Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggi
I heard that reverse osmosis water is actually bad for the frogs since it sorta takes away from the frogs health by absorbing the nutrients from your frogs or something like that....
don't quote me on it though!
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Only if you are soaking the frog in it with no way for the frog to get out of the water. Adding RO/DI water to a setup where it is going to pass through/be in touch with substrates then the water is going to dissolve various items into solution. At that point it will no longer be pure water.
This is a common misconception that has been tossed around a lot. If you place your frog into pure RO/DI water without any way for it to get out of the water, then it will lose calcium and some other minerals as it actively transports excess water out of its body to maintain its osmotic potential. This is also offset as the frog can actively scavenge the same ions out of the water. The main thing is that it causes stress if the frog cannot get out of the water. None of this applies to water that is passed though a substrate that willl allow materials to dissolve into the water or when used in a misting system or spraying the tank.
Personally I typically initially set up non-flow through systems with aged dechlorinated tap/spring water to provide an extra boost for the plants and then use RO for misting and spraying (containers with tadpoles get either aged tap water or reconstituted RO water) or topping up for evaporation.
If I siphon water out it is replaced with aged tap water. That is how I personally handle it but my setups at work are not what most people are maintaining in thier homes.
Ed
