RODI water to make lather

I have a RODI filter for my saltwater aquarium and I decided to gather a little of this ultra pure water to see if that would combat the problems I get due to hard water from the tap water we have here in Texas.

I was amazed that with only a little of this RODI water I got an amazingly thick and creamy lather compared to the usual runny and pretty lame lather with water straight from the tap.

So tomorrow when I shave again, Ill fill my scuttle with RODI and microwave it. Then make my lather in a dish and transfer it to the scuttle cup to keep it warm. Ill let everyone know if that makes a difference in the quality of the shave.

By the way, RODI means reverse osmosis and deionized. It is a 5 stage filter that removes every chemical and mineral from the water. The filters are about $100 and produce 100 gallons per day. I have mine hooked up in my bathroom feeding the auto top off system in my fish tank, but you can use one for practically any purpose that requires ultra pure water. Some people wash there cars with it because it does not leave water spots. May be good for a final rinsing of your SR as well to prevent spots.

Your filter eliminates some, but not all, chemicals from your water.

What does it miss?

I don't know what filters you have but none of them work perfectly. The filters you have in your home system are not as good as the high grade water filtration systems used in research laboratories that produce 18 megaohm water. The less dissolved ions that are present in water, the higher its electrical resistance. For comparison, distilled water is about 1 megaohm.

I learned the hard way that even those 18 megaohm systems do not remove everything. There was a lot of flooding in my area in 1993, a few months later I noticed that the cell cultures I routinely worked with did not look right. I didn't find out how wrong they were until I analyzed their chromosomes. These cells normally had 40 chromosomes but these now averaged over 90. They had characteristics normally found in tumor cells.

I tried everything I could to figure out what was wrong. I considered everything and went through a few laborious frustrating months before I finally traced it to the culture media that I was making with our "ultrapure" water. Something in the local water was causing chromosomal damage and our highest quality filtration system was not removing it. :beer2:

I suspected it to be the result of excess field run-off due to the flooding, but I don't know. I contacted the local water plant and they treated me like I was a nut job. I bought the best home filtration system I could find. It clearly could not eliminate all of it but I hoped that it would at least reduce it. My long overdue point is that though I am a huge fan of water filtration, you should be aware that they at best only reduce, not eliminate, contaminates in your water.

The one I have is Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Typhoon 5 stage RODI Reefkeeper 75 GPD

I also have a TDS meter and it always reads 0.

I think though the whole point I was trying to make was for those of us who suffer from hard water the alternative to buying bottled water could be to use a RODI instead.

From what I can tell, the water it produces is far superior to bottled water.

I'm also into saltwater tanks (25g reef) so I know about RODIs too. From my understanding, most but not exactly everything is removed. Some chemicals may remain, but it is still very pure water. If it works for you continue to use it.

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Originally Posted by Ibreakstuff

The one I have is Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Typhoon 5 stage RODI Reefkeeper 75 GPD

I also have a TDS meter and it always reads 0.

I think though the whole point I was trying to make was for those of us who suffer from hard water the alternative to buying bottled water could be to use a RODI instead.

From what I can tell, the water it produces is far superior to bottled water.

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I certainly take your point. I guess the residual scientist in me bristled at the suggestion that "all" chemicals were removed. Then again, I have my doubts about the accuracy of your TDS meter reading zero as well.
Regardless, dissolved solids in your water can interfere with lathering and as you pointed out, bottled water is not ideal. Bottled water has salts in it because they improve the taste but those same salts can interfere with lathering.

I wouldn't doubt the TDS of 0. All aquarists with properly working RODIs achieve a TDS of 0.

well now you got me wanting to bring home some water from the lab...

What is TDS? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Just a little tidbit of info on total dissolved solids... I am also sure that hobbiest level meters have a bit of tolerance in them... not sure how much the accuracy would/can vary, but from the article, it looks like varience is the rule with TDS meters... all quite acedemic as far as the subject of a lather goes... but hey... Im married to a scientist, so I have arguments like this all the time! LOL

Utopian- Seeing how I am dumb... distilled is "more pure" at 1 Megaohm than "pure" at 18 Megaohm right? That would make sense... I have a black car that gets washed with distilled, to prevent the waterspotting...

Fun post.... I may have to try a distille dlather when I get home :D

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Originally Posted by Autoc0cker07

Just a little tidbit of info on total dissolved solids... I am also sure that hobbiest level meters have a bit of tolerance in them... not sure how much the accuracy would/can vary, but from the article, it looks like varience is the rule with TDS meters... all quite acedemic as far as the subject of a lather goes... but hey... Im married to a scientist, so I have arguments like this all the time! LOL

Utopian- Seeing how I am dumb... distilled is "more pure" at 1 Megaohm than "pure" at 18 Megaohm right? That would make sense... I have a black car that gets washed with distilled, to prevent the waterspotting...

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You are correct about the TDS issue. Just because the meter reads zero does not mean all has been eliminated.

Sorry but you're backwards on the water purity issue. Ohms are a measure of electrical resistance. Pure water does not conduct electricity as well as water with dissolved ions (like salts) so 18 megaohm water (considered "ultrapure") has less in it than distilled water.

Edit: Because of the energy required to produce distilled water, I'd like to suggest a chamois cloth for eliminating water spots on your car. :D

If this works out I have a relative that works at millipore.... their product development department might need to hear of a new niche market

If you want the purest water just get a tabletop distiller. It's way cheaper that a RODI system which doesn't get everything out.

Do you have a link to the tabletop distillers? Those could be useful even in the aquarium hobby...

I've seen them in the Sears catalog.

Very interesting, thank you.
I've looked up several distillers, but the cheapest one I could find is $150. You can get a decent RODI for $70-$100 and they would put out a lot more water.

Though I'm not a fan of distillers, I'll point out that the RO system will require regular replacement of expensive filters, while the distiller is a one time investment.

Do NOT heat your RO or distilled water, or any water for that matter in the microwave.

It can explode. I've had it happen. As soon as you get mechanical movement, all the water in the container can turn to steam at once.

Very dangerous!!

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Originally Posted by jeffegg2

Do NOT heat your RO or distilled water, or any water for that matter in the microwave.

It can explode. I've had it happen. As soon as you get mechanical movement, all the water in the container can turn to steam at once.

Very dangerous!!

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Really?

I have RO water and heat it in the microwave pretty much daily and have never had that happen. You must have some heavy duty industrial super microwave.:)

I do steal my lathering water from the lab. I make it a point to not use my tap water. I need to check the last tests from the lab tech on our water, but last I checked it wasn't to the 18 megaohm level that Utopian works with, but then again I am only allowed in certain lab areas and some labs have their own system, mine doesn't. I do like the DI water for lathering, but lately my associates have thought me to be a little strange for stealing water.
(mind you I have never stole any lab equipment, like most of them)

-G

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Really?

I have RO water and heat it in the microwave pretty much daily and have never had that happen. You must have some heavy duty industrial super microwave.:)

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It rarely happens and requires specific conditions for it to occur. It's called superheating and it happens when water bubbles fail to form due to lack of nucleation sites. Dissolved solids and/or any slight scratches or impurities on the surface of the container usually provide the nucleation sites.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

My long overdue point is that though I am a huge fan of water filtration, you should be aware that they at best only reduce, not eliminate, contaminates in your water.

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It is for the above reason that mineral water is not only highly filtered but ozonated because there are some bacteria or whatever that still gets through (nothing lives through the ozone process as I understand it)

Cheers,
Brock

I've heard of water "exploding" in the microwave before. If you want to microwave water you just need to put something in the water (like a toothpick or skewer. Non metal of course) to diffuse the energy.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

It rarely happens and requires specific conditions for it to occur. It's called superheating and it happens when water bubbles fail to form due to lack of nucleation sites. Dissolved solids and/or any slight scratches or impurities on the surface of the container usually provide the nucleation sites.

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Glad someone pointed this out as I was thinking "someone is going to boil their face doing this" while reading this.

I remember in chem lab in college our professor did this with the purified water we used for experiments. Filled up a jar, set in on the hot plate behind a glass shield for a while, dropped in a glass bead, BOOM. Looked cool but made the point quickly.