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Coral Vue Hydros

Distilled versus tap


tdannhauser30

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tdannhauser30

Is there any benefit to using distilled water to tap water? Like take away the price factor is distilled much cleaner than tap? Reason I ask is I have a good amount of distilled water sitting around ( I know strange). Anyway let me know what you think!

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If you want pansy weak corals, sure. Real stoney corals need real milk otherwise you risk osteoporosis in later life.

Man, the internet is something...

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Come on guys, not everyone is the expert reefists you are.



Is there any benefit to using distilled water to tap water? Like take away the price factor is distilled much cleaner than tap? Reason I ask is I have a good amount of distilled water sitting around ( I know strange). Anyway let me know what you think!

Use the distilled water in every case. You don't want to use tap water at all. It's cheap and it's safe.

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I would agree in most cases, but be cautious about using an all encompassing statement like never use tap water. I am an old salt and I have always used tap. Our municipal water is better than most so its fine where I live. I won't say I have never had any algae issues but they have been minimal and fixed with less food and light and more water changes.

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I would agree in most cases, but be cautious about using an all encompassing statement like never use tap water. I am an old salt and I have always used tap. Our municipal water is better than most so its fine where I live. I won't say I have never had any algae issues but they have been minimal and fixed with less food and light and more water changes.

Anything and everything is subjective. For a beginner I recommend never using tap, because that's what's been recommended to me. :rolleyes:

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I would agree in most cases, but be cautious about using an all encompassing statement like never use tap water. I am an old salt and I have always used tap. Our municipal water is better than most so its fine where I live. I won't say I have never had any algae issues but they have been minimal and fixed with less food and light and more water changes.
Anything and everything is subjective. For a beginner I recommend never using tap, because that's what's been recommended to me. :rolleyes:

Well spoken!

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Check your tap water. If you're running off of a unicorn supply with <10 TDS or something, and you can test the water for chlorine/copper/chloramines/nitrogenous stuff/phosphate/sulfates/whatever and not find any, then you'll probably be alright. If you're like me, and your tap water tests out at ~300TDS, and it uses chlorine and whatnot, and the pipes are old because your apartment building was built by cavemen so there's copper in there, you're going to want to use distilled. And if your tank's big enough to warrant it (maybe over 10gal?), you'll want to get your own RO/DI unit and TDS meter.

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Deleted User 8

I have a well, damn good one. I typically read less than 20ppm on a calibrated TDS meter at the tap. Usually about 17. The water is some of the sweetest tasting water you will ever drink. No calcium buildup on pipes/coffee pots, super soft. Ice cold. I just bought a 4 stage RO/DI.

 

I could have probably got by with using tap water on the new 34g I am setting up soon. Problem is, all it takes is one problem with my well and I could have a disaster on my hands. Back in the day when I had a 55g reef, I used Culligan jugs of water because I was on a nasty city water system. Even the Culligan water was suspect. I had several unopened jugs sitting where they got some direct sunlight for an hour a day. They grew algae inside the bottles. The water smelled like lettuce.

 

I figure $140 is cheap insurance! Starting with pure H2O each and every time is just logical--do it. It's one of the things that I don't want to have to worry about. One less thing I would have to investigate when things start to get out of whack. If the thought of spending a couple hundred bucks on an RO/DI unit keeps you up at night, this isn't the hobby for you right now.

 

Being completely objective here, unless you plan to test your tap water each and every time you use it, you are opening up yourself to problems. Use RO/DI water every time (assuming properly functioning unit), and you won't have the types of problems you can get with tap water.

 

Remember folks, this is an issue where your whole tank can be wiped out in hours because of some funk in your tap water. Unless you test for everything every time (and no one does), it is a gamble. How much of a gamble, I dunno--but a gamble all the same.

 

Buzz

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If you want pansy weak corals, sure. Real stoney corals need real milk otherwise you risk osteoporosis in later life.

it's either badger milk or nothing..

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OP, use RO/DI or distilled. Tap can work, and some old-school folks use it, but it's not the best decision. You'll end up with lots of algae that you don't want. Either spend the money on an RO/DI unit, or buy water from a fish store, or do what I do and spend $0.30/gallon at one of those water machines outside of grocery stores. I spend 3 bucks a month and it's perfectly fine. RO, DI, UV sterilized. Works great and it's cheaper for me ($36 to $50 a year at most) than an RO/DI unit ($150ish, plus the water bill, plus the filters that need replacing every once in a while).

 

That or I occasionally come into lab and take water from the pure lines here ;)

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