Water Quality Nuts
I guess I would hope that we are all water quality nuts; certainly, Stevens’ actions demonstrate a high regard for water quality. However, without understanding his situation (real or perceived), desires and expectations it is hard to assess if this is the best way to meet those needs.
{Just read the last 2 posts, so that explains that}
Generally, tap water in an area remains within a range; usually reasonably fit for most purposes. I have lived and kept fish in places where we boiled the water for drinking, washing or cooking, therefore I boiled (then aerated) the water I kept my fish.
I lived in a place the beer companies love to brag about, the water was incredibly good. When I moved to the land of water harder and higher mineral content than seawater, it scared me to death, I first tried my own RO/DI system, it turned out to be less expensive than diy water to simply purchase and have the water delivered. (Note: Phoenix city and other municipalities deliver pretty good water, I am on a system that gets there water from an abandoned copper mine, they charge extra to remove the arsenic.)
Over time, I realized the water here hadn’t actually killed anyone and with a little filtering was not all that bad. The exception being a few plants and a couple of critters that I raise in DI water I reconstitute and aerate then up the alkalinity to about 2 dKH.
I also ‘cut’ the tap water in some of my tanks with a little DI water mostly to drop the KH, in those cases the amount of tap water is much greater than the DI water, therefore I don’t concern myself with reconstituting the DI water, the mixing aerates and seems to bring everything to equilibrium quite quickly.
I guess under the heading of it is hard to say everything in one post I, I failed to mention osmotic pressures which by definition are a function of diffusion of salts, yes the effect of the areas of greater and lesser concentrations are part of the problem with the direct use of RO/DI water.
The problem as I understand it has to do with the pure water during this time when it is seeking equilibrium, in the ion, electrolyte sense of the word the purer the water the more it accepts or to say it another way, it strips what it needs from whatever is handy.
(This would be a good time for one of you smart folks to jump in and do some serious explaining.)
For me the real, decisive moment in the RO/DI reconstituting argument came while dissecting some fish. In particular looking under a microscope at the gills of fish raised in DI, RO and tap water, I did not need the aid of an expert to tell me (as experts will he did anyway) the difference and I found evidence of similar damage throughout the fish.
One of the really big differences between you people and fish has to do with fish being not as closed a system. Fish for instance, urinate about one third their body weight per day, like a 170 lb (77 kilogram) person peeing about 20 gallons (76 liters) per day. Among other things, this is how they help regulate their osmotic pressures.
I can’t go as far as Philosophos or FTP writing as Philosophos, I have not seen any evidence of damage to the central nervous system, nor have I read of it either, it may well be but I think the type of electrical activity is more the ionic sort.
I have been using a couple of ORP, well and other instrumentation and I have to say the readings I get are consistent with what I see.
I grant (see disclaimer) I am no expert, I am not even all that bright, people of learning may well have other better, understanding, but I know what I see.
Anyway that is in a nutshell why a say what I say. Trust me I have got more if anyone is interested.
Between business, legal and health situations, I have got a lot of pent-up, generally useless information. We Evil Plant Monsters have incredibly complex lives.
Biollante
