# Mistking help and advice



## default (May 28, 2011)

Anyone ever use a mistking before? Just got one from the reptile expo, but planning to use it to grow Anubias and mosses.
Main question, if I use tap water and I'm referring to something I've read, toronto tap is roughly 7-7.2 ph? How would I be able to clean the nozzle if any hard water builds up?
I don't even use r/o for my tanks, and don't want to distill water (so much work) so I don't want to install a r/o system for so much just for this purpose.
Any advice? Or even tips on how to demineralize water?
Thanks in advance.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

If hard water deposits accumulate (mainly due to calcium and magnesium), then an acidic bath (vinegar, lemon juice, etc) would work to clean it right up.

Alternatively, you can buy distilled water by the gallon as well.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> If hard water deposits accumulate (mainly due to calcium and magnesium), then an acidic bath (vinegar, lemon juice, etc) would work to clean it right up.
> 
> Alternatively, you can buy distilled water by the gallon as well.


yea i was leaning towards vinegar baths. wonder if i could run the pump with vinegar to throughly clean it. however how much do distilled water go for usually? and where to get? cause i know bigals sells the tubs of R/O water for like 14 bucks..


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

default said:


> yea i was leaning towards vinegar baths. wonder if i could run the pump with vinegar to throughly clean it. however how much do distilled water go for usually? and where to get? cause i know bigals sells the tubs of R/O water for like 14 bucks..


The outer parts could probably stand up to a vinegar bath, but the inner parts (motor, etc) might not stand up as well, so I would not recommend this.

As for distilled water, I am not sure of the price, but you can get it at grocery stores rather cheaply.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> The outer parts could probably stand up to a vinegar bath, but the inner parts (motor, etc) might not stand up as well, so I would not recommend this.
> 
> As for distilled water, I am not sure of the price, but you can get it at grocery stores rather cheaply.


grocery stores, great. i'll take a look. it'll cost me a lot in the long run though. might still use tap for a bit though...


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## vraev (Mar 29, 2012)

I have been using an ultimate mistking system for over 4 years now. I only had to replace the timer which failed. The pump is amazing quality and has for numerous times run dry and still keeps chugging along. I have exclusively used distilled water/RO water with the system. But the problem I would envision with buildup in the nozzles is...OPENING the nozzles. I haven't been able to open the nozzles up and replace the heads. I use the premium nozzles btw. they are fit very very tightly.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

vraev said:


> I have been using an ultimate mistking system for over 4 years now. I only had to replace the timer which failed. The pump is amazing quality and has for numerous times run dry and still keeps chugging along. I have exclusively used distilled water/RO water with the system. But the problem I would envision with buildup in the nozzles is...OPENING the nozzles. I haven't been able to open the nozzles up and replace the heads. I use the premium nozzles btw. they are fit very very tightly.


ugh, youre right, the nozzle dosent seem to open. you think CLR is fish safe?!


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I've used CLR to dissolve deposits on glass tanks and it rinses off nice and clean. No issues with any life in the tanks I've used it to clean with. I rinse repeatedly of course, better safe than sorry.

Distilled water goes for between 99 cents a gallon to about $1.29 a gallon in grocery stores. Places like No Frills are cheapest. Pharmacies charge over $2. a gallon for the same thing.

You can buy a home water distiller, if you want to. I got one because I use CPAP for sleep apnea and it uses distilled water to humidify the air stream and I got tired both of paying for it and lugging it home. I figured the machine would pay for itself in about two years at the rate I used it for the CPAP.. now I use it to top off the tanks, it will pay for itself much faster than that. It is a small model, makes one gallon in about 5 hours. I plug it in overnight. The water it produces is just barely warm, not hot. I paid a bit more for a glass jug and output nozzle, as I dislike plastic, but I put the finished water into the old gallon bottle from previously purchased distilled water. 
You pay for the power and water to run it, but you don't waste any water the way RO home systems do, which I think is fairly important. But I'm also not running large or many numbers of tanks, so I can manage with this small output of distilled water. I mainly use it for topups, to prevent the hardness from increasing over time between WCs.
The distiller comes with a jar of citric acid crystals, used to dissolve the accumulated hard water deposits left in the the distiller.. they'd work equally well for cleaning the nozzle on the mister, I would think. Can be bought at Bulk Barn pretty cheaply, much cheaper than CLR.. just mix with water. Rinses clean, no problem.


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