Distilled Water

[jarmado]

hi there,

i am a beginner on the area of fishkeeping and would like to use the best water for my fish tank.
does anybody recommend or have used an external water distiller (the one used for drinking water)?
would you recommend 'distilling' the water first before using it on the fish tank?

many thanks.

 

[BFG]

Hi iJay,

This will probably have the same effect as reverse osmosis in that minerals etc will be left behind in the rejected water. Some of these are useful for buffering capacity & hardness in the water, and some tropical fish need some salts (not necessarily sodium chloride) to keep healthy.

I've never tried it, and just treat my tap water to get rid of heavy metals and chlorine, but you may find yourself having to buy minerals / poss aquarium salts (someone else may be able to advise on this) to get your water back to something that the fish can live in.

What's the water quality in your area like?

 

[pokagon55]

My water here in Indianapolis is very nasty from the tap so I have to use RO water in my tank. I use the kind from the store out of a water machine. 40 cents per gal.

 

[keeper-of-fish]

I mix half distilled half tap water mabe this isnt the best thing to do but I do it anyway

 

[lmcarlton]

IMO I would use R/O water instead of distilled water. Reason is that there is no oxygen in the water from distilled. Reverse osmosis water does have the oxygen.

I use R/O water and I am really happy with it. Also helps I work in the water business. I live on a well and ny water is very hard and has iron in it, so I don't use the tap water. I am sure you can use distilled as long as you put oxygen back into it.

Lea-Andra

 

[jarmado]

IMO I would use R/O water instead of distilled water. Reason is that there is no oxygen in the water from distilled. Reverse osmosis water does have the oxygen.

I use R/O water and I am really happy with it. Also helps I work in the water business. I live on a well and ny water is very hard and has iron in it, so I don't use the tap water. I am sure you can use distilled as long as you put oxygen back into it.

Lea-Andra

Thanks for all the replies.

Lea-Andra, how do I put oxygen back into the water after distilling it?
Also, how about using water purifiers instead, does this remove the oxygen on the water as well?

 

[kimmers318]

I also use a mix of R/O water and tap water to achieve the ph levels I want and so far have not had any issues with ph swings. 2 different privately owned fishstores where I was VERY impressed with the tanks on agreed with me that this is a safe, easy way to keep lower ph levels since our tap water is 8.0.

 

[jarmado]

bump.

 

[velcrohead]

I have a RODI unit and use no other water than what comes from it.
I must add though that I also use the correct additives to correct it for aquatic life.
My kuhlies, corys and shrimps are certainly not complaining.
I use it because my tap water is loaded with nitrate and is VERY hard.