Pat Brennan wrote:
I do not think there is a filter that will help much. Filters remove
suspended solids while it sounds like you have dissolved mineral problems.
Water softeners will be little help because they simply replace the calcium
and magnesium with other salts. Regular rising of the plants with some sort
of acid bath (I have used citric) will help reduce the residue buildup, but
spraying your plants with acid water has it own problems. The best approach
I have found is to get better water for the Jaybird. RO is great for this
but requires a fair sized cash outlay and has maintenance issues as well.
Other options include collecting rainwater for the Jaybird or buying water.
I can buy a truckload of pretty clean water (1600 gallons I think) for less
than $25. Both the rainwater or bought water will require storage, a
pressure tank, and a pump. (A RO system will also require these three
things as well).
I agree. Rainwater is pretty easy to collect. You don't necessarily
need a pressure tank though. I pump water out of my big tanks (1000
gallon, but you probably don't need _that_ much humidity...) with a sump
pump and a hose. You can get big stock tanks at the farm supply store,
or just use a 50 gallon trash can (10 bucks or so).
The pump I bought at one of those big box stores.I got the biggest one
I could afford that had a hose fitting built in (go for convenience!).
Maybe 80 dollars. It is pretty powerful. I have a hundred foot hose,
and I have to restrict the flow at the end to keep from blowing the
plants off the benches. For the Jaybird I might go with a smaller (and
not coincidentally much cheaper) pump.
Now, I haven't tried to hook this up to a humidifier, but I suspect
what I would do is put the pump and the humidifier on the same
electrified humidistat. When the humidifier kicks on so does the pump.
Rob
--
Rob's Rules:
http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit
LittlefrogFarm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )