need r/o for misting. I have an r/o system that branches from the cold water line to my washing machine and fills a non-pressurized reservoir (basically a garbage bin) in the basement. I prevent overflow of the reservoir by using a solenoid attached to a water level detector - when the level is reached the solenoid shuts off the water entering the r/o system.

I tried using a float valve with an auto-shutoff system on my r/o but my water supply has air bubbles that were preventing the valve from closing properly so I had to upgrade to a solenoid.


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

> I have an r/o system that branches from the cold water line to my washing machine and fills a non-pressurized reservoir (basically a garbage bin) in the basement. I prevent overflow of the reservoir by using a solenoid attached to a water level detector - when the level is reached the solenoid shuts off the water entering the r/o system.


I think I understand, except for part of this. For the water supply to be cut off by a solenoid (based on my feeble understanding of solenoids), the water flow has to be dependent on an electrical signal. But the determinant for whether or not water is flowing, at least the one that's nearby, is usually the valve in the faucet, isn't it? I don't see any other nearby source of electricity that I could use a solenoid with.

But I also have this strange tub that drains water from the washing machine without otherwise ever being used, so that I could just put the bucket in that tub and it wouldn't matter if it had to overflow. Or I could just do it outside with a hose faucet, and the gutter would take care of the overflow if I happen ed to forget about it overnight.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Kinstrome said:


> I think I understand, except for part of this. For the water supply to be cut off by a solenoid (based on my feeble understanding of solenoids), the water flow has to be dependent on an electrical signal. But the determinant for whether or not water is flowing, at least the one that's nearby, is usually the valve in the faucet, isn't it? I don't see any other nearby source of electricity that I could use a solenoid with.


Most folks are able to use a float with a shut-off valve, so likely you wouldn't need a solenoid.

If you did need to use a solenoid, then you would have to run power to it from an outlet, possibly using an extension cord.

Note that you can install an RO unit anywhere you have a pressurized water supply that you can tap into, and a place to drain the waste water.

Re: the faucet -- you could (I did for years, and only flooded my kitchen once) simply get a faucet attachment, whereby you attach the RO feed directly to the spout of your kitchen faucet; when you want to make RO, you turn the faucet on, and when you have made all the RO you want into whatever bucket you're using you turn the faucet off and remove the RO feed line. Inelegant, but simple.


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## Captain Awesome (Jan 13, 2018)

I used a mistking for years with tap water and never had a clogged nozzle. Twice a day for 1 minute. I think it depends on your tap water. I wasn’t concerned about water chemistry because this wasn’t for frogs. It did slowly build up a haze on glass from minerals where the water evaporated but that wiped clean easy enough.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

If you live in an area with very hard water (high dissolved minerals) your nozzles will clog quickly. If your water source is groundwater (whether your own well or a municipal well), you will likely have issues with nozzle clogging.

If you live in an area that has very soft water, you can get away without r/o water: Orchid growers in the SF Bay Area - mostly Sierra snowmelt - sourced water don't need r/o for instance.

Apart from nozzle clog, however, salt buildup can be an issue for plants and mosses over time. So even though I live in the Bay Area, I still use r/o - and get a very good purified to waste water ratio.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

@Kinstrome,

Rainwater is another option - one suited to your climate even.


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## rmingers (Apr 25, 2019)

You can buy R/O water for a buck a gallon if you don't need tons of it. Water sold as distilled is sometimes distilled via R/O, you just need to read the label. Since R/O systems are a bit pricey, and require some space, this may be a better option if you only have 1 vivarium. I personally wouldn't use rainwater as creating an appropriately sterile, sealed collection unit would probably cost as much as a small R/O system.


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

Thanks for the responses.



> @Kinstrome,
> 
> Rainwater is another option - one suited to your climate even.


Is there a particular place you are finding this info? The only reports I can find about Louisiana's rain's pH level are from decades ago, and they say it's something like 4.9-5.1. Is that okay for most plants? I had assumed it was more like 5.5-7.0.



> You can buy R/O water for a buck a gallon if you don't need tons of it. Water sold as distilled is sometimes distilled via R/O, you just need to read the label. Since R/O systems are a bit pricey, and require some space, this may be a better option if you only have 1 vivarium. I personally wouldn't use rainwater as creating an appropriately sterile, sealed collection unit would probably cost as much as a small R/O system.


I only have a few terrariums, but two of them are very spacious, with one so large that the cost of $1 per gallon is likely to build up very quickly.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Still no love for the distiller! I love mine and it's cheaper, at least in initial cost, than an RO unit. It's another option, anyway. I use about a gallon of water a day. Not sure about rainwater; it can intercept some really nasty stuff in the atmosphere on the way down. 

Also, I think Captain Awesome has been lucky (and that's great!). His tap water must be incredibly soft. My tap water is very soft and I still get clogging in my shower heads that have MUCH larger apertures for the water let alone misting nozzles. Over long enough time, you can almost guarantee your mist heads will clog when using most kinds of tap water. Glad you have had that experience, Captain Awesome, and I don't doubt that it has worked for you, but I don't think it is especially generalizable to everybody's situation. Most city water supplies are pretty mineral-laden and it's the Ca (and Mg and...I can't remember) that causes most of the scale build-up. The test I always use is how difficult it is to get the soap off my body in the shower. If it comes right off without having to run a bunch of water over it, you probably have harder water.

Mark


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

Is anyone able to determine the pH of a particular area's water, or know of a reliable database on current rain pH levels? I don't know if the info I got saying it's something like 4.9 - 5.1 will be wrong, as it's pretty old.

Supposing the pH is still 4.9 - 5.1, in this present year of 2019, is that bad for plants if it's outside the normal range? If it is, do the benefits of rain water still make it desirable? (I had heard from one book that rain water's nitrogen concentration is invaluable to terrarium plants.)

*EDIT*: I know the obvious solution is "just wait for some rainfall and test it with a pH meter," but it looks like the rain barrel I'm considering buying will take some time to get here, and I want to be ready to roll with a rain-catching barrel by the next time rain comes. If possible, I'd like to figure out whether I ought to get a barrel or an RO system sooner rather than later.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Kinstrome said:


> Supposing the pH is still 4.9 - 5.1, in this present year of 2019, is that bad for plants if it's outside the normal range? If it is, do the benefits of rain water still make it desirable? (I had heard from one book that rain water's nitrogen concentration is invaluable to terrarium plants.)


Next time it rains, check the plants outside your house. They're drinking that rainwater.  I think you're way overthinking this. Besides, the pH of water with no buffering hardness in it is radically variable; the pH changes wildly when that water mixes with soil, or with whatever is on the surface of a plant leaf. 

Tap water is typically much higher in nitrate than rainwater. Even if in your area this is not the case, N is very easy to add to water for plants. 

*Added:* very early in the spring here in Wisconsin, we had rain. After everything dried, there was a thick layer of dirt on everything -- cars, house windows; I scrubbed our deck because it wouldn't rinse off. Turns out, the news reported that dust from the SW US (2000 miles from here) got up in the weather system. Who knows what else gets up there? (answer: no one, likely.)

Link to a similar case: https://weather.com/news/news/2018-07-01-saharan-dust-texas-houston-saturday

The quality of rain is always variable and largely unknown. The quality of water from a well-maintained RO system is always known: it is water, period. If you're going to be concerned about small variances in pH, or in trace amounts of N, the RO system will help you sleep at night. Mine does.


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

Man, how do the authors of these terrarium / vivarium books make it, when people are giving out better info on the internet for free? I don't know if I learned one good thing from terrarium-related books.

Anyway, as far as water-collection methods, I'll just pick one or the other. I mean, I've been using mere city water for ages, and as far as I know it hasn't been the reason any of my plants died... I assume RO water (with Seachem Prime) or not-especially-acidic rain are both purely upgrades from city water. So I can't go wrong, whichever I choose.

One reason I'm acting so eager for information is that I have some rather expensive plants, and I'll probably continue to buy rather expensive plants, and it's good to know from the get-go what is the best water. I mean, suppose someone had a $5,000 sixty-year-old bonsai'd tree. He'd probably be testing his water every day for everything. (I do not have anything near that expensive, but I do have bonsai and some of the more expensive GlassBoxTropicals plants.)

*EDIT*: Okay, saw the edit. Will take that into consideration.


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