# Water?



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Ok this topic has been talked about 100 times, but I think my local store has changed or reduced the filtering on there spring water and raised the price at the same time. I used to get it for $.56 a gallon and it never left marks on the glass or palnts. Now it is $.70 and it is leaving marks all over. 

I gusess I will turn this into a poll also. I am thinking of switching to local water that would get filtered and then left out and open over night.


----------



## edwardsatc (Feb 17, 2004)

For misting - spring water. For eggs and tads - aged tap water. 

Donn


----------



## Ryan (Feb 18, 2004)

Spring now, plan on rain though.


----------



## RSines (Feb 15, 2004)

I just declorinate tap water. I guess I really need to change that. I never had had a problem with my eggs or tads though. I do however get deposits on the glass.


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

*local*

I use local tap water which has been ran through a PUR faucet filter and treated with AquaSafe for safety measures. I use this water for all of my needs such as misting and offspring husbandry. I have had no problems at all with this method in the 2 years I've employed it. 

-Bill J.


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

I have been using rain when i can, but I haven't had any latey so back to spring.


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

*Re: local*

Can you just get aquasafe at a petstore?



BillJohnson said:


> I use local tap water which has been ran through a PUR faucet filter and treated with AquaSafe for safety measures. I use this water for all of my needs such as misting and offspring husbandry. I have had no problems at all with this method in the 2 years I've employed it.
> 
> -Bill J.


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

sure can, but I found it cheapest at Wal-Mart. It's Tetra-Aqua brand and comes in a yellow bottle. 

-Bill J.


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

I mix 50% spring 50% distilled don't know why just always have. I have had a problem with our local tap water even though it was declorinated.


----------



## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

Ive been thinking of getting a RO unit and installing it to a misting system, but then i heard too pure of water may be harmful to the frogs.

So until then i use aged tap and distilled.

M.N


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

I have a deep water spring-fed well near my house, .25 a gallon, I get 5 gallons a week for my various critters, and I use distilled, .99 a gallon for misting and the ultrasonic humidifier


----------



## Guest (Mar 20, 2004)

RO for everything including the misting systems.


----------



## dpotter1 (Feb 29, 2004)

*Water*

I'm kind of new to PDF's, but I have maintained many aquarium systems for myself and business. The only thing we have ever used RO or Distilled on were discus and then we used additives the replace the lost minerals. The biggest problem other then the lost minerals is that lower priced RO systems tend to do a shoty job at removing everything you they say they will. So you still endow with residue and some chemicals you really don't want in the water.

In Lower Michigan we have a general Ph of about 8.2 and general hardness between 320 and 380. I use aged/delcorinated tap water for misting in my Juvenile tanks and spring water for the dishes.

Doug


----------



## MarkJ (Feb 15, 2004)

I use RO for all my tanks, I hate water stains. when I raised my mantella tads I used Aged Tap plus some stress coat and that turned out great, no eggs yet so don't know on hose though.


----------



## Guest (Mar 21, 2004)

"The biggest problem other then the lost minerals is that lower priced RO systems tend to do a shoty job at removing everything you they say they will."

Well I've never seen a cheap system but I imagine it is a bad idea to buy one from the dollar store. The one I bought from home depot does a great job according to my TDS meter (yes, I do calibrate it before hand)

As far as lost minerals, lets remember the way it works in nature. Frogs get rained on, rain is distilled water. Rain makes puddles and streams that the frogs play in, minerals leach into puddles and streams from the ground and leaf litter. Vivariums have ponds and water falls usually in contact with frog poop, dead flies, leaf litter, long fiber sphagnum, plant roots, and other such things that leach minerals into the water. Even though i use only RO water, my tank water never looks clean.

Sounds to me like RO does a pretty good job of mimicking nature. Really when was the last time it rained spring water?

2 1/2 cents.

Joe

P.S. This of course does not apply in any way to fish/acquariums, just the frogs.


----------



## TonyT (Feb 16, 2004)

I use rain water for everything right now but will be using spring water in the misting system when I get it hooked up. I think it will give the pump a longer life and not clog the nozzels with trash and debri as quickly with the spring water. I will continue to use the rain water for the tads though. 

TonyT


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I use slightly aged tap water. The water is not strongly chlorinated here, and I have used water straight from the tap for sensative fish in the past. The only drawback is deposits on the glass, since the water here is quite hard, but the tank never dries out, so it's not really a problem.


----------



## Guest (Mar 21, 2004)

I use RO water I buy at a local water conditioning business.I use it straight for misting and make a tapole tea for tadpoles with a couple oak leaves in a gallon jug. 
I have misted directly into a brom axil an imitator tad was in and didn't suffer any adverse effects doing it.I'm not a big fan of water stains either. 
I have raised alot of tads to froglets using this method and the only time I had problems was using our local tap water.
 Mark W.


----------



## Guest (Mar 21, 2004)

i have been using spring but stoped because of the deposits it been leaving,so i have gone onto treating tap water with conditioner and then letting it sit for 24 - 48 hours just for good measure
hamo


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Do you get less stains with tap water?



hamo said:


> i have been using spring but stoped because of the deposits it been leaving,so i have gone onto treating tap water with conditioner and then letting it sit for 24 - 48 hours just for good measure
> hamo


----------



## Guest (Mar 21, 2004)

i only made the change a few days ago so to early to say at the moment but will let you know in a week or so 
hamo


----------



## TimStout (Feb 16, 2004)

I use RO for misting and a mix of RO and spring for my water feature in my 75gal. My other three tanks are 20H and have no water feature.


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Oh, I forgot to add... I treat the tap water with a few drops of Aquatize from Exo Terra. I filll a gallon milk jug with water, then add the drops and use it as neccessary. Works well.


----------



## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

I think normal North american rainwater contains carbonic acid and has a ph of 5.6. Safe?

M.N


----------



## khoff (Feb 18, 2004)

I have used rain water for two years with no strange or ill effects. And best of all, no water spots. Although, you have to take into consideration that I live in a relatively rural area.


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I think that plays a big part in it. I live near a large city, and not far from the main beltway, and I will not be using rain water. I would guess the local tap water is better than the local rain water. I have tested it and it was not bad, just would need a little conditioning. What type of products are good to use to do that?



khoff said:


> I have used rain water for two years with no strange or ill effects. And best of all, no water spots. Although, you have to take into consideration that I live in a relatively rural area.


----------



## Guest (Mar 23, 2004)

joseph said:


> Sounds to me like RO does a pretty good job of mimicking nature. Really when was the last time it rained spring water?


i dont think that happened, but it did rain frogs in seattle once.

Really thou, anyone thought about using one of those water cooler services like you see in office buildings? i looked into it and it's a monthly fee for all the water you can use. i will have to take a sample in to the pet store to test it, but it does advertise that it is distilled water. will have to look into it.


----------



## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

*water*

We use distilled in all our tanks (water features) and spray with it as well. Tads are raised with decholoranated tap water, plus stress coat, plus home made tadpole tea. 

I still need to put together a paper on my research on distilled, ro & di water, but I wanted to share a link in the meantime on some of the info I found. I have spoken with the author of this posting and gotten his permission to use his post as well. 

I hope this answers some questions. http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200104/msg00426.html.


Melis


----------



## andersonii85 (Feb 8, 2004)

*other...*

I use aged tap water that has been treated with blackwater extract. It works well, but the pH has to be monitored closely.

Justin


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

*Re: other...*

I'm at least switching to aged tap water for my tads, they use more waterthan misting, but at this point I might be changing the water a bit much. Still learning...



andersonii85 said:


> I use aged tap water that has been treated with blackwater extract. It works well, but the pH has to be monitored closely.
> 
> Justin


----------



## Guest (Apr 16, 2004)

just a thought but what about boiled tap water??
i know there is probable a real simple answer why you cant use it but why?
hamo :?


----------



## Guest (Apr 16, 2004)

because boiling it will not remove any of the disolved solids or chemicals. the only thing that boiling will do is kill bacteria.


----------



## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

I agree, Unless you somehow collected the condensation on the pan, and used that as distilled :wink:

M.N


----------



## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

we use RO water bought the unit before we bought tadpole mantellas. Have heard several stories of "frogs drying out from RO" anyone else hear that??? :roll: haven't really had any problems, except water stains when we forgot to change the filter. Our tap water is the worst RUSTY, :? STINKY,MOST disgusting water I have seen come out of a faucet... In fact I hadblonde hair


----------



## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

we use RO water bought the unit before we bought tadpole mantellas. Have heard several stories of "frogs drying out from RO" anyone else hear that??? :roll: haven't really had any problems, except water stains when we forgot to change the filter. Our tap water is the worst RUSTY, :? STINKY,MOST disgusting water I have seen come out of a faucet... In fact I hadblonde hair


----------



## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

sorry everyone i got so excited i double clicked when i should have single clicked


----------

