General Care Discussion :: Tap water, or Gallon spring water?

[adam85491]

Does it matter?

[SpotsMama]

The advantage of tap water is it's....cheap!

Most everybody uses tap water. If your tap water is the usual municipal treated water, it probably has chlorine in it, so it would be helpful to add a water conditioner like Reptisafe. The chlorine won't kill a turtle like it will a fish, but it irritates their eyes.

[Pizza]

I second that, unless you have a fat wallet or a lot of spring water you'll never use, since apart from draining and refilling most of your water on average once a month, it's also not uncommon for a turtle keeper to do partial water changes every few days to once a week.

But if you really persist, Spring Water is better.

[marisa]

I've been using spring water in my turts's tanks. It's from a public spring, so it's free and cost isn't an issue. But lugging around 80 gallons a trip is a real pain and extremely tiring. If you've got decent tap water, use it (with a dechlorinator if it's been treated).

Pizza, I do do partial water changes weekly on larger tanks.

[Pizza]

Oh whoops, I forgot to add un to common on my earlier post.

[thebernreuter]

I use tap water that I pour through a Brita pitcher filter. Brita filters are carbon filters, which is the same mechanism as utilized by the tank filter I have, so I figured it was worth a try. I tested it on a tank with my crawfish and feeder fish in it, and all of them did fine in that water. I've only had my turtle for a few months, but so far she is still alive and not sick or anything.

I'm just posting this as an idea for others to evaluate. I don't know much about turtle care; that's actually why I'm here.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Tap water. Good thing is that the chlorine dissipates within 8 hours, plus I run her charcoal filter during that time....plenty of time for Sheba to get a walk around my house while the water cycles & chlorine is removed.

For my Aquatic frog, I use Brita filtered water. Frogs are more sensitive to Chlorine than turts but I can definitely attest to the fact that he has lived for 6.5 yrs & still doing fine. I once ran into a Brita filter Rep & told him that his Brita filters really DO work since I use the water to remove the chlorine for my frog. He was happy to hear it!

I also filter Brita water for myself.....I love drinking water, but am very sensitive to chlorine taste. Brita does the trick!

[Muirner]

Charcoal in the filter will help with chlorine? Will any type of ceramic media help with this? I know bio-max helps with ammonia, and nitrites

[industrial_girl_2000]

Charcoal in the filter will help with chlorine? Will any type of ceramic media help with this? I know bio-max helps with ammonia, and nitrites

Not sure about ceramic media for chlorine, but I have been told that "activated charcoal" media removes chlorine & activated charcoal is what they use in Brita filters (along with a tiny bit of ceramic material which is what the little white specks are).

Ok, here's the REALLY nerdy part of removing chlorine: technically, anything that dissolves in water will help remove chlorine because it "replaces" the chlorine when it dissolves. So the stuff dissolves in between the water molecules, and there is no room for the chlorine, so the chlorine evaporates into the air (Chlorine is actually a gas in it's purest form). Examples of things that dissolve in water that you can use in your tank: Turtle water conditioners, electrolyte solutions (like the ZooMed clear blue reptile water conditioner...can't remember the name of it offhand), & calcium blocks. "Electrolytes" are various metal salts (potassium, sodium, etc.), like the stuff they use in Gatorade drinks (but obviously without all the sugar added!).

Ok, I'll step off my nerdy Engineering soap box now.

[Muirner]

Reptisafe is the clear blue reptile conditioner. I was looking to get that in a 64oz jug haha