Water: Distilled vs purified vs everything else

[spankyg]

I'm going to use rain water now anyway just to be on the safe side. I've read too much negative about distilled im paranoid..lol
(sorry for the double post)

[Paul Rust]

Dionized Water - Deionization is a completely different process to Reverse Osmosis and requires different equipment. It removes salts from water and relies on their ionic nature for their removal. It leaves behind any species that are not ionic in nature, including organic molecules and even bacteria.

This is a bit misleading. Although referred to as "deionized" it is actually ion exchange, one ion takes the place of another.

It leaves behind any species that are not ionic in nature, including organic molecules and even bacteria.

This is true, except that you don't run domestic water straight into the resin tanks and out to the loop. The feed water is Reverse Osmosis so most impurities are already removed. It also goes through an ultraviolet sterilizer to kill bacteria. Lastly it is filtered at the sub-micron level to remove the destroyed bacteria and any endotoxin that may have been released into the water stream.

[John]

Arguing with the chemist who works with water, huh Paul.

This is a bit misleading. Although referred to as "deionized" it is actually ion exchange, one ion takes the place of another.

The exchanged ions never make it out of the resin - otherwise there would be little point in the process.

This is true, except that you don't run domestic water straight into the resin tanks and out to the loop. The feed water is Reverse Osmosis so most impurities are already removed. It also goes through an ultraviolet sterilizer to kill bacteria. Lastly it is filtered at the sub-micron level to remove the destroyed bacteria and any endotoxin that may have been released into the water stream.

An R/O-DI system is what you might buy for home use, but in the lab we usually use straight up DI systems that are fed with pre-filtered tap water (2 distinctly different machines/systems). I think it's smarter to not muddy the waters by talking about everything at once though . We're really just getting into semantics.

[Paul Rust]

Arguing with the chemist who works with water, huh Paul.

LOL, not arguing John, I'm not crazy.
Just helping to shed some light. I do maintain and monitor 3 large RO/DI systems.

[Leefrogs]

I use my parents well water, 8 ft into water table, and naturally filtered by sand, but close to a two fork river. Much better than mine at 35 feet and full of nitrates. But after reading this I worry about my parents old plumbing. Should I just go buy water conditioner at store or go up the mountain to a natural flowing spring that emerges at 1,000 ft elevation. (pretty high for wisconsin) Locals have used this water forever. Both the spring and my parents water I've tested for nitates in the past both are nitrate free. Are old pipes as dangerous as bad water?

[tadpole]

old copper pipes should be ok, as any lead solder will have formed a layer of oxidation over it, preventing it from dissolving in the water. galvanized pipes eventually clog with mineral deposits, but are otherwise ok.

the main thing is to know your local water's parameters. call your utility company to see what they treat with, and what the ph is. i have been adding rainwater ph 6 to my filtered tap water ph 7.2 50/50 to get the ph under 7, for small quantities, which i use for budgett frogs and snapping turtles. i do daily complete changes on them.

i still filter my tap water with a brita, but for large quantities, as when i change 20 gals, i have been using tetra's aquasafe. just dump in the correct measured amount, and fill the tank back up with fresh tap water. then you may have to adjust the ph depending on what you are keeping. my acf's seem fine at a ph 7.2, which is how it comes out of the tap, and i do complete water changes once a week on them.

[ezwider]

I've been using tap water for over a year with no problems. I even use it to spray, but after reading about mineral deposits from tap water that gets left on the walls of the terrarium, I think I'll switch to distilled water for spraying. But tap is ok for my frogs to soak in? I live in Baltimore and our water is pretty clean here.

Now, wait... um.. where can you buy distilled water?

[Leefrogs]

get some dip test strips, they like real soft alkaline water, and if it's city water u need to treat it. When I dip test my spring water against bottled spring water, my water was better. Hard water has a lot if disolved metals. Water conditioner will remove chlorine and metals. Distilled water can be found anywhere.

[Leefrogs]

I would buy the dip test from Walmart. I've tested spring water that's bottles 60 miles south of me that came up with nitrate. There's really no standard for so called spring water. And no conditioner will remove nitrates/ nitrites.