# water quality poll. what kind of water do you use?



## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

clean water is probably the single most important item for dart frogs, or is it. i was wondering what kind of water everyone uses and how your frogs seem to do on it. chloramines supposedly affect frogs and tads and a lot of public water systems now use it instead of chlorine. it doesnt evaporate but can be neutralized w/ declor and other such additives. well water may jump in levels of salts from ice control, fertilizer runoff, pesticides or oils etc. different well systems have different levels of filtration and cleaning. i thought there should be a central location for people who are worried about things like water softeners etc. i know that my frogs have done ok on hard well water for the last year. i`m going to do some experiments when i get my water softener and r.o. system on tad formation and health on different waters(r.o.,strait well, filtered well, city water for buffalo, etc. i know there are too many other variables w/ different collections(temp, amt fed, amt of active hours/day, etc all scue(sp?) the results but this should be a general data base for such questions. 
so the general question is. what kind of water do you use?
i used to spray w/ only distilled water and now i`m switching to r.o. because of volume. i`ve cut down on misting because of cost and the sheer amt. of plastic i was using and having to recylce at the curb.
soak dishes always got tap from city system left out 24hrs or more from the buffalo city water system.
for the last year i have used uv sterilized well water from a shallow well in akron, n.y. near tonawanda creek. i use a carbon 1-5 micron prefilter and my nitrate level was 0, tds was 330 ppm(before filtration) and the hardness was 27 and the iron level was.3 w/ no hydrogen sulfide and a ph of 7.1. now, i am installing a water softener and r.o. system but may continue to use city water for my tads depending on what i find here about water softeners and chloramine. if not i`ll use r.o. w/ minerals added via tannin tea etc. 
any other water chemistry or biology lessons on how certain environmental contaminants affect amphibians is also welcome.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2006)

Boy thats a lot of factors to consider!
I just use distilled to mist with, and my water features get bottled water. Every now and then I let the bottled water rain on the plants. Or I might mix a little tap with a big amount of distilled.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

I have heard that distilled water can contain quite a bit of copper (bad for bromeliads) depending on the distillation apparatus used. Just something to think about.

Here In Rye NY. Our water is fairly soft (sorry, I don’t have a number) and our water company uses chlorine only. I let this stand overnight before using it to mist the frogs, and have had no problems with them since July when I purchased them.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2006)

Yeah, I don't have an RO unit so I go with distilled for misting, and then spring water for the ponds 'n stuff.

Our water's relatively soft...our water plant is supposed to be the most advanced in the state. (It tastes the same so who cares?  ) But when I mist with it, it still leaves water stains.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2006)

Is there anyway that I can test for copper in water? It must be trace amounts, right??? :?


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

A lot of the bigger aquarium stores that carry coral/reef items will have copper tests.

I've been starting to mist with dechloronated tap water that has peat moss/eco earth/dead leaves soaked in it (i guess essentially tadpole tea).


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2006)

doesn't all that tad pole tea stuff solidify on your glass?


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2006)

I use ro to mist and for tads. I add black water extract to the tad water and to the water changes in my vivs.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Khamul,

I’m not sure about the copper in store bought distilled water. It’s just something that I heard. It would only be there if the condenser coils were copper and not stainless steel or glass. You could try an aquarium test kit but it’s probably not worth the money. Most of them are not particularly accurate, or easy to read. 

Does your school chem. Lab have DI water. I know that SUNY Purchase (Westchester) has DI plumbed into all the chem. Labs. That water would probably be great for misting.


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## DaSlackMan (Feb 3, 2006)

RO water. I have a high output RO filter which is mainly used to filter water for top offs and water changes as it relates to my reeftanks... Now I have another use for it... Well worth the money if you can afford one for it will pay for itself over time. Plus, I got tired of buying and lugging around store bought distilled water jugs..


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

http://www.tracyhicks.com/FFAQ.htm

Luke


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

I was buying store bought RO water at my grocery store at $0.65 per gal. Then last week I noticed another grocery store in town has a coin operated water system that allows you to use your own bottles. It has a treatment system that purifies the municipal water and only costs $0.30 per gal. The system utililizes an R.O. process, U.V. sterilization, carbon & micron filtration.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2006)

Grassypeak said:


> Khamul,
> 
> I’m not sure about the copper in store bought distilled water. It’s just something that I heard. It would only be there if the condenser coils were copper and not stainless steel or glass. You could try an aquarium test kit but it’s probably not worth the money. Most of them are not particularly accurate, or easy to read.
> 
> Does your school chem. Lab have DI water. I know that SUNY Purchase (Westchester) has DI plumbed into all the chem. Labs. That water would probably be great for misting.


No I don't think we have DI water. Im still new around here so I guess I'll have to ask before I confirm that. My lab's still has glass condenser coils, so I guess Im safe for now. Though there is enough silt and sedement at the bottom of the heater part of the still that I could probably use as substrate in a viv! Shouldnt someone clean that out???

Thanks.


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