Distilled Water?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:38 pm

Sir?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:13 am

I can see why you could use distilled water, you've got the best of the best when it comes to crab food.

But what about those like... well me?

I can't really get access to the best nutritious foods out there. I use what I can get ahold of. Would using distilled water derive them of something since I probably don't have a totally complete diet? Or is the amount of minerals in your average tap water so negligible that it doesn't really much matter?

Again I don't know much on the subject so... that's why I ask.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:25 am

If you're worried, then just put a drop or two of your salt water mix in the fresh water bowl. That's about how much mineral content regular water has.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:16 pm

Ok, I was going to start this post with something that went along the lines of this:

The problem with distilled water is not just the fact that it lacks important minerals. It is the fact that it actively absorbs everything. including carbon dioxide in the air, making it acidic, and acidic water is horrible for people and animals. DIstilled water also tends to leech neccesary minerals from the body, I have read it being described as "agressive" in this manner.

This was all infomration I recieved quickly form a google search. And you may even be able to go back and search the bords for some posts with me condeming distilled water. SO today i went back to check out some of these sites, to support my position. But I started noticing that I had never heard of any of the web sites this infomration was found on, and that many of them resembled bottled water companies websites. Even the "health" oriented sites had links to other "studies" in which the "scientist" claimed that you could change the crystalline structure of water by being nice to it. So I decided to search some more well known sites:

The CDC said:

Mineral-free water or distilled water is treated to
remove the minerals that occur naturally in water. Almost
all sodium is removed by these processes. The resulting
water is rather flat and tasteless for drinking because of
the lack of minerals.

The EPA could only tell me what it was, and that it was the purest form of water.

No real evidence could be found that distilled water is actually bad form you.

True: Distilled water is lacking minerals and nutrients.
Also true: Most nutrients are not absorbed through water, but food.

Many "health" web pages have all kinds of information about the "dangers" of distilled water. The problem is, many of these "articles" that they offer, only give you an author name, no publication date, and no publication that the article was published in. To me, this starts to reek of male bovine feces....

Lesson learned: Look critically at all information you find on the web, and question its reputability.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:03 pm

Yep, one day they will say that breathing "regular air" will kill you. [smilie=crazy.gif]

One person says "this" is bad, the other will say "this" is good. One will have a study on why "this" is bad, and the other will have one on why "this" is good. Even the FDA messes up regularly on what is 'safe' and 'unsafe'. I mean, look at ****

. Was supposed to be safe and "help" people out, now some of them are blind.

You just never know. When the government, or anyone else starts messing with 'natural' things, such as water, or anything else, there will always be a hitch.
I personally don't even like 'tap' water because I freak about it. I use a Pur filter system, which probably isn't any good either. Unless we are all in the middle of an untouched jungle with a natural spring, I think it's almost impossible to know for sure.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:09 pm

crabby1 wrote: Unless we are all in the middle of an untouched jungle with a natural spring, I think it's almost impossible to know for sure.

ewww, I owuld never drink naural spring water from a jungle, that is some of the most disease and bacteria filled water.

I dont know about the Government screwing up our water too much. Yes, there is chlorine and such things in tap water, but that is a lot better than all the bacteria and junk you would get naturally, considering we as people are not exposed to such things as much anymore. But anyways, I digress before we get too off topic.

I still say dechloriante tap water, or use a filtered system, it will help your crabs. Just dont use natural or tap water. Too much added to the pipes to get rid of other harmful stuff. Above all, be smart about what you give your crabs.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:08 pm

crabby1 wrote: One person says "this" is bad, the other will say "this" is good. One will have a study on why "this" is bad, and the other will have one on why "this" is good. Even the FDA messes up regularly on what is 'safe' and 'unsafe'. I mean, look at **** . Was supposed to be safe and "help" people out, now some of them are blind.

Same thing with second hand smoke. Yes it's nasty, and smells bad, but the study that everyone uses to "prove" it kills is bogus and was thrown out by a Federal judge not too long after it was published in 1993. Ever since then, the evidence is that out of 1,000,000 people, second hand smoke may have contributed to the deaths of 12.5 of them. And they could have died from other causes.

Critical analysis is very important, but many things are about opinion and personal feeling, too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:45 pm

Dionysianexile,

Not 'literally', I was just trying to make a point. Never will everyone agree on what is 'good' and 'bad', it will never happen. There will always be 'for' and 'against' people on every subject you could ever imagine, and some we can't!!

I was just saying.....that's all.

I just give my crabs de-chlorinated tap water, and they seem fine with it.

[smilie=grouphug.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:48 pm

I know, its all good, dont worry. I was just thinking because One of my professors recently described to us how incredibly nasty a jungle can be.

:mrgreen:

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:30 am

Jungle, can be nasty. But consider Discus fish, among the most sensitive to water conditions of any freshwater fish kept by aquarists. The water in their natural habitat is not unlike RO or distilled water. Like unpolluted jungle rainwater, mineral content is low and there is no build-up of ammonia. That's why Discus owners tend to change so much of their water, so frequently. Got a discus? Get RO.

Sorry, I digress. Hermit crabs live closer to the sea shore, with more variety of minerals available in water sources, not just foods. Your marine salt mix should provide mineral content. But, dechlorinated tap water is still the easiest cheapest fresh water source, so why distilled?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:32 am

For me, I don't want to add any chemicals to their drinking water, including dechlorinator. I prefer distilled because it's completely pure. I only use dechlorinator for water I'm using to boil their shells & stuff.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:43 am

I got one for you Kerie! We got our annual water report a few weeks ago. Of course I threw it away after I read it so I can't give you exact numbers, but it did say there were trace amounts of arsenic in the public water from farm run off. I've been using it with dechlorinator since we moved here in May. I steered clear of distilled water because I had heard it was bad for the mineral reason. Now, would it be better for me to go out and get some bottled water or some distilled water instead? I know arsenic is bad, and even though it's trace amounts, the crabs are so small. What would you do?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:56 am

I lived in London, England for four years. You should have seen the weird stuff that came out of the tap. The rumor has it that there is so much estrogen in the water supply from women on birth control pills that it's affecting men's fertility, and that it's been through 7 sets of kidneys (recycled and cleaned) before it comes to your house.

I would NEVER give my crabs tap water. Dechlor only works on so many compounds, not all of them.

I'm not a huge expert on water quality by any means, but I'm not entirely certain arsenic is removed by a regular dechlor chemical. I could be wrong, but I don't want to take any chances.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:41 am

Julia_Crab wrote:I lived in London, England for four years. You should have seen the weird stuff that came out of the tap. The rumor has it that there is so much estrogen in the water supply from women on birth control pills that it's affecting men's fertility, and that it's been through 7 sets of kidneys (recycled and cleaned) before it comes to your house.

EEEEEWWWWW!!!

That is soooooo nasty!!