# Is RO water safe to use?



## knotty (Oct 21, 2009)

I've got an RO unit plumbed in the kitchen for my marine tank. Would I be ok using it to mist my crestie viv? I guess I would have to reminralise it first, is there any product on the reptile Market to do this. 
For those who don't know RO is reverse osmosis water basically tap water goes through several purifacation filters to remove the total dissolved solids (minerals salts etc) so it's pure chlorine free water.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

no...

i wouldn't.


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi mate,

I use RO water to spray my Emerald swift, and crestie. I find it leves less marks on the glass, I only put "RO right" back in for the fish tanks.

Jay


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

if you mineralise it in the same way as freshwater RO is done for use in freshwater aquariums then you probably could use it, i say probably because i wouldnt want to commit to that statement 100%. lizards dont breathe through gills so are far less susceptible to inpurities in water than fish though, so tap water is just fine. leave it to stand in an open container for 24 hours before use and most of the impurities leave of their own accord.

RO water is useful for misting systems though, as these dont contribute large amounts of water to a viv, and it stops the impurities from depositing in the pipework and pump and ultimately shortening the pumps life.


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## knotty (Oct 21, 2009)

Cheers for the input guys. The water around our way is so hard it's full of limescale and as a result has a very high Ph of 8.7 the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of our tap water is about 280ppm running it through the RO unit lowers the PH to 7.0 leaves just 3ppm and eradicates limescale so as Jay and Jim said it's great for misting as it leaves no marks on the glass.

Thinking along a different line do Reptiles actually need minerals in water? or do you think they get enough from a complete diet and dusted insects etc.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

whether they need the minerals or not (they probably do), if you use water devoid of minerals then the body tries to equalise the difference and the RO water will leech useful minerals from their body and they wil pass them out. so it would need to be mineralised for sure. its just a question of whether a mineral supplement in the water is the same as natural water. but at the same time youve got to wonder what the water treatment plant does.


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

my partner has brought a very expensive kit for his kitchen.
the cat geckos became ill from the calcium in the water, so this has helped them..

so yes we use it for half of our geckos.


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

I'd say you can use RO for misting or misting systems, but you need to know how much your individual crestie gets in the way of drinking water from spraying. 
If it drinks on spraying then you may want to have a second sprayer with normal tapwater in it to get it to drink from that.

Basically, limescale free glass = RO water
Healthy crestie = tapwater (A brita filter would be nice though).

RO filtered water is void of various minerals and components, it does however still have as much phosphate as it did in the mains. This is obviously a serious problem for your crestie to be getting unadulterated phosphates through it's water that are not balanced by the ordinary complement of minerals.


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## vetdebbie (Jan 4, 2008)

Surely the point of RO water is that it has no phosphates - phosphates being pretty bad news in a marine system?


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## maddragon29 (Oct 16, 2008)

I'd say yes, as i know people who use it successfully.


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## knotty (Oct 21, 2009)

Cheers for all the replies, it looks like opinions differ here.



vetdebbie said:


> Surely the point of RO water is that it has no phosphates - phosphates being pretty bad news in a marine system?


True, the main reason people use RO over tap water in Marine tanks is to reduce phosphates to hopefully eradicate nuisance algae etc


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

vetdebbie said:


> Surely the point of RO water is that it has no phosphates - phosphates being pretty bad news in a marine system?





knotty said:


> Cheers for all the replies, it looks like opinions differ here.
> True, the main reason people use RO over tap water in Marine tanks is to reduce phosphates to hopefully eradicate nuisance algae etc


 
Don't know where you chaps got that idea from, this is the exact reason why there are products called RowaPhos and PhosZorb... 

Standard RO unit membranes do not remove phosphates, nitrates or silicates  You need additional specialist membranes to remove nitrates, phosphates or most silicates.

(Worked with Marine for 5 years  )


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## reptogirl (Apr 7, 2014)

Saedcantas said:


> Don't know where you chaps got that idea from, this is the exact reason why there are products called RowaPhos and PhosZorb...
> 
> Standard RO unit membranes do not remove phosphates, nitrates or silicates  You need additional specialist membranes to remove nitrates, phosphates or most silicates.
> 
> (Worked with Marine for 5 years  )


isn't that what a di unit is there for?

i was just wondering whether we could use di water but i am not sure... We are currently usi,g water from a filter jug lime britta, i guess that reduces the limescale somewhat. We wouldn't be able to see into the tank after a day otherwise!

how do you best clean off those nasty water spots?


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## Kerrabutt (Jan 20, 2013)

Am I not right in thinking rainwater is almost completely devoid of minerals? Besides a bit of sulphur, carbon dioxide, mercury, technetium 99... You know, the good stuff. Drinking from leaves is pretty much just what you do if you live in a rainforest, so I'm not sure why lack of minerals in the water would be a bad thing.


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## reptogirl (Apr 7, 2014)

Kerrabutt said:


> Am I not right in thinking rainwater is almost completely devoid of minerals? Besides a bit of sulphur, carbon dioxide, mercury, technetium 99... You know, the good stuff. Drinking from leaves is pretty much just what you do if you live in a rainforest, so I'm not sure why lack of minerals in the water would be a bad thing.


Sounds right to me... unless they end up drinking water that's got in touch with rocks. but I guess that is more likely with water from streams, etc.


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## Onfire (Mar 30, 2014)

After seeing how much dirt and stuff my RO filter pulled out of my tap water I would use it. I had a TDS meter (Total dissolved solids) on mine, so it was easy to see, plus my nice white filter would turn yellow over time from all the small dirt particles in the water.

Apart from removing minerals it will also remove chlorine, fluoride and any other nice chemicals the water company add as it travels along pipes to you home. 

If you want to add calcium or other minerals then why not dust your food or put some in a small bowl.

I have seen people on here recommending distilled water, RO is about as clean water as you can get.

HTH


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