Distilled or Tap

everl0ng

New member
i am sure this has been asked 8972857576 times before, but since i am living on an extremely tight student budget and cannot afford an RO/DI unit at the moment, would using distilled water be better than tap? if using distilled would i need to still add condiitoners to the water?
 
good because i only have a 20 gallon tank so it wouldn't cost me all but a few dollars a week if that to buy gallons of distilled water at meijer.
 
yeah, i am only going to use this until my Christmas present gets here hahaha. my RO/DI unit!! lol
 
Distilled water is way better than tap, however RO/DI often beats distilled. The reason is because equipment used in commercial distilled water production often composed of copper. So, very small amount of pollutants still remain in distilled water.

As a short time solution, getting distilled water, is a good choice over tap. However long term, these small impurities will accumulate in tank.

REEF-ON!

P.S. your LFS probably sells RO/DI water. Prices vary, in my area they are $0.35 per gallon.
 
Never use distilled...
Not only will it pick up impurities from the lines used, but most companies add minerals to distilled for flavor.

Purchase that marked "Spring" or "Drinking" water.
Check for carbon or DI filtration.
Your local Wal-Mart carries it (blue & green tops are best) for about $0.64 per gallon.

Ed
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8077616#post8077616 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EdKruzel
Never use distilled...
Not only will it pick up impurities from the lines used, but most companies add minerals to distilled for flavor.

Purchase that marked "Spring" or "Drinking" water.
Check for carbon or DI filtration.
Your local Wal-Mart carries it (blue & green tops are best) for about $0.64 per gallon.

Ed

If companies add minerals to distilled water, it is not distilled water.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8077616#post8077616 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EdKruzel
Never use distilled...
Not only will it pick up impurities from the lines used, but most companies add minerals to distilled for flavor.

Purchase that marked "Spring" or "Drinking" water.
Check for carbon or DI filtration.
Your local Wal-Mart carries it (blue & green tops are best) for about $0.64 per gallon.

Ed

They add stuff in "spring" or "drinking" water, never in distilled!!!
 
According to posts here, if you stop using tap, it will help get rid of your algae problem.

Like TekCat said, check out your LFS, they probably sell RO/DI water for cheap.
 
actually i work at the only LFS that sells SW lol. it's Pet Supplies "PLUS". i went to the closest store of ours which had a TON more products and beautiful corals , but the only water they sold was just plain "Saltwater" (as it said on the labeling), so i didn't trust that at all.
 
Hello,

I am a newbie so guys correct me if I am wrong. I am using distilled water right now and am 2 1/2 weeks into cycling. I also have a 20 g tank and have noticed only the expected ups and downs of a tank during cycling:

-Accumulation of Ammonia
-increase in nitrite
-substantial decrease in pH

I work at a lab and had my distilled water (tank water) analised. It was only high in ammonia and nitrites. Therefore, I have found distilled H2O is working fine although, future spending can be reduced if I find a cheap RO unit on E-bay.

I like the smaller tank because it is more challenging then the larger tanks to watch all levels and try your best to maintain a constant specific gravity, pH, and temp for the first weeks..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8077897#post8077897 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by everl0ng
will this help clear up my terrible brown algae problem since i have been using tap water?

Yes, brown algea is most likely diatoms that strive in high silica environment. To my knowledge tap water contains ALOT of silica (not mentioning other nitrient cocktail).
 
I've tried spring water but it's pretty much just the same as my tap. My tap water is pretty much ok, so I just use it and learn to live without a ro/di unit.
 
Andrew, what do you use to condition your tap water? i use Prime. and do you have a brown algae problem? this is so frustrating!
 
Spring water is a NO-NO!!!!! It is rich with minerals and metals that leak when water travels through the ground.

IMHO, The only comparable alternative to RO/DI is distilled water. And as I stated previously, distilled water should be used as a short term solution because it still has impurities from its commercial production equipment.
 
I've been using distilled water now for 6 months and I have phenominal growth in my SPS and Zoas.

I bought a RO/DI device, though, because of the high cost of distilled water.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8078050#post8078050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by everl0ng
Andrew, what do you use to condition your tap water? i use Prime. and do you have a brown algae problem? this is so frustrating!

I don't use anything. No problems with brown algae besides durning the cycle.
 
yes, people have already said this, but definately NO spring water!

I don't like distilled water either because it is so low in oxygen from the start...even though it will get stirred up in the tank, i still prefer not to rely on it.

I just have a Pur water filter on my tap, which removes impurities, plus I use Prime (or stress coat, although i think prime is better). I have found that this works beautifully for my FW tanks, and My SW tank is doing great so far.
 
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