What kind of water?

[Rainfrog]

Originally Posted by ChromeLibrarian

The soil in the viv does not remineralize distilled water sufficiently. A lot of what is naturally found in bottled water is not found in the soil you are probably using. Therefore, the distilled water is not going to have the full range of salts and minerals, even after you expose it to the soil.

Without the proper salts and minerals in the water, you amphib, or reptile may not be able to regulate the absorption of water into their cells. This is a bad thing.

Never use distilled water in your viv. The only really important thing is to make sure the water you use doesn't have added flouride, or chlorine.

on using distilled water

[HappyHippos]

Yea, I know don't use distilled water, but I don't have PDFs yet. Also is using distilled water bad for the plants?

I guess I should have stated my question as, 'Are the tap water minerals fluorine, chlorine, etc. going to remain in my soil (and hurt the PDFs) since I used tap water to enlarge my substrate ? Note I havn't used tap water in my viv since.

[tunachris]

I use distilled water to mist my vivarium, as it doesn't leave spots on the glass. For water dishes and to water the plants I use tap water to supply trace elements. Water in my area is very hard, with a ph of 7.8. On occasion I will water the plants with tap water and a very weak mix of orchid fertilizer. I think a lot of the nutrients for my system is supplied by gecko droppings which I spray off the glass till it runs down into the soil, and by dead crickets and other critters in the soil. There seems to be a good balance, and the soil has a good humus smell to it. I took everything out last weekend, and the soil seems very rich. If I let the substrate get too damp, I start to see mushrooms growing out of it, but it has been a while since I have gotton the soil that damp.

Chris