Safe water to use?

[chenneoue]

I was wondering if the water from my dehumidifier was safe to use in the fish tank. Seems like I've heard somewhere of people doing this. But I cannot remember where. Any clue? And if I can use it, I'd imagine I'll have to add some buffers or something to it to help make the water stable.

Comments

[akirashima]

I would imagine that if the dehumidifier was clean then you would basically have distilled water on your hands. since it is pulling just the water vapour from the air and condensing it. However distilled water does lack any minerals and can screw with some fish because it is. (basically the water will want minerals and such in it and will pull them from the cells since the water pressure in the cells will be higher than the water so things will move out to the water. sorta like the opposite of a cooking brine. in which first moisture leaves the food and then brings the salt water in to the food. or like what happens to a Salmon when it comes back into fresh water to spawn

[chenneoue]

Adding salt would probably not be the best. I have soft water and the fish I keep tend to prefer that. Keeping this thing balanced is driving me nuts. Sounds like I should just use something else. :/

[chenneoue]

Yeah... I wondered about that. I think I'll probably just keep using it to water the house plants. Hasn't killed them yet. So, I guess all is good. D: I am just trying to find a better cleaner source of water, that's cheap. I guess I could do rain water, but the trees and what not drop a lot of debris. I'd image it would be hard to get clean rainwater... and I've never used it before. I feel like such a newb right now.

[chenneoue]

I live in Michigan. And I think there is too much ammonia in the city water, among other things. Not really sure. But I can set up a bucket of fresh tap water with a small filter to age the water, or try, I generally just use fresh treated water. As aging doesn't seem to help. The ammonia was testing 5.0ppm in the freshly set up bucket... :( BUT. That could because of the filter. I need to test the tap water directly so not to get misleading results from possible contaminates. Either way. I don't like the idea of putting that into my tank, as I tend to have Nitrate problems (and as Ammonia is going to end up that anyhow...) I won't want to add to the problem. Thought the local place says the amount in the tap is so small, that it's nothing to be concerned about. I am thinking also that the complex here treats their water, with a water softener or something. I am going to have to ask the owner

[tallblue]

I would never do that.

[chenneoue]

Thanks. I am getting that feeling from others as well.

[lironess]

You can get bottled drinking water cheap. That has always worked the best for my ...

My ex wanted me to give my cats the left over AC water.....I think he wanted to kill them you get copper from the coils and whatever dirt was on them to which in that house was black mold spores...

Treat your pets right....get them some drinking water for longest lives....

[chenneoue]

I've actually been told not to use bottled drinking water from one specialty shop before. As they said, "you never know what's in it".... so yeah. I don't know what to use. I've just been using tap water. Which sucks in my opinion. Thought the local place here seems fine with it. :|

[lironess]

I get a name brand one and my fish thrive on it....If I use tap they all die. You can test a bottle first if you want.

[akirashima]

collect rain water. you can use an clean bucket and put some mosquito netting over it. this keeps the bugs out though most fish will hit mosquito larva like crack. I am also wary of bottled water since a it is expensive for packaged tap water which 90% of it is. and two Plastic bottles do leach chemicals into it unless it is some of the newer plastic bottles and finally OMG THE PLASTIC WASTE! yeah it can be recycled but i know that this city while charging us for recycling does not actually recycle shit. they just use a different truck to dump it all.

but rain water is good. if you are worried about a possible acid level in it (cause i have no idea where you live) a few pieces of limestone (aka gravel in most places. the grey stuff) will balance that.

I have used a combo of rain and tap water in my tanks and they have been going for almost a decade now since i moved where i am now. and they are damn healthy. but to each their own. tap water does change quality a lot from one place to another as does rain.

[silver_beetle]

I'd ask your local fish shop what water they use. Dehumidifiers have copper coils, which, wouldn't leach all that much into the water. After all, most household plumbing is copper. Dip a test strip into the water and see how it tests. But regardless, I'd just deal with your tap water. The cost of any buffers you use would be offset by any cost you'd incur by buying bottled water.

[chenneoue]

They just use tap water. I believe they said they age it for a week or something. I haven't had much luck in duplicating the results though.