On the pure water thread- we have awful water here in the desert,
and aside from zero-waste RO units, there's really not much you can do
that doesn't waste more water just to make it- or consume energy. A gallon
of distilled water runs you about $.24 in electrical cost. Pricey.

Given that the one thing the desert has is plenty of sun, I made
my own solar water still:

http://members.cox.net/ahicks51/osp/...lar_water.html

It's been in use for just about a year and a half now. Although
every now and again, I need to tweak it or flush it or whatever, it's on
full automatic 99.99% of the time, and feeds into a distilled water
reservoir.

This probably isn't a solution for many of you, but in relatively
warm, sunny climates where the water is pretty lousy, this works great.
Best of all, my trichocentrums love it!

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

The e-mail address in the header doesn't work. Sorry.