# distilled spring water .vs. aged tap water?



## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I'd like to hear people opinion and views on the above topic.

What benefit is there to using distilled spring water vs aged de-chlorinated tap water?
I don't have frogs yet and I've been using distilled to water my plants and such but I can see how it can start to be costly when the collection expands.

I have droplet things from exo terra called Biotize and Mistimize which I figure is some sort of treatment for tap water when used with amphibians.

I was thinking of numbering several water bottles and alternating between them to give them 24hours sitting and also adding these exo droplets.

Let me know your thoughts and even better experience with both.

Thanks


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## MeiKVR6 (Sep 16, 2008)

We use Reverse Osmosis water for the misting systems... It keeps the glass clear...

Using R/O for tadpole raising isn't a good idea... There is a big fancy scientific reason which I forget - Ed will probably chime in.  For tads we just use carbon filtered tap water.

As for frog "cage" water... Or whatever the cage is filled with - we DO use R/O water. Some people say it's not the best idea - however we've had a lot of luck this way. We do partial water changes every other day however - so this may attribute to it working so well. Using R/O in cages allows there to be nearly NO ugly buildup of stuff on the glass... Some people say the plants need nutrients found specifically in water - however all our moss, bromeliads, ferns, ivy, etc is growing like CRAZY in all our vivs so from experience I'm not sure I agree. I know orchids are much more picky than these plants I'm dealing with - but for my situation - R/O has been working great.

In normal situations - I'd suggest R/O water for misting - and aged tap for everything else. Make sure your city doesn't use chloramine since that doesn't evaporate as easy as chlorine does - so "aging" the water won't really help much. 

Hope this helps!


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## dylanserbin (Apr 11, 2009)

how often should one do a water change? weekly? or when the water starts to get past the egg crate?


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## Toby_H (Apr 6, 2009)

There are drops to put in tap water to make it fish friendly (I prefer Prime) that remove chlorine as well as chalmorine. Some lock ammonia (if present) as well as 'neutralize' nitrite/nitrate (if present)... all of which seems like it would result in frog friendly water...

Do you guys agree?


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I use aged tap water (no dechlorination pills) for tanks/eggs/tads and have had no problems. New York City uses water from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains and is pretty balanced for pH. Tap water can vary wildly from place to place, though.

Good luck, Richard.


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

How aged is _aged_?


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

Very first post says 24 hours.


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

Ziggi said:


> Very first post says 24 hours.


durr durr thanks.


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