I decided to start getting water out of a machine because it's half the price of distilled from walmart (only 35 cents). The machine says the water goes through 20 steps which include carbon filtering, reverse osmosis, and water polishing. I'm not sure what water polishing means and I googled it but nothing much comes up. is it safe for cps? do they add anything to the water?
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polished water?
- Thread starter Neps_N_Things
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- osmosis
You mean the water they sell from the machine at the grocery store? If so, that stuff is just fine, I used it for the first 2 years of growing Neps til I bought my own R/O filter - a Captive Purity 75 GPD unit from www.marinedepot.com
Water is polished before it goes in the RO to reduce the RO's workload and there shouldn't be much that can be done after the RO. So I'm inclined to agree with Ozzy that something's being added back to it. That's how a lot of bottled waters are manufactured - they RO them to nothingness and then add back a calibrated amount of salts so the water tastes the same no matter where it's bottled. Or maybe Bianchi is right and they aim to make shiny happy people
I think im right... i meen come on doesnt my thory make the most sense it would be waaayyy easier 
althuogh the water might have nasty chunks of wax in it but never mind that... no actually i am pretty sure that ozzy and herenorthere are right about them adding crap back into the water after it has benn RO'ed
althuogh the water might have nasty chunks of wax in it but never mind that... no actually i am pretty sure that ozzy and herenorthere are right about them adding crap back into the water after it has benn RO'edI found this by typing the question into google a different way
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fish-1472/water-polishing.htm
it sounds okay to me if this is what they did to it but does anyone see a reason not to use it still?
i also found this just now
http://www.labwater.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=121&cat=Aquamax+Lab++Water+Polishing+Systems
I'm also not sure if they polished it before or after reverse osmosis
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fish-1472/water-polishing.htm
it sounds okay to me if this is what they did to it but does anyone see a reason not to use it still?
i also found this just now
http://www.labwater.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=121&cat=Aquamax+Lab++Water+Polishing+Systems
I'm also not sure if they polished it before or after reverse osmosis
From the aquarium world, the term "polished water" means water that has been REALLY super-filtered..RO, multiple micron filters, carbon filters, running it through a mile of fine-gained filter floss, etc etc..
its taking tap water and running it through as many filters and RO units as possible, so as to get it super-pure..
I came across the term while raising Discus..Discus keepers go through amazing lengths to get hundreds of gallons, sometimes DAILY, of super-pure water..
(buying distilled isnt an option..unless you want to spend $200 a day to buy it!
)
Thats the only definition of "polished water" I have ever heard...super ultra filtered and purified fresh tap water..
Scot
its taking tap water and running it through as many filters and RO units as possible, so as to get it super-pure..
I came across the term while raising Discus..Discus keepers go through amazing lengths to get hundreds of gallons, sometimes DAILY, of super-pure water..
(buying distilled isnt an option..unless you want to spend $200 a day to buy it!
)Thats the only definition of "polished water" I have ever heard...super ultra filtered and purified fresh tap water..
Scot
I remember back in probably the late 80's or early 90's, there were filters being branded as water-polishing filters. If I remember correctly, they were made by Vortex and they used diatomaceous earth to polish the water. They looked similar to a canister filter and filtered out *tiny* particles out of the water, making it super-clear, or polishing it.
The last time I saw something similar being used was on a Marineland filter, like a Magnum 350 and a H.O.T. Magnum (Hang On Tank) canister filter. They had these filter inserts that were made out of cloth or something that were used to polish the water. When the filters got clogged you could soak them in a bleach / water mixture and they would release all the particles they had captured and were ready to be reused.
I say all of that to concur with Scot in that it's a filtering mechanism, though I've always seen it in reference to a stage of mechanical filtration, not chemical or biological filtration. In my personal experience, I've only seen it used to polish water that's in a tank containing fish, it obviously took place after the reverse osmosis process.
Will
The last time I saw something similar being used was on a Marineland filter, like a Magnum 350 and a H.O.T. Magnum (Hang On Tank) canister filter. They had these filter inserts that were made out of cloth or something that were used to polish the water. When the filters got clogged you could soak them in a bleach / water mixture and they would release all the particles they had captured and were ready to be reused.
I say all of that to concur with Scot in that it's a filtering mechanism, though I've always seen it in reference to a stage of mechanical filtration, not chemical or biological filtration. In my personal experience, I've only seen it used to polish water that's in a tank containing fish, it obviously took place after the reverse osmosis process.
Will
Given where you are, it isn't a bad idea to think about an alternative water supply, but don't panic. Assuming you're connected to Wichita's public water supply, here's what your water contains - http://www.wichita.gov/NR/rdonlyres/212AD85C-2B66-4178-933E-B5A621ACF9F9/0/2007YearlyFWAverage.pdf. Most CPs wouldn't want to live on that exclusively and some might be very unhappy getting much of it. But I think lots of people waste their money to obtain water purified far beyond what's required. Neps aren't too picky and they'd probably be ok watered with your tap water at least half of the time, as long as they get flushed well every watering and get "cleaner" water sometimes, whether it's purchased, filtered at home or just falls from the sky.
