Distilled Water

[travisw30]

Does anyone else use Distilled water?

 

[SPEARGUNHUNTER]

i use it to calibrate my refractometer....

 

[travisw30]

What about for top off? Water changes?

 

[bella aqua]

Use drinking water, distilled not necessary .
Or find a good water store to buy filtered water

 

[calireefer]

Why would u use a distilled water. Get a RO/DI system with bulkreefsupply.com. Its cheap and its worth it.

 

[TypicalWhiteAZN]

i thought distilled is filtered?... i mean, there's two types right?... the distilled/purified and spring/mineral water?...

and yes, if you're a serious reefer.. invest in a RO system, DI optional IMO... ebay gots some good ones.. check out craigslist too... I got mine off of craigslist for dirt cheap and its been working great!.. TDS at 10 right now cause I'm overdue for some membrane changes...

FYI.. correct me of I'm wrong.. Tap water is around 200 TDS and safe drinking level caps off at 400 TDS?...

 

[Solus]

distilled water isnt filter they heat it up until it evaporates and drips out the top of a concave dome.... it should be the cleanest water you ever drink and pure h2o

 

[travisw30]

Yes it's sterile. I use it because my water store has it for 0.45 a gallon. Plus I never have to worry about filters going bad or wasting gallons of water everytime I do a change.

 

[higgy2010]

From my experience of using distilled water bought at Walmart when I set up my first SW cube, it is not the same as RO/DI water. I had a bout of red slime, bubble and green hair algae. After buying a used BRS RO/DI unit from a fellow reefer, I haven't seen the algae come back at all.

 

[Solus]

Lol walmart isn't known for having the best quality of products just the cheapest prices

 

[sea monster]

distilled water

distilled water is for drinking...our drinking water contains chlorine which could kill ur fish... where as RO/DI has 0 tds means 0 chlorine... if ur using filtered water ur taking a chance with live stock you must have a large system or have good water movement good luck:big_boss:

 

[travisw30]

distilled water is for drinking...our drinking water contains chlorine which could kill ur fish... where as RO/DI has 0 tds means 0 chlorine... if ur using filtered water ur taking a chance with live stock you must have a large system or have good water movement good luck:big_boss:

Just so you know... Distilled water is pure and does not contain any chlorine. And 0 TDS does not mean 0 chlorine. Chlorine is filtered out through the charcoal prefilter. Where as TDS isn't.

 

[sea monster]

Ok... i understand that 0 tds total disolved solids does not mean 0 chlorine what i simply meant was that it contains 0 tds meaning no chlorine or anything else for that matter...and as far as i know distilled water is not pure if not bacteria will start to form have u checked it with a tds meter? I am not a chemist nor do i claim to be one..:blink:

 

[travisw30]

Yes it's 0 when I've checked. I only check once a month and have been using for a few months. Do a google search on Distilled water it helped me understand it alot better.

 

[sea monster]

i use a ro/di unit from filter guys, very happy with this one...also i save waste water 4 washing clothes or watering lawn

 

[5ft24]

test the distilled for copper...Usually the cooling coils/caps are made of brass/copper, and copper is not good to have in a saltwater tank...

 

[travisw30]

Perfect. Thank you. Keep the input coming!