distilled vs bottled

[Davonat]

so tap water is good enough??

Like I mentioned before... Mist King recommends RO filtered water to avoid nozzle clogging. Unfiltered tap water will leave deposits. At work we had to clean our coffee pot with vinegar or other products to remove these deposits. Lime Away is a household product designed to remove these deposits around the house... shower heads ect,,ect. Now whether or not these deposit forming minerals are ok for us and our pets is what most are discussing at this point.

 

[ashley9333]

well i use tap water

 

[chevy20]

Like I mentioned before... Mist King recommends RO filtered water to avoid nozzle clogging. Unfiltered tap water will leave deposits. At work we had to clean our coffee pot with vinegar or other products to remove these deposits. Lime Away is a household product designed to remove these deposits around the house... shower heads ect,,ect. Now whether or not these deposit forming minerals are ok for us and our pets is what most are discussing at this point.

I usually use bottle water.... but once in a while switch to tap water, as for showers... is tap water ok?

 

[clarkrw3]

I use RO water with zero TFD. I purchased my RO from a reef store that sells dual systems for drinking and reef tanks.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Davonat]

I usually use bottle water.... but once in a while switch to tap water, as for showers... is tap water ok?

OK.... 1 more time.....At the market... In the "drinking" water section you will see RO filtered or Spring. I think everyone here agrees these 2 are the best. If you wanna use unfilterd tap water on your cham which he or she may end up drinking, it probably will not kill them....but it is full of fluoride and chlorine and stuff.This water is "NOT" found in nature, nor is distilled. Hence the atomic boom in bottled water sales..... I personally dont drink unfilterd tap water.... Just dont like the taste. My personal favorite is....Sierra Nevada snow melt water directly from the stream.... Dip your cup in and enjoy.

 

[summoner12]

Can someone tell me how distilled water is different from our natural rain cycle? And how minerals get into rainwater?

 

[Todnedo]

Can someone tell me how distilled water is different from our natural rain cycle? And how minerals get into rainwater?

Rain drops fall from the sky contacting dirt and dust on the way down. Most of which is from human activity (coal fired power plants, agriculture, construction, nuclear meltdown in japan, jet exhaust and chemical plants emissions) so there are a few minerals and a whole lot of pollution in every rain drop.

 

[batmancumming]

"Distilled water being demineralized, contains more hydrogen and is considered an acid, with a pH of less than 7.0. Any time a human or animal consumes or, in the case of an amphibian, is soaked in distilled water, the body pulls minerals from teeth (if they have them) and bones to produce bicarbonate to neutralize the acid. This can prove dangerous over time. Another problem with distilled water is that acidic liquids will result in the production of more free-radicals, which are molecules that can increase the risk for cancer. There are people who feel that distilled water is safe and healthful to drink, but the mainstream medical community discourages the consumption of distilled water. Likewise, providing pet herps with distilled water is not recommended."--directly from article that i posted. this makes perfect sense to me and i don't know how anyone would say this is misleading or not pertaining to chameleons. i would not drink distilled water and i don't think its right for me to expect my cham to either. brita filter water has been fine for me, and i believe it to be fine for my cham. i will look into ro water for my mister and if need be clean out my nozzles once and awhile, but i think i may be done with distilled

 

[batmancumming]

The article was not written about chameleons. They are not like most reptiles.

just because that article was written for a salamanader and not a chameleon, does not mean there is not useful information to be obtained from it.

 

[Carlton]

I usually use bottle water.... but once in a while switch to tap water, as for showers... is tap water ok?

OK, some reminders about "tap water". It depends on your own particular area or source of domestic water. You can't say ALL tap water EVERYWHERE will work OK in misting nozzles, foggers, etc. because the mineral content differs everywhere. A private well on private property may or may not be safe to drink, but many areas require well testing and certifications before it can be used. Municipally treated water may be technically safe to drink, but it can still be high in sulfates, calcium, iron, naturally occurring tannins, even things like lead and arsenic and all sorts of treatment chemicals like chlorine. Municipal water can still have high levels of minerals that will clog nozzles or foggers eventually. How do you know the mineral content of your own tap water? Test it...its easy! Get a simple aquarium test kit from a pet store and find out how "hard" or "soft" it is. Or, your local utility can test it for you. Generally, hardness means the water is alkaline (higher pH) while softness tends to mean acidic (lower pH). Soft water eventually removes mineral deposits (one reason exposure to lots of rain in the tropics leaches or wears things away), alkalinity builds them up (remember the rock formations in Mono Lake). Deep fissure wells tend to have hard water. Rain cistern collected water tends to be soft.

RO water is not the same as distilled, deionized, de-mineralized, or even most bottled waters unless it STATES it is RO filtered.

Distilled water is created by boiling the source water to create steam. When the steam cools it condenses into water again, but everything other than hydrogen and oxygen was removed I'm pretty sure. Not exactly natural. It is so pure it would probably never clog a mister nozzle or a fogger.

Spring water can be hard or soft depending on the mineral content of the source. For example...my CO home well water was "spring" water but incredibly hard. Deposits on everything, but it tasted great! My home well water here is also very hard but tastes terrible because the minerals are different. Both well water sources were safe for humans and pets to drink. When people run their house water through a water softener they are essentially trying to lower the pH (make it more acidic) so their plumbing, boilers, water heaters last longer and you can use less soap. This is not the same as rainwater either because it contains some salt.

RO water has a more neutral level of most common minerals and some organic material depending on which combination of filters you install (there can be 2-6 filters depending on what you want to remove). It is slightly acidic or pH neutral, safe for everyone to drink and fine for misting systems and cham cage plants. It won't clog misters except over a very very long time.

Does that help?

 

[ashley9333]

i just use tap water

 

[Tiger Rye]

Good read. I really in joyed that article. I plan on using RO water myself. Does anyone use RO water for there Chams successfully?

 

[tattooistchameleon]

Sorry but I'm not to good to drink tap water why shouldn't my cham?

 

[Carlton]

Good read. I really in joyed that article. I plan on using RO water myself. Does anyone use RO water for there Chams successfully?

Yes, I have for years. No problems. I only have to clean misters and foggers occasionally or to disinfect, and the plant leaves stay clean too.

 

[Carlton]

Sorry but I'm not to good to drink tap water why shouldn't my cham?

Well, if your tap water is safe for drinking, doesn't leave hard water spots on everything, have so much chlorine it stinks, clog your misters or coat your plant leaves with mineral deposits you are good.

 

[chameleonmatt1]

I use a ro/di combo. works for me.

 

[alvora]

Limey has distilled bottled water for his mister
but I use our well water, which my husband tests, in a spray bottle.
They are both used on an average of 50 per cent of the time. I'm usually home and I squirt him with the bottle. If I need to go somewhere or I'm really busy, I use the mister. He seems very healthy and sheds regularly.
Thanks for all of the info! I'll look into this subject more carefully now.

 

[Hoj]

i use R/O and have for awhile on all my chams and seems to work good for me.
i just got the big bottles and fill em for $3 at the water shop

 

[Elizadolots]

I dont want to tick you off or anything... but read from paragraph 4 down...They say distilled water will not be consumed by "any" wild creature on our planet. They "all" need the minerals and such. It goes on to explain why. Im no vet or scientist but I am 53 yrs old and grew up in S. California and have had many many different types of reptiles as pets growing up. My parents even told me as a kid not to drink distilled water. I mean.... its not poison...... But all the person asked was what could be used instead of distilled and not clog his nozzles Thats all.....

Your parents probably told you not to drink distilled water because it has no taste and is therefore deemed "icky" by kids. The article is seriously flawed. It quotes the EPA saying bad things about distilled water, but if you go to the EPA site and search "distilled water" you won't find it. In fact, all you will find is praise for its purity, safety and use in cleaning things. You'll even find an experiment it recommends for school kids to compare different "waters" for plant growth. According the EPA, the result should be that the plants raised on distilled water do the best because of its purity.

Distilled water and Reverse Osmosis water are processed very differently, which is why RO water. Is recomended, not distilled. Distilled water doesn't contain any of the solutes normally present in drinking water, and yes, even rain water has minerals. This lack of minerals and salts in distilled water is harmful because first of all, distilled water is more acidic. Also, when an animals cells are in a balanced solution (I.e. regular water), water flows evenly back and forth across the cell membranes. However, in a hypotonic solution (less solutes in the water outside the cells than inside), water flows to the area of higher concentration of solutes, into the cells, which causes them to swell up. This isn't good, for obvious reasons, its essentially exactly the opposite of what happens when you drink salt water and become dehydrated.

Check out this article for some more info: http://waterhealthstudies.blogspot.com/2007/12/distilled-water-vs-reverse-osmosis.html

The article contains the complete misquote from the EPA... so, is suspect at best. The only problems I've been able to find on distilled water is that in small home systems it isn't 100% and some of the contaminants do not get removed, making it not really "pure". However, pure distilled water is completely PH neutral.

Rain drops fall from the sky contacting dirt and dust on the way down. Most of which is from human activity (coal fired power plants, agriculture, construction, nuclear meltdown in japan, jet exhaust and chemical plants emissions) so there are a few minerals and a whole lot of pollution in every rain drop.

Good point. Distilled water, however, would not have those things. It is what rain water would have been if mankind had not been messing with it. On quick guess, I'm going to bet you wouldn't argue that chameleons benefit from the crap humans have put into the air.

Sorry but I'm not to good to drink tap water why shouldn't my cham?

Because you're a big strong mammal and it's a little reptile? Do you honestly not think that there is a difference? Heck, even among mammals there are dramatic differences in what is toxic. Don't give your dog Tylenol! Just the size difference alone is enough to mean the two beings are not comparable.

That said, your tap water might be fine. Tap water is definitely not the same everywhere. You should check with your water authority to see what their tolerances are on chemicals present in the water and find out what is being done to the water in your area. It might be dandy.

I used tap water all the time until San Diego started fluoridating their water. I had read this in Chris Anderson's e-zine. and always thought, well, it's so cool my city doesn't fluoridate.

Fluoridated water contains 0.5 to 1.0 ppm fluoride, usually as the sodium salt. Fluoride has a narrow safety range. In mammals, deficiency is associated with dental caries and with osteoporosis in the aged. Fluoride toxicity (fluorosis), due to accumulation from long-term consumption of high levels, is associated with deformed bones and soft, mottled, and irregularly worn teeth. Animals fed diets deficient in protein, calcium, and vitamin C are more susceptible to fluorosis. Water sources containing high levels of fluoride are found in parts of Arkansas, California, South Carolina, and Texas and may be a risk for fluorosis. In reptiles, fluorosis can mimic the signs of metabolic bone disease (MBD).

I've actually wondered for a long time if some of what is called MBD is, in fact, fluorosis.

Anyway, based on that, I don't feel comfortable giving my little lizards tap water anymore, so I don't.

 

[madden]

Wow, I wasn't aware of the effects of flouride...I just checked my city's water quality report and found that they do flouridate my water...guess its time for me to start using RO water.