Best water?

[B.L.]

Is it alright to spray my T. with spring water or is their some better kind? My tap water leaves streaks on the sides of the tank after it dries. Kind of a stupid question I know.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Whatever you do, don't give them distilled water. Distilled water is actually harmful, and will kill just about anything with enough time. (Obviously smaller animals and water-sensitive things like fish and amphibians will be harmed sooner than humans, but I've read of even humans dying from it eventually.)

 

[Shayna]

Whatever you do, don't give them distilled water. Distilled water is actually harmful, and will kill just about anything with enough time. (Obviously smaller animals and water-sensitive things like fish and amphibians will be harmed sooner than humans, but I've read of even humans dying from it eventually.)

Woah, I though distilled water was just regular stuff, boiled. How does it do harm? :?

 

[Pulk]

I've used only distilled water for a year or two, and everything seems to be fine.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Woah, I though distilled water was just regular stuff, boiled. How does it do harm? :?

I don't remember the science off the top of my head, but I found it while checking up on something for a friend of mine with a frog. It has something to do with damaging cells, I think, and leeching important things out of the body.

There's also this--"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Distilled water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact. Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water."

 

[KaineSoulblade]

I don't remember the science off the top of my head, but I found it while checking up on something for a friend of mine with a frog. It has something to do with damaging cells, I think, and leeching important things out of the body.

There's also this--"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Distilled water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact. Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water."

That's true. I would think that distilled water if consumed by a T over a long period of time would do harm. But I know of poeple who use it to mist, merely for humidity as it doesnt spot.

I use bottled water myself to mist and fill water dishes. I don't mind doing a little cleaning.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Aha! Found the quote, although my comment to my friend didn't include a link.

"This applies to distilled water in that you have an extremely low (if not zero) concentration of salts and other minerals in distilled water. A frog's cells, on the other hand are chock-full of salts and enzymes and minerals - in short, highly concentrated. The cell membrane of a frog cell, and indeed, one of any animal, is water-permeable, allowing the distilled water to cross over into the cells in an attempt to equalize the concentration of substances on either side of the cell wall. The pressure will build up more and more until the cell pops.
If a frog is exposed to distilled water on a consistent basis, then it will eventually die. (BTW: the same goes for people [takes a while] and fish, the latter being the subject of a rather odd running joke in my biology class "The exploding goldfish")"


And it's true that misting with it wouldn't leave spots, but I know so many tarantulas drink water off the walls, so that'd make me nervous.

 

[Pulk]

Yikes, I'm glad this came up. I'll use tap water for dishes and distilled for spraying?

 

[B.L.]

Damn....I hadn't heard that about distilled water.

 

[julesaussies]

i looked up info about distilled water a while back for a friend of mine who was interested in using it for her dogs. (She doesn't have access to internet believe that or not...) Anyway, at the time i looked for info, it seemed to be a complete 50/50 split. Some very high praises for distilled water and others with warnings to fear for your life. i have no idea who to believe but my dogs didn't like it and therefore didn't drink as much as normal and that's not a good thing in itself. i just use bottled spring water for myself and pets.

 

[Feathers]

Yikes!

I've been using using distilled water on occaision, when I haven't made it to the store to refill my 5 gal. water cooler - my tap (well), water is like drinking rocks and smells bad, but it's safe. I guess I'll switch to spring water. We've been using distilled for years. Lucky no one's exploded yet!

 

[Vys]

Jules: That seems about correct. Some say because it doesn't contain any minerals, it leeches those from the body, and some say that's rubbish.


Now, you should of course apply source-criticism here, but they do appear right in pointing out that there is a certain lack of published papers saying distilled water leeches stuff from you (and arthropods?).

http://www.cyber-nook.com/water/distilledwater.htm
http://www.durastill.com/myths.html

Edit. And just in case you've brushed up on your Swedish skills lately, you can read what the Swedish National Food Administration says about drinking distilled water:
http://www.slv.se/templates/SLV_Page.aspx?id=14493&epslanguage=SV

(I'll translate one sentence: 'There are no scientific articles saying that distilled water disturbs the body's salt balance or mineral levels.'
That and the fact that it is recommended for people who normally consume a lot of water (due to sports activities or working in a hot environment) that they don't drink distilled water as even most tap water won't provide enough minerals are the main points. )

That frog thing sounds interesting though.

 

[Walter]

For years I use the tap boiled water for dishes refill and mist.

 

[peterspiderling]

whats distilled water??? :?

 

[Feathers]

When in doubt - Safest route

'There are no scientific articles saying that distilled water disturbs the body's salt balance or mineral levels.'

Just because there's not been adequate scientific research as yet doesn't mean it's safe. Of course, even with the backing of research, a lot of stuff still isn't safe - just look at all of the recalled pharmacueticals.

 

[Vys]

Just because there's not been adequate scientific research as yet doesn't mean it's safe. Of course, even with the backing of research, a lot of stuff still isn't safe - just look at all of the recalled pharmacueticals.

No, but there's less of an idea calling it safe than calling it unsafe, right?
And I didn't say 'adequate', I said 'no' , but regardless, believe what you will.

 

[rm90]

Couldn't most of us say we use distilled water then? I put water in my Tarantulas water dish, and sometimes they don't touch it for days. If you have a water dish sitting there for 24 hours it is concidered "distilled". Or if you leave any water sitting out for the appropriate amount of time its distilled.

 

[Pulk]

Does anybody who's been very successful keeping T's regularly use distilled water, or has anyone had an experience where distilled had a noticeably bad effect?

 

[harrypei]

i use filtered tap water.

 

[Derek W.]

whats distilled water??? :?

Distilled water is water that has been evaporated to remove any minerals or other impurities it may have contained and then condensed back into pure
h2o. It the same for distilled anything, you evaporate it, then condense it to obtain a more pure substance.

And I use filtered tap water, and even though it leaves some marks on the tank, the T's seem to be doing good, so I can't complain.