Radioactive water

i was reading an article about the water in Pennsylvania and it seams to be some radium in the water due to fracking. I'm worried about my health and the health of my family but also i want to know if someone knows the implication of that on the hobby. will the concentration increase in aquariums (since we are constantly topping off)

 

well im no scientist, but i do know radiation can lead to cancer, genetic mutations, etc. if there reporting it in the news and its not a emergency for everyone then the levels are very minuscule. none the less though it would take probably .1-1% of that concentration for humans to affect fish. if you can find another water source that would be ideal but radiation can lead to genetic mutation so if very concerned just keep an eye on fish for weird growth

 

I don't know the health effects of drinking it. I do know that we dropped a whole heck of a lot of nuclear bombs on the Bikini Atoll and we import a lot of LR, fish, and corals from the Marshall Islands.

 

I wouldn't worry about it, if it was dangerous they would put out alerts not to drink the water. You are already exposed to radium if you own glow in the dark stuff.

assuming you are using RO/DI water hopefully it will filter out the radium, and the small amount radiation will dissapate.

 

Basically every element that is found in the ground on the planet that dissolves in seawater is found in the water naturally. This includes Uranium, Thorium, and Radium. I'm not saying that the story you were reading was reporting on that, but I'm just trying to put it in perspective for you. If you're using a synthetic salt mix, you won't have to worry about it. Even if you are using a natural salt mix, it's highly unlikely that even a major spill of any of those elements will raise the concentration by a significant amount. Also, luckily for us, the isotopes of each of those that are the most abundant are also the least radioactive. You are right about one thing, though. Radium is far more dangerous than Uranium or Thorium. Uranium and Thorium in their commonly encountered forms are so safe that radiation from them cannot penetrate glass. That's why Uranium glass (it is called that for a reason, after all) is perfectly safe to use. It wasn't phased out for safety reasons, it was phased out because the government during the Cold War had other purposes for Uranium other than making black-light reflective dishware.

If by some stroke of bad luck it got into your tank water via your salt mix or your water supply, it wouldn't accumulate, except possibly in the tissues of your livestock. As long as you use RO or RO/DI water, though, I wouldn't worry. Reverse osmosis removes heavy metals from water. That includes Radium, Uranium, and Thorium.

Personally, if I was worried about this, I would do two things. 1.) In the short term, I would drink only filtered water. The same goes for the tank, but you probably already do that. 2.) I would lobby the government for stricter oversight over companies that deal with radioactive elements. I don't really think civil liberties extends over the right to dump huge amounts of Radium into a public water supply. But that's just me.

 

well being exposed to it is 1 thing and constantly drinking it and adding it to the tank is another. all of us have been exposed to radiations in 1 way or another. if you had any kind of x-ray or by just visiting the dentist or a hospital. but getting radiations from drinking water is a constant supply in your system.
if RO/DI units filter radium that would be awesome but if it doesn't i think my corals are gonna start glowing at night.

 

Pittsburgh’s drinking water is radioactive, thanks to fracking. Only question is, how much? | Grist
here is the article, as i understood is that the radium is getting into the drinking water from the process of extracting natural gas. so the water tablet below pittsburgh and other parts of the North east is getting contaminated with radium.
another thing do you know if the Ro or DI will remove these contaminants?(never mind this question it is already answered)

 

It does. Check here, which states:

If your water has unsafe levels of radium, it can be treated using a reverse osmosis unit or an ion exchange unit. A simple under-the-counter unit that feeds one tap at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water is often all that is needed. Many home appliance stores sell this type of unit.

Thankfully, aquarium keepers like to filter their water as many times as possible, so not only do you use a reverse osmosis unit, but you also use the ion exchange unit, instead of either or. An easy rule to remember is that if it filters lead out, it will definitely filter out radioactive heavy metals.

 

i can tell you i live in pa, and not sure why when i drink the water straight from the tap i feel sick to my stomach, it happens right away. had to add a filter to the water years ago, so i could drink it. i am far from pittsburgh though. ( complete opposite side of the state) so it could just be what ever chemicals the water plant puts in the water

 

thanks all for your responses and help. this is why i like this forum, there is always someone to answer any question even if it is in an unfamiliar topic.
Pink4miss, me too i cannot drink tap water i always buy bottled. for my aquarium i get RO water from lfs. this article talks about the water in the north east corridor so it is not restricted in pittsburgh area but i donno if where you live is part of that corridor. i know that all the water in PA has some level of chemical contamination but this is the first time i hear about radioactive.