Distilled or Tap Water?

[Crested]

Hey all! I'm currently setting up a macroalgae tank and as a college student, an RO/DI system isn't practical. I was wondering if I could use distilled water instead. I know it's not as good as rodi, but maybe the macros would like slightly "dirty" water? There is a water machine at my local grocery store that claims it's RO water that I've been using. I know it's not going to be very clean (I ordered a TDS meter to see how bad it is), but maybe I won't have to dose trace elements if I use it? Feel free to tell me if I'm being an idiot, just figured I would see what everyone's thoughts are

 

[jda]

Distilled water is totally fine and plenty pure. Other that usually costing more than RODI, there is no downside to using it.

I use tap water to fill tanks the first time. However, I do live in Colorado near the mountains and our tap water is like 20-25 TDS. I also did this in Missouri with 400 TDS water. Tap is fine in limited quantities, but not recommended for over-and-over use where the gunk in the water can build up over time.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Like the reply above said, it varies from use to use. If your tds is steadily low im sure it wouldn't be an issue. It's all about if you want to take that risk or not.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

When we start a new tank we go for distilled water whether it's a nano tank 7.5 gal or 300 gallons. Just do your homework and choose a high-end salt and you'll be fine. How can we say this, here's some pictures of our children of the sea.

 

[Everything Aquatics]

I use distilled when I don’t have RODI

 

[ichthyogeek]

What’s your major? Are there any lfs’s nearby? I’ve heard of but certainly never participated in the act of taking lab water which is essentially RODI water...but, distilled water also works. When I had a college tank, I’d use distilled water for topoffs on the weeks I couldn’t persuade a friend to take me to the LFS.

Can I ask why you feel that an RO/DI unit is inaccessable?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hey all! I'm currently setting up a macroalgae tank and as a college student, an RO/DI system isn't practical. I was wondering if I could use distilled water instead. I know it's not as good as rodi, but maybe the macros would like slightly "dirty" water? There is a water machine at my local grocery store that claims it's RO water that I've been using. I know it's not going to be very clean (I ordered a TDS meter to see how bad it is), but maybe I won't have to dose trace elements if I use it? Feel free to tell me if I'm being an idiot, just figured I would see what everyone's thoughts are

Take this from our experience, whatever you choose for your reef tank, whether it's pumps, lighting, ro filtration, do your homework thoroughly. Example, we bought one type of ro filtration and for every 1 gallon of RO water it wasted 5 to 6 gallons, we hate to waste anything so we found, no waste ultra filtration system, you do have to add DI resin which we did and our TDS are zero.
Made by premier.

 

[Crested]

Thanks all for the input! I actually tested the RO water from the grocery store and the TDS was only 5 (which was very surprising to me). I think once the tank is full of macros and xenia, it might be beneficial to use slightly "dirty" water

 

[2_much_junk_in_the_sump]

Thanks all for the input! I actually tested the RO water from the grocery store and the TDS was only 5 (which was very surprising to me). I think once the tank is full of macros and xenia, it might be beneficial to use slightly "dirty" water

The problem with 5 TDS is you have no clue what is dissolved in the water. It could be 5 TDS of something harmless or something extremely dangerous to your animals so this is something to consider. You will need top of water too, so if you can store a small 5gallon bucket I would just get one those RO buddies for like $60 on Amazon and toss it in there when you're not using it. I used to watch this one YouTube called Coral12G when I first started and he was at college and did the same thing with no issue. Actually, here I just found this for you...