WARNING!!! (DI H20 off Miramar RD)

[Retzius]

I just witnessed a complete wipe out of all my g/f's freshwater fish right after her water change. In less than 10 min after the water change her fish developed cloudy eyes and this white film on thier skin. I didnt know what it was until I suspected it must of been the DI water. This is why I believe this is so:

1) Temperature was stable when H20 change was made.
2) Fish immediately freaked after H20 change. (swam sporadically)
3) She also performed a H20 change on her other tank and the only fish there died immediately.
4) Only two fresh water fish survived and thats because I was able to be quick enough to get them out of the tank.
5) When she finished her H20 change I performed mine on my small saltwater tank and only changed one gallon when I noticed my clowns, goby, and blenny began to breath at a rapid rate.
6)All my zoo polyps closed, something that never happens when I perform my H20 change.


I am warning everyone against buying water from the carwash/detail place off of Miramar Rd. I am 90% sure their DI water must of contained some chemical that killed off my g/f fish and came close to wiping out my minibow. I am going to call them tomorrow and see what might of been the cause. I will post more details tommorrow.

Anyone know how to test this water for harmful chemicals? My guess is it might of been chlorine but I am no expert. Any help would be greatly appreciated. THanks.

[Nick_Kun]

damm I was planning on going there today and getting some D.I. Thanks for the headsup though!

[pk-sd]

You guys might want to get a RO/DI unit from ebay. I purchased one last week for $108. I think in long run, it would be a cheaper option.

I was getting tired of buying RO water from a vending machine for top-off.

[Acoustic]

Did you collect it this way again? I told you to use the spigot!

[pk-sd]

hahahah.....

[SDMike]

I don't think straight DI water is any better for fish than it is for us humans!

The only reason we can use it in our reefs is 'cause there's already other stuff in our salt water to add back in the chemicals that DI takes out.

All DI does is not add any NEW chemicals to the water.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

M

[MrKrispy]

DI water absolutely should not be used for FW tanks, a buffer needs to be added. Back in the FW days I found it funny people would purify their water and then add buffer back in to it. What a waste of money and water.

Still, if the fish die that fast and nothing else was screwed up (like something bad already in your water containers like say....bleach!) then maybe they had a filter go out, or maybe they back flushed the membrane wrong, etc...

What size of a water change was done?

[Retzius]

pk-sd after this incident I am going to seriously invest in a filter unit.

Acoustic, that is very funny.

SDmike you are correct, DI means dionized which has no ions whatsoever in the water. So if the filter membrane is working properly then no ions should be in the water. This may have not been the case with this water because like Mr. Krispy stated there is always the possiblity of a filter malfunction or something else.

Mr. Krispy I know that DI water pH is more acidic and I always add a buffer to the water. The size of water change was 3 gallons on a 12 gallon tank. For the 3 gal FW tank a 3/4-1 gallon water change was performed.

-Retzius

[pk-sd]

Originally posted by Retzius
....Mr. Krispy I know that DI water pH is more acidic and I always add a buffer to the water. The size of water change was 3 gallons on a 12 gallon tank. For the 3 gal FW tank a 3/4-1 gallon water change was performed.

-Retzius

But one should not have to buffer DI water if its only used for top-off???

Is that correct ?

[MrKrispy]

for saltwater, yes. Although a little baking soda will help the alkalinity, heh heh.

[pk-sd]

Thanks

I use b-ionic 1&2 to buffer Scripps water. Do I need to use both part 1 and part 2 ? Both alkalinity and calcium ? or just alkalinity ?

[MrKrispy]

if you use a 2-parter don't add both to your topoff water. It is easier to use kalk water for topoff if you have a high calcium demand. Before I moved to kalk I used baking soda in my topoff water, and added B-ionic calcium to the tank a few times a week. Because of the expense I moved to Kent TurboCalc. I have a small tank so I have to be careful adding alkalinity stuff. The pH rockets up when you add the alkalinity component of B-ionic, so you have to add small amounts over a few hours. Kind of a pain.

[pk-sd]

Originally posted by MrKrispy
if you use a 2-parter don't add both to your topoff water. It is easier to use kalk water for topoff if you have a high calcium demand. Before I moved to kalk I used baking soda in my topoff water, and added B-ionic calcium to the tank a few times a week. Because of the expense I moved to Kent TurboCalc. I have a small tank so I have to be careful adding alkalinity stuff. The pH rockets up when you add the alkalinity component of B-ionic, so you have to add small amounts over a few hours. Kind of a pain.

I am going to check my alk and cal tonight and start adding about 1ml of part 2 to one gallon of DI water for top-off.

[BrookR1]

Baking Soda won't affect your pH unless you bake it for a couple of hours in the oven (this raises the pH). To raise Alk by .4 meq/l in 50 gallons of water, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 12 oz of RO water.

I use the kalk slurry method...I usually add 1/8 to 1/4 of a teaspoon of straight kalkwasser to 24-48 oz of RO water, stir it, and pour it straight into the tank. The key is to monitor pH while you do this...add it slowly at night and don't let your pH rise by more than .2. I do this every night, and my Ca remains very stable at 420 ppm. But, I also have a relatively high demand for Ca (mostly sps and lps in my tank that consume around 35 ppm of Ca per day).

This is by far the cheapest and most effective way.

[chevell]

I have tested the DI water from my system and found it to be very low in ph 6.8 while tap water and RO water are up above 8 so maybe the sudden drop in PH caused some problems.:mad:

[Retzius]

Yeah, I suspected it might of been pH but Ive been using DI water for all water changes including my freshwater tank and they never died on me before.

On another note, I have not called the store because I cant find their number and I have not had a chance to drive over there. If anyone knows thier phone number please post it. Thanks.

[MrKrispy]

Originally posted by BrookR1
Baking Soda won't affect your pH unless you bake it for a couple of hours in the oven (this raises the pH).

sorry to call you on this but this is incorrect. If you have a pH probe in the tank (not using pH titration test kits) when you add a bit of dissolved regular baking soda (in water) the pH will drop. That is why some people bake it, to keep the soda from lowering the pH of the tank water. The baked ummm baking soda will have a higher pH when dissolved in water as you said. It is better to bake it if you frequently have to add it to keep the alkalinity elevated. However, if you only need to raise the alk. a bit infrequently, baking soda out of the box is fine, it just needs to be added slowly (like most alkalinity supplements).

I just use kalkwasser water as my topoff water (easier and safer than the slurry method) and that keeps my calcium fine. I still need to add baking soda about once a week. I use a peristaltic pump though, so I can drip the kalk water slowly over a few hours during the night time. During august I will probably have to run a fan over the tank for a week or two and will probably just add the extra topoff water by hand.

[BrookR1]

The drop is soooo slight, though. C'mon. I can add 1 teaspoon to my 40 gallon tank without barely a budge in pH...maybe .01 here or .01 there, but nothing compared the rocket effect of adding either Kalkwasser (to raise) or vinegar (to drop). You wouldn't want to raise more than 1-2 dKH per day anyway. You'll stress your tank out too much.

Sheesh :rolleyes:

I know a lot of people are afraid of the slurry method, but it works for me. I wouldn't do it if I didn't have a pH monitor in my tank.

[lucubrator]

Any updates on this? I'm running a bit low on water and would like to get some more. As far as I've seen, his price is the best in town.

[jrjuiliano]

Doesn't it seem odd that water used for car washes would be considered pure enough to be used in an aquarium?

Just doesn't seem right. If it's not considered safe for human consumption (or useable for human consumption) then it should be avoided.

Just my .02.