# False Bottom Water ?'s



## Guest (Nov 30, 2004)

Is distilled water ok for use in a water feature? i heard that it lacks minerals and can deprive the frog of them. Any suggestions on better choices. jeez i should have posted beforei bought three gallons of distilled water. LOL
thanks for the help,
Joe


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2004)

Distilled water has a negative osmotic pressure, due to having low salts, so it can rob your frog of electrolytes if you mist with it too heavily, or use it in your water features. Darts don't tend to soak like many other frogs, so are less susceptible to this problem, but rely upon the humidity in the tank for hydration. However alot of darts do go in their water features, and in water filled bromeliad axils for that matter.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2004)

Thanks Trey, i will keep that in mind.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2004)

I use distilled water for spraying and for the water features.... by the time water runs through your substrate and collects at the bottom I don't think you have to worry about the lack of minerals/particulate (especially if you are dusting). 


-Tad


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2004)

Well, because i personally know Joe, I just presented to him the scientific facts the best i could remember them. He has decided to use spring water. But as i say to each his own.


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## Guest (Dec 3, 2004)

The water dart frogs contact in nature is rain, which is pretty close to distilled. I use 100% RO water for all my misting, no worries.


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## snmreptiles (Feb 26, 2004)

I have been using distilled water to spray my tanks for a while now so I don't get water spots. I used to buy RO water by the gallon from a local pet shop, but I seem to remember it leaving water spots! Does anyone else have that problem? Does RO water leave water stains?

-Shelley


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## Guest (Dec 3, 2004)

It shouldn't. Places get sloppy with replacing the RO membrane. They should be using a TDS meter, which shows how well it is working.


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## snmreptiles (Feb 26, 2004)

DanConnor said:


> It shouldn't. Places get sloppy with replacing the RO membrane. They should be using a TDS meter, which shows how well it is working.


So it could have just been the system that the Ro water was coming from? Because Mike wants to get one but I have been turned off by the whole idea after that. So I have just been using distilled. I know that a lot of people seem to like them though. Thanks

-Shelley


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## Ori (Jul 28, 2004)

I use RO water for spraying and there are not spots on the glass. I use thos water also for tadpoles (thumbnails) without problems.
Ori


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

Some myths never die. Distilled or RO might be a problem if you tried to rear a tadpole in nothing but pure water in a glass vessel. In a vivarium the stuff is so reactive that it quickly picks up minerals plus, your frogs are submerged in it anyway. It is NOT a problem to use RO or distilled exclusively for misting OR watering in a vivarium. I've even been rearing tadpoles in it for years. I just add a handful of leaves, a pinch of compost, and the mineral problems are solved.

RO and distilled water are effectively the same thing. They are just different methods for achieving 99.9% pure water.


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2004)

When I first started getting tadpoles (which wasn't long ago, my frogs just recently came of age LOL), i was using tap water that I let sit for 24 hours. I had a lot of tads die though, especially after they first hatched. So then I read about the leaves and that oak leaves are good to put in with tads. So I soaked some oak leaves in the water overnight before I put the tads in it....then more tads died. Finally I started getting RO water, no leaves, no nothing, just RO water and of course their food was in it. Now I rarely have a tad die, even when it is very small. I wonder why everyone has such different experiences with this?


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## Ori (Jul 28, 2004)

I have no problems with tads in RO water. I just put a piece of java moss in and thats all. It works very good even for species as fantasticus, duellmani, intermedius, amazonicus, variabilis, ventrimaculatus.


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2004)

> When I first started getting tadpoles (which wasn't long ago, my frogs just recently came of age LOL), i was using tap water that I let sit for 24 hours. I had a lot of tads die though, especially after they first hatched. So then I read about the leaves and that oak leaves are good to put in with tads. So I soaked some oak leaves in the water overnight before I put the tads in it....then more tads died. Finally I started getting RO water, no leaves, no nothing, just RO water and of course their food was in it. Now I rarely have a tad die, even when it is very small. I wonder why everyone has such different experiences with this?


Your water is probably treated with chlorine and/or chloramines. Aging your water will cause the chlorine to dissipate because it is unstable; however chloramine is stable and does not dissipate, therefore aging water is useless.


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

WiFrogger34 said:


> I wonder why everyone has such different experiences with this?


They don't. The alleged problems with RO are like stories of frogs getting impaled on spiny broms or cattle breaking their legs in prairie dog holes. Lots of people claim it happens but finding an eye witness to such an event is impossible.


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