dehumidifier water

Lampuki

New member
Anyone see any problem with using dehumidifer water to top off if I have no inverts or corals and the water is clean (no dust etc)

the condensation tubes are not copper or other metal (they are ceramic infact.

The water has no nitrates and it's just real easy to do. Am I nuts to try this?

Thanks
 
i let the water sit a while and there's no dirt. areyou saying here's dissolved dirt in the water that could be harmful to FISH?
 
if my coil is ceramic, why would i have copper? and aren't most pipes copper? this is a fish only tank--i don't use RO so it's got be better than using tap water.

what is TDs?
 
thanks. and this would differ significantly from tap water? just trying think this through. seems like the concentration of TDS in the water in the air we breath couldn't be all that toxic.

where do you get a tds test?
 
Did a google search - this is what I found on a fw forum:

"Many, if not most, dehumidifiers use copper coils for the condenser.
The low-salts (essentially distilled) water that condenses on them is
very corrosive, and may well pick up some of that copper. Topping it
off, the unit passes a lot of room air over that water, so room
deodorants, cooking fumes and oils, insecticides, paint, smog and all
other household air pollutants can add to the "stuff" in solution. I
wouldn't drink it, and I certainly would only use it for fish in a dire
emergency. [That is, it's better than being dry!]"
credit: Wright Huntley 1997

While technology has certainly advanced the past 10 years, I would say the comment about the room air infiltrating that water likely still applies.

Another guy on that same thread mentioned breeding guppies in dehumidifier water and the brood came out half dead with the other half mutated. Not good. This even though the adult guppy appeared fine.
 
thanks. probably not worth the risk but again, my coils are NOT COPPER they are ceramic.

would love to see that bucket of three headed guppies:)
 
Bad idea .. whether you have copper coils or not .. nasty stuff that you would not want to drink or put in your tank. Not much difference than rain water that comes out of your gutters .. the rain water may not be bad but the delivery system is "nasty".
 
I ran one for a long time and the collection cup was always a bit on the slimey side. that water sits in there in a warm environment that is perfect for breeding "stuff"
 
Doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. Why risk something like that? I get my RO top off water from my local LFS. Any reason to check out what new and interesting they've got.
 
thanks ralph. i used to live in santa monica and went to the store on sepulveda where duece bigelow worked. they got their water from the ocean. i live in MI now. it's hard to find stores let alone ones that will give you water (they don't do it here)

i'll have to figure something out......
 
I had thought about attempting the very thing that you have just discussed and talked to my LFS only to find that someone from the community had already attempted this with fatal results. He had been using the water with success for about 2-3 months and then out of the blue inherited the worst algae bloom one could imagine which took over his LR. Infact it actually ended up killing off the coraline algae. Then went the fish. Then went everything else with the worst nitrIte spike you could just about ever experience. Keep in mind this is "friend of a friend" type of info. But, it's pretty much the same thing that I had thought about as a "worst case scenario".

Jason
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10441080#post10441080 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lampuki
thanks ralph. i used to live in santa monica and went to the store on sepulveda where duece bigelow worked. they got their water from the ocean. i live in MI now. it's hard to find stores let alone ones that will give you water (they don't do it here)

i'll have to figure something out......
Actually I but the RO water from the LFS. I think I pay $1.25 to refill my 5 gallon jug. I add my own buffer.
 
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