Monolithic Filters - Amazing Idea or Massive Flop??

[MrsBrooke]

We have an idea, and we want you to copy us.

Monolithic Filters (http://www.monolithic.org/water-filters) makes a gravity-fed, ceramic filter that costs ~$35. You can set it up on a five-gallon bucket or a fifty-gallon drum! It filters any kind of water you can throw at it, and gets rid of almost every bacteria and virus known to man!

MrBrooke and I started looking at this and wondering if we could turn this into a chicken watering system with poultry nipples... With a little finagling, you totally could, especially with the 5gal bucket. The filters last a year, and they're extremely economical! I imagine with a little work this could also be used for other flock/herd/garden management.

Do you think this is a viable idea? Do you think this is loony? Have you tried this and it failed miserably? Or was it a rousing success? Are you going to rush out and buy 10 of them today??

I want to know your mind fully!

MrsB

 

[pdirt]

This comes from a person who has filter his home drinking water for many years.

If you're filtering tap or well water for your chickens, I mostly think this is a waste of time and money. The mostly part is if your water supply has a LOT of chlorine in it. We had chlorinated water in the city but it wasn't that bad, though we still filtered it. And for chickens, that chlorine will off-gas in less than 24 hours, unless it is chloramine rather than chlorine. If you're filtering roof water run-off, I think it might be worthwhile, but many folks would not.

Have you seen the muddy and poopy water puddles on the ground that chickens will drink out of when they have a chance?

But that's me and you asked for opinions. I'm sure you'll get a lot of them!

I'm curious, why do YOU want to filter your chicken's water? What gets you so excited about it?

 

[MrsBrooke]

Well, if I'm concerned about fluoride and chlorine in MY water, I'm not too keen on forcing my chickens to drink it. Our tap smells like a public pool when you get a glass. :/ We drink bottled spring water if we can help it... and sometimes even boil it before drinking, if I'm feeling particularly froggy. Yes, we're *those* kinds of people. Haha.

The other use was for watering the garden, to remove heavy metals and other nasties from getting into my future plant babies.

This is all somewhat in the planning phase. We are taking small steps to become self-sufficient... Building one of these things into a rain-catch system seems like the way to go... But employing this in a bucket form for chicken watering or goats (as we would drink the milk and eat the meat), seems as close to nature-fresh water as one can get (<- which is the way Hubby and I try and live our lives as well).

Thanks for your opinion! All are valued.

MrsB

 

[pdirt]

If your water is from a municipal water supply, call and ask them if they filter or use UV light to screen out viruses and bacteria. Meaning do they treat beyond chlorine. They probably do. If that is the case, you could do just fine with a VERY high quality $30 solid carbon block filter that will last you longer than a year and filters out a lot of other toxins.

Most municipal water supplies are actually very clean and good for drinking, because they are regularly tested. You can get the test results if you call them. What people (including me) think of it being "dirty" is yes, the chlorine and fluoride they put in there.

I wasn't suggesting you feed your animals chlorine to your water, I was only suggesting you can do it easily without a filter. If you do want to filter it, I'd suggest using some sort of the pre-filter to extend the life of your expensive filter.

If you want to remove fluoride from your water, it's not so easy. I researched this for over a year. It became a moot point because we moved to a place where we have a well. The bottom line is it takes 3-4 separate filters made from bone char (cow bones made into charcoal), which need to be replaced 2-3 times a year (I think the cost was $20 per filter, total cost of $160-$240 per year). Bone char seemed to be to the only cost effective solution. Activated Alumina is heavily marketed as being able to remove fluoride, which is does, but it only does it well for about 30 days. Note that the Bone Char will also remove chlorine, if present in the water, though I am not sure if that reduces it's effectiveness removing fluoride or not (or vice versa).

I looked at the website of the Monolithic Filters. Looks sketchy...here's why. 1) They don't even make them, just market them. 2) They won't tell you what they are made of (or if they do, I can't find it), they just tell you what they are good at removing. And advertising that they last year is unlikely. What's sketchy is this reeks of marketing hype. Perhaps they're good filters, but I doubt their claims and motivations. All the reputable filter makers out there I know tell you EXACTLY what the filter is made of and how long to expect the filter to last (I've never seen "1 year" for a 0.5 micron filter). This filter also doesn't remove mercury, which is the top heavy metal on my list to remove.

Multipure is a famous multi-stage filter. It's very good at what it does and some swear by it, but it too is, due to being so well advertised and marketed, is 2-3 times the price to a system that will filter as well if not better.

All this still doesn't get around the fact that your chickens will be drinking heavy-metal laden, bacteria and virus laden and who knows what else laden water from the ground. They might get the ultra-pure water you provide them, but they are still going to be drinking some nasty water off the ground. Some birds seem to prefer it!

 

[pdirt]

Sorry, I came of a bit harsh there, I just don't like hype-y companies! I think this sounds a like a great system for a home, but it's application for chickens, I think it would clog very easily.

There is a very good PDF book on rain catchment systems someone just sent to me, let me know if you're interested and I'll send it to you.

 

[RonP]

Chickens will eat almost anything, including their environment.

I would think they would find much more harmful items in their environment than a municipal water source.

Gotta love them for it.

Miniature composting bins

 

[aart]

Sorry, I came of a bit harsh there, I just don't like hype-y companies! I think this sounds a like a great system for a home, but it's application for chickens, I think it would clog very easily.

There is a very good PDF book on rain catchment systems someone just sent to me, let me know if you're interested and I'll send it to you.

I don't think you sounded too harsh, but I have thick skin and LIKE well researched facts....and also DISLIKE marketing pushes.
I've done a bit of research on filtering water and I think you brought up some very good points.

One thing about water filtration is you need good testing to know what you need to filter out......
.....and good objective testing is hard to find and expensive to boot, don't let the sales people give you 'free' water test ;-)
Municipalities have the resources(our taxes) to do that extensive testing.

 

[pdirt]

Quote:
Good point. We had our well water tested when we first moved into the new place. A guy I trust recommended this place: http://www.watercheck.com/

They've been around a long time and I trust they had nothing to gain by giving us false results. We opted for the full test, which also tests for many pesticides/herbicides. You have to send it OVERNIGHT, which cost about $75. Price of the tests and shipping came out to about $270!

But it was worth it, because we found out just how clean our water is and it gave us great peace of mind.

What I might do in the future is have the county health department test for bacteria and have somewhere else test for everything else, to avoid the cost of overnight shipping of a large package.

To @MrsBrooke , I like your idea if the purpose is to filter out things like fluoride. But I don't think it's the right filter for the job. The filter you have will be good at filtering out bacteria long term and chlorine short term. Filtering out bacteria is pointless with chickens because THEY EAT POOP! This is the filter I researched and decided was the best one I could find: http://www.promolife.com/cart/water...oride-removal-filters/four-stage-undercounter (it also removes chlorine and a host of other toxins). I don't recall exactly, but I think the filters will last you about a year and will do a very good job of removing fluoride. Note they offer a money-back guarantee that it will remove 99% of fluoride in water that tests as containing 2ppm or less of fluoride. Your municipal water test should tell you how much ppm of fluoride is typically in your water. A money back guarantee is pretty confident, not many filter companies offer that! Note that I have found filters that offer far less in function yet at 2-3x the price...because of their marketing.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Sorry, I came of a bit harsh there, I just don't like hype-y companies! I think this sounds a like a great system for a home, but it's application for chickens, I think it would clog very easily.

There is a very good PDF book on rain catchment systems someone just sent to me, let me know if you're interested and I'll send it to you.

How dare you answer me in a straight-forward and honest manner like I wanted you to!

I appreciate your answer! I also looked a little deeper into the company, and they appear to be more reputable than they seem at first-blush. The filters are used by Christian ministries to install in homes in third-world countries and all that - take that for what you will. They are also pretty comprehensive at what they remove... I don't have the figures in front of me, but I did look and do some third-party reading.

In the meantime, the search will continue for the perfect chicken water filter thing.

Thank you for your input! <3

MrsB

 

[MrsBrooke]

Good point. We had our well water tested when we first moved into the new place. A guy I trust recommended this place: http://www.watercheck.com/

They've been around a long time and I trust they had nothing to gain by giving us false results. We opted for the full test, which also tests for many pesticides/herbicides. You have to send it OVERNIGHT, which cost about $75. Price of the tests and shipping came out to about $270!

But it was worth it, because we found out just how clean our water is and it gave us great peace of mind.

What I might do in the future is have the county health department test for bacteria and have somewhere else test for everything else, to avoid the cost of overnight shipping of a large package.

To @MrsBrooke , I like your idea if the purpose is to filter out things like fluoride. But I don't think it's the right filter for the job. The filter you have will be good at filtering out bacteria long term and chlorine short term. Filtering out bacteria is pointless with chickens because THEY EAT POOP! This is the filter I researched and decided was the best one I could find: http://www.promolife.com/cart/water...oride-removal-filters/four-stage-undercounter (it also removes chlorine and a host of other toxins). I don't recall exactly, but I think the filters will last you about a year and will do a very good job of removing fluoride. Note they offer a money-back guarantee that it will remove 99% of fluoride in water that tests as containing 2ppm or less of fluoride. Your municipal water test should tell you how much ppm of fluoride is typically in your water. A money back guarantee is pretty confident, not many filter companies offer that! Note that I have found filters that offer far less in function yet at 2-3x the price...because of their marketing.

This is GREAT information.

Thank you!!!

MrsB