RO/DI Water Safe To Use

[RezReef]

Would the RO/DI Water be safe to use for a babies formula?

[phi delt reefer]

Use ro water only (you can put a tee between the membrane and resin to access it in demand).

Everything I have read recommends not drink ro/di water but I am not sure why or the science behind it. No point in taking risks with newborns

[spawn]

I was told that because of the being De-ionized that bacteria is able to form/grow in the column way faster & with no purification traces in it that it's not safe.

[bkelly]

no , dont use RODI, only RO, I think the DI strips the water of too many trace elements then kinda like a sponge when you drink it, definitely not for a child or adult.

[mike31154]

Just thinking out loud here and not really recommending anything in particular, but don't we strip everything out of the water for our tanks and then rely on the salt mix to provide everything the inhabitants need? Would that not be the same scenario with adding baby formula to absolutely pure water?

I've also read the warnings about DI stripping your body of trace elements etc, but never from any real scientific perspective, always some health 'expert' or something. I don't drink DI personally, but since I have the RODI system now, I use RO water for coffee, tea, some cooking and general purpose drinking water. I figure by adding gatorade to one of my water bottles for soccer games, I'm getting back some of the electrolyte lost through perspiration. I tend to side with the argument that you wouldn't be able to drink sufficient pure water to cause any ill effects, provided you have a good diet otherwise. I don't use DI since the resin is costly, my RO gets 0 TDS most of the time anyhow. I think one of the other reasons people don't tend to drink DI is because it has absolutely no taste whatsoever. That's easily remedied by adding a mix of your preference. I've been making my own carbonated water in 2 liter pop bottles using my CO2 cylinder. I don't run a kalk reactor, just use the CO2 for making fizzy water.

[ScubaSteve]

RO would be good (removes bromine, chlorine, etc) but RODI would be too aggressive for a child, heck even an adult. I know some people do drink RODI but it's not actually safe as it strips salts from your body. There have actually been cases of people dying from drinking only RODI in the summer time when their bodies are already stressed for minerals. If you want me to go into the reason why RODI does this I can but I'll save you the science mumbojumbo for now. In big RODI systems for drinking water they actually, by law, have to add minerals back into the water for it to be safe. RO doesn't get to as low concentrations so it's not as much as a worry.

I have a business that makes water desalination tech and I love to talk about this stuff, so feel free to ask questions.

[RezReef]

Thank you all for your helpful information...

[daniella3d]

RO/DI are primary sold for drinking water. They are not made to be used for aquarium

That said, I would not use it as the main source of water due to the lack of mineral and trace element. If someone drink too much of this pure water then this can lead to water poisoning. We do need mineral salts in our drinking water to compensate for what we lose in sweat.

Originally Posted by RezReef

Would the RO/DI Water be safe to use for a babies formula?

[phi delt reefer]

ro is primarily sold as drinking water system are they not? I haven't seen many consumer units with a di stage.

with that said - they do sell a lot of DI only stages to people in the window cleaning and automotive detailing businesses.

[Rogue951]

DI is not used for standard drinking water.
If you look at any residential home purification system (anything at rona, home depot) You'll see none of them use DI.

Stick with the earlier advise. Put a T after the RO and use just RO for your baby.
I use RO for my coffee just to reduce the likelyhood of calcium build up in the boiler. (I use a Keurig K cup machine)

Originally Posted by daniella3d

RO/DI are primary sold for drinking water. They are not made to be used for aquarium

That said, I would not use it as the main source of water due to the lack of mineral and trace element. If someone drink too much of this pure water then this can lead to water poisoning. We do need mineral salts in our drinking water to compensate for what we lose in sweat.