Question: Reverse Osmosis Water?

[misshippo27]

I have two axolotls. I volunteer at a zoo and one of he keepers told me that I should be putting in 50/50 RO water in because they are amphibians and it puts stress on their kidneys to have to filter out the water (standard procedure for Anurans at the zoo). Does anyone have any experience with this? I dechlorinate my city water during water changes, but if it would be better for them long term I'd like to give it a go.

 

[Jennewt]

I think the keepers may have it backwards; the more dilute (close to distilled) the water is, the more stress on the kidneys. The kidneys have to maintain the normal salt content of the blood; the less salts in the water, the harder they have to work.

Making or buying RO water is a lot of extra hassle. Unless there is something extraordinarily wrong with your tap water, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Jennewt]

As an added point, professionals who raise axolotl larvae normally use a salt solution such as Holtfreter's or Ringer's. The point of this is to ensure that there are enough salts/minerals in the water. Unless you have very hard water, taking a step toward purer water isn't helpful. More info here:
Caudata Culture Articles - Bottled Water for Amphibians

 

[michael]

If your water is o.k. for tropical fish it should be o.k. for axolotls. If you are at a location where fish won't live in your dechlorinated tap water R.O. is an option. If you use R.O. you will need to add minerals and or salt for anything to live in it. You will need to add lots to keep axolotls happy.

My tap water is hard and the axies do well in it. I still like to add a little marine fish salt.

 

[JessG]

If your water is o.k. for tropical fish it should be o.k. for axolotls. If you are at a location where fish won't live in your dechlorinated tap water R.O. is an option. If you use R.O. you will need to add minerals and or salt for anything to live in it. You will need to add lots to keep axolotls happy.

My tap water is hard and the axies do well in it. I still like to add a little marine fish salt.

Hey! I have an RO system and have been using seachem equilibrium however some people have told me to use seachem replenish. Does that really matter? My RO system takes way too long to fill my tank so would the 5G jugs of RO drinking water from the water filtration place (the stuff you put in the cooler/dispensers) be the equivalent? Or are they different? (I thought the RO drinking water had some minerals added back in so it was safe to drink but the guy at the store told me no they’d be the same). Can I use this? (I tested my drinking water from the store against the stuff my RO system made and the gh/kh turned out to be the exact same.) Could I just top up my tank with the bought stuff?