EdSnyder
New member
Yea, I have opened up a bottle of RO water after a couple of days of sitting in my car, that I previously drank out of, and it smelled BAD. :eek2:
Is it safe to drink RO water?
- Thread starter EdSnyder
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Yea, I have opened up a bottle of RO water after a couple of days of sitting in my car, that I previously drank out of, and it smelled BAD. :eek2:
stealle
Premium Member
I'm sure there is a lot of truth to that. However, since bottled water was/is under a lot of scrutiny, I feel comfortable drinking bottled water from larger companies such as coca-cola and pepsi. They have a lot to lose. They don't want any bad press.
Granted, I'm not advocating bottled water. I only drink it from time to time when I'm out. I'd never stock it at home. Personally I'm fine with the "filtered" water that comes out of my refrigerator door especially since my local tap water is pretty good quality. Also, if I lived somewhere with poor water quality, I'd be drinking RO water.
stealle
Premium Member
...less filling!
uhm, water in pure state is very bad....its not a joke...i calibrate,and fix, o.r. sterilization equipment in hospitals...do you know why that water is not ran in copper pipes? cause the water eats away on the metal, or copper..it has no minerals and has negative ions, so when you run it through your body, or a pipe, it sucks every mineral to it. So, we run pvc to machines, when we use rodi water.....it does suck minerals from anywhere it passes through.
RO/DI water can produce what is know is semiconductor grade or 18 megohm water. In a semiconductor facility, water of this purity is piped and transported in very low mineral content glass. This water is chemically unstable and will become contaminated in a very short amount of time by leaching various ions from it's surrounding environment. In most critical applications, it need to be utilized as soon as it's produced. It will pull minerals from the body if ingested and is not something that you would want to consume on a regular basis.
R/O water is a different matter. It still contains trace amounts of minerals and other “stuff”. In general, water systems that use R/O systems add back a certain amount of minerals prior to distribution.
My 2 cents, YMMV
R/O water is a different matter. It still contains trace amounts of minerals and other “stuff”. In general, water systems that use R/O systems add back a certain amount of minerals prior to distribution.
My 2 cents, YMMV
coryaquarium101
New member
very interesting. I have an ro system and have been told its safe to drink and some say its not. RO/DI I believe is not safe to drink. I really wish ro is safe to drink becuase I like it.
Lets take RO off the table, here. I, too, have read (in a reefkeeping book) that RO/DI water is rather "unstable," in that it does not appreciate being in a de-ionized state and will draw ions from containers. Is that true? Usually people have a TDS of 2 or 3 after it passes through their RO unit. Is there really any benefit of using a DI unit -- Does anyone check their RO/DI water after 24 hours to see if it still has a TDS of zero? Is the real concern RO/DI water?
Larah
New member
Seriously? Wow... Well I've had an RO in my home used for cooking and drinking and the reef for years and years, I change the memebrane and the filter material on a regular schedule and I've never had a problem with it. Though I don't let it sit there for weeks or even very many days before it's used.
Randy is right, of course, when he says that though the bacteria may not get through the membrane they can still grown in your holding tank.
RO water isn't absolutely 100% pure so I would assume given the right conditions critters could grow in it. Though I have no scientific proof. It just seems like common logic to me.
And FYI, that's what Randy does for a living he's a PHD Scientist dude, and he really knows his stuff, so you're getting REALLY GOOD advice here!
But yes, as a general rule RO water is not only safe to drink but is sold specifically for that purpose for people who are on well water or have sub-par tap water.
As far as reefing goes I don't think one needs to go as far as having the water go through RO & DI and be pure H2O. But that's just been my experience and I'm starting with superior tap water to begin with ( Portland Oregon has some of the best in the country) so just RO is fine by me!
Besides if you had a bucket of pure H2O sitting out int he air wouldn't it become an attractant to everything in the environment around it? Wouldn't it become weakly carbonic acid? I dunno, I'm not a scientest( in fact I can't even spell it, LOL!)
Randy????
Randy is right, of course, when he says that though the bacteria may not get through the membrane they can still grown in your holding tank.
RO water isn't absolutely 100% pure so I would assume given the right conditions critters could grow in it. Though I have no scientific proof. It just seems like common logic to me.
And FYI, that's what Randy does for a living he's a PHD Scientist dude, and he really knows his stuff, so you're getting REALLY GOOD advice here!
But yes, as a general rule RO water is not only safe to drink but is sold specifically for that purpose for people who are on well water or have sub-par tap water.
As far as reefing goes I don't think one needs to go as far as having the water go through RO & DI and be pure H2O. But that's just been my experience and I'm starting with superior tap water to begin with ( Portland Oregon has some of the best in the country) so just RO is fine by me!
Besides if you had a bucket of pure H2O sitting out int he air wouldn't it become an attractant to everything in the environment around it? Wouldn't it become weakly carbonic acid? I dunno, I'm not a scientest( in fact I can't even spell it, LOL!)
Randy????
radicaltimes
New member
I use my ro for everything. I've "t"ed off before the DI unit. Ro is going to icemaker in fridge, I have a facuet at the sink. Use the water for coffee, plants and pets also.
Definition of osmosis: water moving from a place of low concentration " low TDS" to a place of higher concentration "higher TDS" our body. This means that our body absorbs pure water better than water with TDS. That explains why the increased urination, more water in more water out
Frogmanx82
New member
I already retracted my statements in the quoted post above. After doing some research, RODI water isn't all that pure by the time it heads down your throat and certainly not when it hits the stomach. Drinking pure water is not hazardous to your health, but it probably doesn't taste too good.
ludnix
New member
Human bodies are not a good analog for the destruction pure water does to pipes. Why would the human body be more like a copper pipe that you do not use than the PVC pipe that you do use?
When looking at these issues it's vital that we look at real peer-reviewed information. Hearsay and false analogies does little for uncovering the truth.
noahm
Active member
I am amazed how many people are concerned about bacterial contamination of bottled, RO etc that has been exposed to the air. From someone who has drank from countless sources of untreated well water, creeks, streams etc., I just don't see a need to fuss about it. The air is generally not a good source of typical waterborn pathogenic bacteria such as coliforms, crypto etc. Your cat drinking out of it, on the other hand...
As a sevicer of municipal water facilities, I can also assure you that you would not want to know what is in your city water tanks which have even more stringent requirements than those of bottled water. If you want safe, readily available water, drink tap that has been filtered to make it taste ok. I'm not going to join in on the RO/DI debate in general, but pathogenic bacterial contamination of that, or bottled water or a glass left on the counter for a week, is typically not an issue you need to worry about. Washing your hands occasionally is far more of a factor.
As a sevicer of municipal water facilities, I can also assure you that you would not want to know what is in your city water tanks which have even more stringent requirements than those of bottled water. If you want safe, readily available water, drink tap that has been filtered to make it taste ok. I'm not going to join in on the RO/DI debate in general, but pathogenic bacterial contamination of that, or bottled water or a glass left on the counter for a week, is typically not an issue you need to worry about. Washing your hands occasionally is far more of a factor.
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