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Ice maker water


willieb18

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I was using distilled water from the store for my top off in my 5gal. Well I got lazy and started using the filtered water from the ice maker on my refrigerator and all my coral started looking much better. My mushrooms started splitting as did my candy canes. Is it ok to use this water for my new tank? Is there any chance that the filter could be DI? Thanks in advance

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no there is no chance unless you hooked it up... its no diffrent then tap water... or it might have alittle britta thing in it... some people have good luck with tap water but in most cases it causes death

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filefish949

the copper is worst when salt or RO/DI water gets to it as. RO/DI water if very reactive. most houses are completely plumbed in copper, that is not the issue with tap water, it is the chlorine, chloramines, Po4, No3, and all the other nastys that make up your TDS, just don't use tap water, and don't use copper/brass anywhere in or after your RO/DI system

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now I know that is copper. i didn't even think of that. now that i think about it i live in an old house there is a chance my water lines are copper.

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filefish949
now I know that is copper. i didn't even think of that. now that i think about it i live in an old house there is a chance my water lines are copper.

 

older houses may be gal, up until recently and after gal was phased out, everything was copper, the latest thing is a plastic tubing that I know nothing about

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Most likely your house lines are copper. When our house was built plastic tubing was just becomming an option, and was expensive, so we just did the house RO/DI lines in plastic. Now I am glad we did such a thing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure I'm not. The lines in the house are most likely copper, but they have fresh water running through them, so the amount of copper that leaches into the water is pretty much un-detectable. It is when you have saltwater running directly through copper, or submerse copper into salt water that it becomes a problem. The salt in saltwater acts as an electrolyte that attracts the copper and contaminates the water.

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filefish949
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure I'm not. The lines in the house are most likely copper, but they have fresh water running through them, so the amount of copper that leaches into the water is pretty much un-detectable. It is when you have saltwater running directly through copper, or submerse copper into salt water that it becomes a problem. The salt in saltwater acts as an electrolyte that attracts the copper and contaminates the water.

 

yes. however, RO/DI water is stripped of everything, and it will fairly quickly leatch copper out of the smallest brass fitting.

 

the problem with city/well water (that may or may not) run through copper pipes is all the other junk and the clorine and chloramines.... just do not use it

 

my display tank is 180. I work a lot. occasionaly I get home late and need to top off the tank and am too tired to go out to the garage to get RO/DI. if I use 1 gallon of refrigerator water, by noon the next day I will have more alage on my glass than I normaly get in 4-7 days

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My mushrooms started splitting as did my candy canes.

 

if they very rapidly started to split that may not be a good sign. It could POSSIBLY be a sign of stress as in nature when something is stressed it often RAPIDLY divides or splits in order to increase its species chances for survival. I would not use tap water in my tank, nor should anyone else. You should use it ONLY if you are running it thru a RO or RO/DI system.

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filefish949
If your home was built after roughly 1960 its all copper. Guaranteed.

 

meh, for the last 7 years we have been using the plastic tubing more and more in new construction

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filefish949
Only because the price of copper tubing has went up so much.

 

apparently it is really cool stuff, the fittings are expensive and you have to be certified to crimp it, but it is way easier to run and drywall screws tend to bounce off them

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