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Full Version: Distilled, R/O water? What's the best Water to use ?
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I recently read that distilled water should not be used with amphibians. Is this true ? What about bottled spring water or drinking / Tap water. I usually use filtered tap water. Which is best ? pros or cons ?

Thanks, ~Lauren

hkspowers

I am not sure why distilled water is bad for amphibians. I have always wondered the same thing. From my understanding distilled water is just water that has been boiled and the condensation has been collected in another chamber free of minerals and contaminates. In Chemistry class we distilled some water and supposedly the cleanest form of water is distilled. The only thing I could think of is maybe it leeches out the minerals from a frogs skin ? Not sure though but I usually just use Brita water on my frogs. Good question though.

James
The absence of any minerals is what causes the problems. RO, distilled , and sometimes "spring" (because some spring water companies run their stuff through an RO unit) can be trouble. I use aged tap water with "tea" or Kent Black Water Extract. Be careful with tap also, in some areas, the additives and chemicals do not evaporate out and may cause a problem. It is best to have your tap water professionally tested.

I do use RO in my misters because the tads in broms will have enough minerals in the brom axils from everything in the viv that it is not a mineral issue, but tads in cups get aged tap water.

Rich

fishinmagician

Hey Doc, Why the black water extract ? Never heard that one before. Does it have some kind of nutrients in it ?

I've been using distilled in my waterfall area because it splashes on the glass and it seems to cut down on the hard water mineral deposits. I use it in my mister about half of the time. The other half of the time, I use aged tap water.

I also read some where that the deposits in the tap water also collect on the leaves of the plants and can block some of the light from being used by the plant. Anyone with thoughts on that ?

Peace.
E
Hey,
My brother is actually the Dr.
Yeh, calcium, iron, whatever, will build up in the mister heads, glass, plants, whatever, which is why I use RO in my misters. The Kent stuff has tannins that are good for the tads. So does peat brick, which is why I use it in all my vivs.

Rich

fishinmagician

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I missed the whole brother thing. my bad. :oops:
Tannins, huh. Well sinceI don't have any tads I guess I don't need that.
Thanks for the info. Thats a new one to me.
Peace.
E

DartFrog

I use RO/DI water to mist with and clean my glass. This tends to leave less deposit on my glass. I use regular tap water for my top off water in the viv. It would seem to me that with a frogs skin being so permeable that if it was placed in truly distilled water it would have a problem regulating its electrolytes like sodium and potassium causing death if severe enough.

Mike
Right Mike, that is true. The minerals in the tap (non-RO) help out with that issue.

Rich

cbreon

I have to say that I have been using distilled water for misting the last three years on many, many frogs and never had a problem. However, I will say that I use aged tap water for tadpoles. I think maybe I am compensating for the minerals lost to the distilled water by using quality vitamin and calcium supplements every time I feed. What kinds of visual signs of vitamin deficiency would I see as a result of using distilled water? I am cautious to use Philadelphia tap water to mist my frogs, anybody have any experiences in the Philly area?
Misting with RO or distilled should be fine. I think the problems arise when a tad has to grow up in a plastic 16oz container with RO or distilled. In a brom or small water area there's tons of stuff falling into the water in the viv, you do not get that in a tub on a shelf.

Rich

DartFrog

I think you would have to take distilled water and put a frog in it to have a problem. Even if you poured distilled water in your viv it would quickly pick up minerals from the tank and no longer be distilled. Like Rich said, putting a tad in distilled water would be bad.

Mike

13013

does anybody have a bottle of this stuff they can list the ingredients. from the name alone it sounds an awful lot like humic acids... is it?

kiwi melon killer

It is my understanding that distilled water would hydrated the frogs more than regular water. Since to water is so pure it would try and dilute the minerals inside the animals cell, so it wouldn't leach out the minerals it would just dilute the content in the cells.

Rad3Dad

I also use distilled water for everything that I put in the tank. Mainly because our tap water contains chloramine, which I have heard wont evaporate out by "aging" the water. It also is very high in PH and ammonia.
Does anybody know of a good trace mineral supplement that I could add to the distilled water, to put back in all the good stuff they need. I remember using trace mineral supplements for my reef tank, and didn't know if they made one for fresh water.

Dane

I also use distilled or spring for everything, even tads, but I do add oak leaves and BW extract for tads, and a few drops of blackwater to misting water.

a Vertigo Guy

Rad3Dad Wrote:Does anybody know of a good trace mineral supplement that I could add to the distilled water, to put back in all the good stuff they need. I remember using trace mineral supplements for my reef tank, and didn't know if they made one for fresh water.

Kent makes a product called 'R.O. Right' I think that does just that.

zaroba

i've always used straight tap water for any fish, frogs (not dart frogs) and turtles i've had without any troubles.


rad3dad, i believe their stuff for freshwater tanks that can remove chloramine from tap water. No clue how safe it is for use with Dart Frogs though.
kent ro right does build your water back up to desired parameters.

am-quel and other dechlorinators are perfectly safe. make sure they remove chloramine if your city uses it instead of chlorine.

i would not use tap water to top off my tanks. when water evaporates mineral salts are left behind and become more concentrated, and when water with more mineral salts is used to replace evaporation, then the water in the tank will get harder and harder which can harm the plants.

Arienette

From what I have read online in other forums about the distilled water issue as a primary water source for frogs, distilled water, having been produced by reverse osmosis, should not be used because frogs use osmosis to get the water they need. Admitted, I don't know enough to say whether this is junk science or not...just my thoughts on this.

(My first post, so hello everyone!)
hey arienette,

r/o water is very aggressive, but will pull hardness from inorganic things first. if you put a frog in a glass of pure r/o water it could harm the frog, but it's generally safe to use for misting etc. i do use r/o right by kent to mix the water i put into new vivs or for water changes. straight r/o is better for topping off.
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