Best water?

[Vys]

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.

As myspiderh said it's not distilled just because parts of the water has evaporated. What will remain in the end is the minerals, which is why tap water, at least hard such, will stain glass. When you collect what evaporates (through condensation), you get distilled water.

 

[jen650s]

I mist with distilled water and keep the water dishes full of spring water. I really don't mind the cleaning, but as almost all of my tanks are acrylic and it scratches so easily that I prefer to clean a little as possible (I like to see my kritters) . I also use a commercial plant sprayer that tends to clog easily with tap water and I'm too cheap to replace parts. I think that as long as Ts and others have a choice they really do have a better idea than we do about what they need. Although mine will sometimes drink the mist off of the walls they also visit the water dishes fairly regularly.


Also distilled water and deionized water are sometimes sold interchangeably, but they are not. Distilled water has been distilled into steam (usually boiled), the steam trapped and allowed to recondense into water. The minerals do not evaporate so that if the container the water is condensed into is clean the water is also. Deionized water has mechanically had the ions (salts and minerals) removed from it usually by reverse osmosis, but as it is very hard to do this there are always some minerals remaining. Hope this helps.

---Jen

 

[Nerri1029]

I kept my T's for years on Distilled water until I moved them to home.

As for the "Chicken Little" people who have bought into the hype of the dangers of distilled water.

If a frog is immersed in DW yes osmotic pressures can build and lyse cells ( possibly )

for a person to be adversly affected by DW .. well it is practically impossible.

If you want a more detailed explanation PM me.. there is another DW thread from a while back..

old thread on DW

 

[Drachenjager]

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

distilled water is not just boiled water. its boiled to steam then the steam is distilled back into water, this shoudl leave all minerals behind and give you very pure water .

 

[Drachenjager]

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.

no
distilled water has to be boiled into vapor then recondensed. if oyu put distilled water in a bowl for a few days it will no longer be distilled water as it will obtain minerals from the air or anythign else ti comes in contact with.

 

[JMoran1097]

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.

i just use bottled water. never had a problem.

 

[Jake85]

As I recall from Bio class some years back distilled water should not leach minerals etc. from cells, but would instead cause the cells to expand as the water/mineral ratio within and without the cell attempted to reach an equilibrium. In the case of aquatic amphibians, where the distilled water is not merely a drink source, but their home for extended periods, then the absorption of water into the cells would be happening on a much grander scale than that which would occur in the case of watering your inverts with the stuff. So, in my opinion, unless you submerge your T in water for a few days as opposed to a simple misting or small water dish, distilled water should not have terrible effects on it.

Note: though I believe these statements to be credible, one might double check them as my memory tends to omit things here and there.

 

[mischaaussems]

I use distilled water for misting. Tap water here in Holland contains a lot of calcium which leaves dirty marks on the inside of your tank. I use tap water in the waterdish. I don't think distilled water can kill your tarantula. Distilled water contains less minerals and salts and therefore it has a higher percentage pure water. Normal bodycells contain about 0.9% salts and minerals and therefore less water. If a cell is dispersed in distilled water, the water will spread evenly and will move from the distilled water inside the cell which can lead to swelling of the cell and eventually the cell may rupture. Tarantula's don't drink that much for this process to become dangerous. I know people who use distilled water only and have used it for years.

 

[DrAce]

..."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")"...

This is quasi-scientific rubbish.

Water will move to dilute salt. It's that simple. Unfortunately, animals, cells and plants have systems to counter this movement. Collectively, this is known as 'Osmotic Regulation' or 'Osmoregulation'. Your kidneys are basically an osmotic regulation facility.

Let me say this categorically. Your tarantula will be completely safe from distilled water. There is ABSOLUTELY NO risk from distilled water!

Here is why:
Distilled water, firstly, is NOT completely free of salt. Theoretically, it is, but unfortunately, it's not. Cell membranes are NOT categorically NOT permeable to water. This is why most cells have holes punched into them (made from proteins) which will allow water to passage into and out of them. These are often under direct control and regulated, meaning the cell can often shut them off, and back on. Furthermore, the cell has other regulatory tricks up their sleeves. They can pump the salt - and other things, including glycine, sarcosine, amines, urea, betaine, inositol, other sugars, and a plethora of other little bits - around, in and out of the cell to move the water as well.

Furthermore, in an organism, the salt concentration is kept roughly constant. This is called 'homeostasis' and it's pretty much what keeps you alive. When water leaves, a spider will drink some more. This is precisely to keep the salt concentration constant. The spider will pee out any extra salt it is getting from normal water (not to mention any metals or anions it doesn't need) in it's urine/faeces. It replaces those salts from the food it eats. NOT the water it is drinking. There would never, ever, be enough salt in the water they are drinking, unless they happen to be drinking from a hydrothermal vent, or the sea. Tarantulas have adapted to environments where water might not be around always, and therefore have good osmotic regulation systems.

The 'frog' and 'goldfish' examples are extreme, because those particular organisms have no alternative source of osmotic balance, and osmo-regulate through their skin (frogs) and in the case of a goldfish through, in part, the swim-bladder.

Humans will not explode from distilled water. And that is a rediculous claim. I actually doubt that the frog and goldfish will do the same, but I will give the benefit of the doubt here.

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.

It is NOT a case that there has not been enough research on it. We know EXACTLY what is happening. It's completely safe.

I kept my T's for years on Distilled water until I moved them to home.

As for the "Chicken Little" people who have bought into the hype of the dangers of distilled water.

If a frog is immersed in DW yes osmotic pressures can build and lyse cells ( possibly )

for a person to be adversly affected by DW .. well it is practically impossible.

If you want a more detailed explanation PM me.. there is another DW thread from a while back..

old thread on DW

SOME Individual cells do lyse from hypo-osmotic conditions because they are designed to live in environments where they are homeostatically controled. Kidney cells, particularly those of the medulla, do not lyse, and actually continue to replicate in a huge range of osmotic environments - like what the kidney experiences.

I appreciate that there was some reference to back the comments above up... but they are ludicrous to the extreme, and very very wrong. It's exactly the same garbage which leads to the '8 glasses of water a day' bollocks (related to the 'urine should be colourless' school of thought). There was never EVER any research to suggest that 8 glasses a day was a good idea, and there is actually some evidence to suggest that it is VERY VERY bad for your kidneys (which regulate this flux of water by pumping sodium out of your body - more sodium than whcih comes in, including from the sports drinks). This all, of course, is common sense. When in human history have we EVER had access to 8 glasses of water a day? Never. So why do our bodies somehow need them now? Answer: they don't.

Please, to all those who were taking their tarantulas off distilled water, in the fear that you may have harmed them - forget it. You've done nothing wrong.