AP tap water filter better than distilled? maybe

[Clarkii3]

ok when i first set up my tank i had bought the aquarium pharm tap water filter, and i usually get 50 or so gallons out of it, my tank was algae free for 3 or so months. one day the cartridge ran out so i switched over to distilled, a few weeks later, bam, cyano and hair algae started to grow. are you telling me that tap water filter is actually worth it? i can't buy an ro/di unit b/c my dad says it wastes a ton of water and such, and he'd make me pay the water bill lol

 

[smy168]

if you use distilled bottle water, make sure the water isn't pumped or distilled in copper pipes, distilled also comes with some phos. that could hurt your system and cyano breakout down the line.

 

[Agu]

The AP tap water purifier is basically a dionization unit so the water should be extremely clean until the resin runs out.


Hypothetically distilled should be just as pure. But if you're having problems I'd recommend you recharge the TWP and use it.