Distilled water

[usscot555]

I am sure you folks have answered it 100 times... but I am new, OK?

Is there any problem using distilled water in a reef tank?

Why or why not?

I was given a distiller & sure would be nice to use it instead of having to buy RO water.

What could I do to make it better? pass it through charcoal? UV?

Richard

[rayjay]

If it has copper in the coils, then the leacheate can in time build up and kill invertebrates in the tank.

[usscot555]

It has alunimum coils.

But besides that.. lets say I wanted to use Distilled Water from the grocery store shelve. Would that be a problem? Does distilling take out all the clorine, phosfate & other minerals?

Richard

If it has copper in the coils, then the leacheate can in time build up and kill invertebrates in the tank.

[rayjay]

The best water you could provide would be RO/DI with RO only, being second best. DI alone would be sufficient with many water supplys.
I'm not sure just what all is removed in the distilling process, but I have a feeling that heavy metals and maybe more, are not removed.
Distilled water would be considered not as good as DI or RO and especially RO/DI.
That all being said, I have to admit that I use none of these as my water supply from the Great Lakes, and treated by the London water treatment facilities is good enough that all I do is age the water to let the chlorine dissapate.

[kevinpo]

Distilled water from the store is equal to RO/DI and has 0 TDS.

HTH,
Kevin

[Reefland]

I think good distilled water from teh grocery store is fine to you. You could still test it with a TDS meter for peace of mind but I agree with Kevin, I think you'll be just fine with it. The only thing that makes me say "I think" is I guess there's a chance that some stores sell "distilled water" that is just from their tap; not for certain and no proof but possible.

[kevinpo]

Scott,
I have tested several brands and they all read 0 TDS.

HTH,
Kevin

[Reefland]

Yup, I totally agree Kevin. I only mention testing for peace of mind because I know there are some debates about the quality of so called bottled and distilled water. I recently heard that Aquafina was nothing more than tap although I don't believe that. I have heard of people making these claims though...

[Poseidon]

To get OT Mountain Spring is from the tap in Northern MI, it is true that they have a "spring" but certainly no MOUNTAINS! The "factory" there caused a big stir when they started sucking out MILLIONS of gallons!

Back on topinc, distilled water is very good, because the process evaporates the water collects the vapor then condenses it back to liquid leaving all the crap behind!

[Samper]

When I moved my 75g from it's first home to mine I wasn't able to bring all the water with me due to space issues so while I drove home I had my dad go to Wal Mart and pick up 30 gallons of water from their shelves. The ones I ended up with were run through an RO/DI and read 0 tds.