water main break

hey guys,
there was a main break not too far from me yesterday, and i was told i should boil my water for the next week because of possible contaminants till they get it all fixed up. anyway, should i be concerned about doing top offs? i do use ro/di.

thanks
michael

 

well, RO/DI will take care of all the sediments and what not, but i'm not sure about like actual "bacterial" contaminants. When your water company tells you contaminants, I would suspect any kind, just to be on the safe side...maybe you should boil your RO/DI water? Or do you have a UV? Maybe you could run your RO water through that? Better safe than sorry!!

 

i don't use uv, so i guess boiling it is my option. does it matter what kind of pot i boil it it? is it possible for metals from the pot to leach into the water?

 

BTW, sorry if this is a stupid question!

 

Edit: I just realized this post was super old

 

Well, if you had a good comment, by all means make it. It will still be found by the search engine if someone has a question on this subject in the future.

 

True.

(Since they told you to boil it that means they were worried about bacterial contamination, not chemical.)

Well, after running the supposed dirty water through the ro/di system I assume it would be fine. All tap water has bacteria in it, but in this case you never know if they got some sewage in your water or whatever (I know, gross). As for pathogens getting into your tank, I wouldn't worry about it - but I'm unsure of how fine those filters are. Bacteria can squeeze through anything a couple microns wide, as they are only a couple microns wide. Even if they did make it through your system then the chances of the bacteria actually being a saltwater pathogen is still extremely small.

Honestly, don't worry about it. You introduce more bacteria to your tank by putting your hand in there once than you ever will introduce from water changes.

And no, that was not a stupid question!

 

And Sir or Maam, that was an excellent answer.

 

If boiling is a hastle, try buying the R/O or NSW water from your LFS. Of course, if they're in the same affected area, then my suggestion is pointless. Luna