Is this water bad quality?

[TDesaulniers]

My RO/DI broke a month ago and I've honestly just been to lazy to buy a new one. I've just been using distilled publix/walmart water to do my water changes. Is this water bad quality? I'm about to order one online right now but I just wanted to know if the water I had been using wasn't good for the corals/anemones/clams I have in my tank. Thanks.

 

[panhandler01]

It's probably not as clean as RO/DI water but probably not bad.

 

[allsps40]

Distilled water is more pure than RO water. Distilling removes all the impurities and leaves 99.9% pure H2O. So it is fine for your reef. I actually tell people with nano tanks to just use store bought RO or distilled water.

 

[clownfreak]

I use store bought RO, but would recommend against distilled. Distilled water can contain trace amounts of heavy metals (Typically from the condenser used being metal, ie copper). It may be worth testing your distilled water for copper and going from there.

 

[bertoni]

Most distilled water these days is fine, although some condensers in the past did use copper coils. The water might be contaminated in the process of getting it to the consumer, but jugs of distilled water seem safe enough, in practice. The only downsides seem to be cost and convenience.

Distilled water isn't necessarily more pure than RO/DI water. No process, distillation included, is 100% effective. That's why there's double distilled water, for processes that are very picky.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I would say that it is fine.

 

[TDesaulniers]

Thanks guys!

 

[bertoni]

You're welcome! Good luck!