Type of water to give my ants

[Wolfsbane123]

Does it matter what kind of water I give my ants? i.e. like tap water, purified water, spring water, etc.? I would assume not distilled water since it has been deprived of all its natural minerals and such.

[RA94131]

Does it matter what kind of water I give my ants? i.e. like tap water, purified water, spring water, etc.? I would assume not distilled water since it has been deprived of all its natural minerals and such.

I've generally heard that distilled is preferred, simply because you can be more certain it doesn't contain the less desirable components. I'd think any necessary nutrients would be provided by other components of the ants' diet.

[ClashOwenBash]

Just use a solution of Hydrogen Hydroxide.

[JoeHostile1]

Does it matter what kind of water I give my ants? i.e. like tap water, purified water, spring water, etc.? I would assume not distilled water since it has been deprived of all its natural minerals and such.

I've generally heard that distilled is preferred, simply because you can be more certain it doesn't contain the less desirable components. I'd think any necessary nutrients would be provided by other components of the ants' diet.

Do not use distilled water for the very reason you mentioned. Distilled water would be the worst to use than tap water due to added fluoride and chemicals used to treat the water (Which is still safe for consumption).

Ants certainly do not have access to distilled water in the wild. So providing nutrient free water to ants while assuming their getting the nutrients from somewhere else is not sound advice.

[RA94131]

Does it matter what kind of water I give my ants? i.e. like tap water, purified water, spring water, etc.? I would assume not distilled water since it has been deprived of all its natural minerals and such.

I've generally heard that distilled is preferred, simply because you can be more certain it doesn't contain the less desirable components. I'd think any necessary nutrients would be provided by other components of the ants' diet.

Do not use distilled water for the very reason you mentioned. Distilled water would be the worst to use than tap water due to added fluoride and chemicals used to treat the water (Which is still safe for consumption).

Ants certainly do not have access to distilled water in the wild. So providing nutrient free water to ants while assuming their getting the nutrients from somewhere else is not sound advice.

I don't use it for any of my animals; I just use filtered tap water, in general. (I'd make a change if it ever appeared to be an issue...)

There are a number of users on the forum that do use distilled w/ no reported issues: https://forum.AntsCanada.com/search.php?keywords=distilled

That said, I think this is probably a case of over-thinking. Any form of bottled and/or filtered water is almost definitely fine.

[ClashOwenBash]

Distilled water is created when water is evaporated to leave all the chemical ions which where dissolved, the pure water vapour is then condensed to give a solution of pure water, this reaction is called distillation, hence why the water produced is called distilled water. No chemicals are added during this process. You must of been getting confused with water that has been chemically treated for the removal of microbes.
Distilled water is fine, it is safer as it's pure, but you can just as easily use tap water for the ants to drink as it will contain extra ions.

[JoeHostile1]

Distilled water is created when water is evaporated to leave all the chemical ions which where dissolved, the pure water vapour is then condensed to give a solution of pure water, this reaction is called distillation, hence why the water produced is called distilled water. No chemicals are added during this process. You must of been getting confused with water that has been chemically treated for the removal of microbes.
Distilled water is fine, it is safer as it's pure, but you can just as easily use tap water for the ants to drink as it will contain extra ions.

It’s not safer because it’s “pure”. It has all the minerals boiled out of it.It’s like removing all the vitamin C from an orange and then calling the orange “pure” and saying it’s better for you. It’s mineral free and since ants don’t have access to mineral free water naturally, I don’t see how it could be considered safer. Where are they getting the minerals from that they would naturally get from normal water?