distilled water

[frungkis]

Hello to all,

I have an 18g tank that I have just been buying bottled RO water for my evap. top off. I do plan on purchasing a RO unit when I get my larger tank closer to completion. The question is: My wife works at a vet hospital and they have a distiller machine to purify water for surgical tools. Since I don't need that much water for top-off, is it ok to use distilled water for top-off or is it "too clean"? I only go through about a gallon a week. But I could use the machine for free. I save $0.60 a week, but a penny saved is a penny earned right? Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[taillonjohn]

I've been using distilled water for water changes and top offs. no problems for me.

 

[theop]

What evaporates is essentially distilled water, and it's fine to replace evaporative loss with distilled.

 

[papagimp]

distilled is not as pure as de-ionized water, but if it's good enoughf or sterile hospital usage, than I would venture to say it's probably okay. i would still check it with a TDS meter and maybe run a few other parameter tests on it for kicks to make sure it's okay. The water will by no means be "too-clean". you could use 100% purified water and it would be fine. In fact, the more purified the water the better, less chance of adding something unwanted to the tank. usually a single water change or top off isn't enough to cause problems but certain chemical/elements/minerals will build up over time, this can cause problems later on with extended usage.

 

[drummereef]

I would check the TDS of the distilled water. If it's low, like 0 or 1, then I'd say go ahead.

 

[seapug]

If I'm not mistaken, distilled water is THE most pure water you can get, as it is water that has been reconstituted from steam-- literally "de-evaporated" water. That's why it's used in medical settings.

It's great to use for it's purity, but it might be a good idea to add a little baking soda for buffering or it can actully drive your PH down. It's so pure it has a completely neutral pH (7).

 

[zma21]

No. Reverse Osmosis Deionized water is more pure than distilled.

 

[Tahlequah]

RO membranes still let molecules that are smaller than H2O pass through. This includes many pharmaceuticals that can only be removed by distillation. Plus distillation will kill any organizms that are living due to extreme heat. Yes you can purify distilled water even more by De-ionizing it but RO wont make it more pure.

 

[Tahlequah]

Here is a quote that I found in one of my old Env. Chem books.

Distillation and reverse Osmosis are not very effective at removing synthetic chemicals. Distillation removes things based on their relative boiling point. Virtually all synthetic chemicals boil at a lower temperature than water and therefore are vaporized and condensed along with the water in a distillation process. Reverse Osmosis removes things based on molecular size. Virtually all synthetic chemicals are molecularly smaller than water and therefore cannot be effectively removed by reverse osmosis.

 

[steri]

Regardless as to which is more pure or not, I think you're fine using Distilled water without any problems.

I've used both RO and Distilled in my tank, and have never seen any negative reprocussions of using either.

 

[Pea-brain]

Actually about the point of distilled water being too acidic (should be a precise 7.0 , the natural PH of pure water) it is more alkaline than RO water. My understanding (and I don't use these so I'm not sure) is that RO water is frequently at 6.5. Just my thoughts. And I'd also agree that with distillation being on of the best ways to get good water that it should be fine.

 

[frungkis]

Thanks for all the replies. I just wasn't sure if because it was sterile water, I would have to add anything (i.e. baking soda like seapug suggested). I guess it would be allright as long as I monitor ph and alk. Thanks again

 

[glockcoma]

When I use distilled water I start to get spots of red slime, and when I use r/o water theres no slime. I think theres more phosphate in distilled water, but im no expert just IME.

 

[badpacket]

Ack, no one seems to want to do simple google or wiki searches?

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...ter&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Long story short, distilled you get free is probably better than the water you would get from the average reefer's ro/di unit.

Stock up on it for water changes, and yes probably a good idea to buffer it a bit with baking soda or a little mrs. wages. Using distilled isn't causing anyone's red slime to appear or increase. Unless the distilled you were adding was actually not fully distilled or the unit wasn't cleaned per maint. schedule.

 

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10044112#post10044112 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zma21
No. Reverse Osmosis Deionized water is more pure than distilled.

That may be true depending on the RO/DI unit your using as well as whats in the water your starting with. However .. I suspect that in many/most cases in the USA distilled water is probably better than the water your going to get out of the std RO/DI we aquarist use.