Distilled vs RO

[MtnDewMan]

Okay ... simple question, right?
For water changes or tap off water ... How does Distilled water stack up to RO water?

You can get distilled water very cheap at a grocery store, and for a small tank, it may be even more cost effective than purchasing an RO unit.

What are your opinions?

main drawback to distilled is the possibility of copper contamination from the distilling apperatus. At the very least I would run it through a Tap Water Purifer(tm) deionizer, you should get long life outta the DI cartridge if you're filtering distilled water

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I thought I was me, but I was wrong

[MtnDewMan]

Thanks for the info ...

Another question ...

How do you set up a tap water purifier when using gallon jugs of water, no water from the tap?

Suggestions?

[gregt]

I believe someone makes a 'pour-through' filter that attaches to a pitcher. You could empty the gallon jug into the pitcher, and you're all set.

Sounds like a real pain in the neck, though.

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-Greg
Greg's Aquarium Links

[Alice]

Sounds like a royal pain to me, too. Believe me, if you're hauling water, your waterchanges will get farther apart Go with an at-home system.

~Alice

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Reefkeeping is my life; I can't afford a hobby too!

Get a 5g water jug from sporting goods store. I use a 6g square Coleman jug with an O2 connector(for joining tubing) siliconed into the vent hole. I then dump mixed KAlk water in it and it feeds a float valve in the sump. Same thing would work for TWP, running distilled water 5 gal at a time. It would be really PURE water at that point. There is prolly some little trick level switch you could use to turn on a PH and pump pure water into the tank to replace evaporation if you really wanna get trick


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I thought I was me, but I was wrong

[Wind]

Do you know which brand of water can have copper? I just purchased 2.5 Gallons of Alhambra distilled water? Does it contain Copper?

[Brooke]

Alice-

You are soooo right. If you have a big tank, hauling water is going to get old. Definately look into some at-home options.
They aren't as expensive as you might think if you factor in the cost of buckets, gas, strain on your back, and paying by the gallon.

Brooke

[DAN THE MAN]

Wind, most water distilled now days is not condensed in copper pipes. And traces of copper and the cost of copper are the reasons. If you are conserned get a copper test and test your water. I use distilled water from wal-mart have been for 3 years and have tested their water and my own and there was no copper.