Using distilled water

[chufa]

I am currently using tap water to make my saltwater. Our LFS tells us the local tap water is good, as long as you treat it with Prime or something like that. However, looking at previous posts, I think it is safe and inexpensive to buy distilled water from the supermarket (0.89$/gallon) and use it instead.

 

I work at an analytical lab, so I tested the tap water for inorganic phosphorus. The result was undetectable. It had actually lower absorbance (less phosphorus) than in the DI water blank. I thought this was strange, and repeated the test using HPLC-grade water as a blank, and still not detectable. The detection limit is 25 micromoles/liter. Not very low (I won't bother converting to ppm), but the point is it has very little phosphorus.

 

Neverthleless, I have plenty of hair algae growing, and might as well go for the distilled water. What do you think? Also, should I treat the distilled water with Prime?

 

I won't invest in RO units at this point nor buy water from the LFS. My options are either purified drinking water, distilled water (both available in the supermarket) or treated tap water.

[Physh1]

You also need to be cautious of metal, trates, etc. The safest route for reliable water and clean water is bottled or filtered for sure.

 

I will say that if your tap water is good, not many places can say that, and consistant that you could use it with an Amquel or Prime or something comparable.

 

Cameron

[Mnesarchus]

I went through the same thing when researching my tapwater. I finally decieded that an RO unit would be a good investment, and I'm very glad I finally got one. I think ffexpress.com is having a sale on them right now.

[tinyreef]

chufa,

how's you tank test? if you're detecting phos there then you're importing from some source or leaching from within. address those for your hair algae.

 

i'm a distilled water user but ro/di is indistinguishable at our level. if you're gonna use distilled make sure the distillation process is stainless or glass.

 

you're lucky your tap is good but i agree with physh1 use the amquel to detoxify the heavy metals. i'd still run the tap thru a poly-filter though if it was me (also extracts metals/ions)

[Satchmo]

Did you try testing your tap for silicates? That's another culprit for algae problems. The stuff labeled "purified drinking water" - that's the stuff I use. Read the label. Great Bear makes the stuff I've been using, and it says on the bottle, "filtered by reverse osmosis". Just make sure you see that or something like it. Some "purified drinking waters" are simply filtered through carbon. I have very little problems with algae, for whatever that's worth.

 

Distilled water is supposed to be pure, but as tinyreef said, some distributors allow the water to condense on copper, which is a no-no for us.

[chufa]

Thanks for all the replies. Satchmo, silicates react with the color development reagent used in the phosphate assay I ran. This is why we use a special grade of RO water (solution 2000) to avoid any silicates that can be left over a standard RO system.

 

So, silicates are low. But like ppl said before, there may be other things as metals, etc., that's why I think I should use distilled. But some distilled may contain traces of copper? If so, I think if I add some Prime to it, that it will be safer. Has anybody added Prime or Amquel to distilled water before?

[Satchmo]

I don't think either of those products would do anything about copper. Maybe I'm wrong. But you shouldn't have to treat distilled water with anything. Your best bet would be to contact the manufacturer of whichever distilled water you plan to use to confirm they use no copper in the process. That, or try to find bottled RO water as mentioned earlier.

[printerdown01]

Do some homework at the grocery store... I bet you will find a water that has either been through RO/DI or RO and distillation... Also you might have another source in the tank that is causing the hair algae (some brands of carbon are known for releasing phosphates). You might want to look at getting some "phosphate sponge"

[Todd March]

If you have been using tap water, that is no doubt the source of phosphates that are giving you hair algae... I would never use tap water from anywhere in the country in a reef aquarium.

 

I would go with distilled water; there used to reports of it containing copper from copper distillation units, but I have yet to hear of any hobbiest having problems; I think this information is dated... Drinking water, purified water and such things at the market are often only run over activited carbon (!) and are useless for reef tanks–you might as well use tap water.

 

Living in Southern California we are lucky to have "Real Ocean" at all our LFS's, it's purified ocean water, drawn off shore from Catalina Island. By using Real Ocean and distilled water from day one, I have never had one lick of hair algae, brown diatoms, and as a matter of fact my tank can barely grow regular ol' green microalgae. It's something I really relish. In the early 80's I used RO water (still can have a lot of nutrients without DI), and was always fighting hair algae and diatoms. Yech....

[Dave ESPI]

FWIW... Waht salt brand are u using and lighting on your tank is how old and your tank age is?

 

 

occasionaly hair algae is just a natural cycle.. it even affects natural reefs occasionaly. some thing is asqeu on yer tank. Id look into yer sand or also perhaps bio-catalytic actions by bacteria fer the source of "algal-Fuel"

[kimura]

I'm using Distilled water from albertsons the A+ stuff. I'm having green hair algae on my LR. I just put in some hermit crabs and one of them seems to be eating the algae but the other hasn't taken to it. I was going of the advice on another board about a very similar question. I did the research on the water and checked online for comparisons, the A+ stuff seemed ok.

 

I'm now going to ask my girlfriend to test the water at her lab (she works in Raw Materials) just to check for what was mentioned here.

[printerdown01]

Hey kimura, Ralphs sells "Sparkletts 'Crystal-Fresh' Drinking Water"... This stuff goes through microfilteration (probably just ran through a sponge), ozonation, and reverse osmosis. I would still use Prime on it as it does have traces of magnesium chloride... But it is def the best stuff I have run accross down here (save RO/DI from the fish store, but I don't really want to make the 30 min round trip every other week just for water).

[kimura]

Thanks printerdown01,

 

I'm gonna look at it today. I've noticed at the back of the rocks there are some red long algae growing. I'm gonna get a turbo snail today if they're open.

 

As soon as I get my cable for my camera I'm going to take a picture of this plant growing out of the LR. Need help to I.D. it and i'm wondering if I need to remove it.

[printerdown01]

How large is your tank??? You might not want to do Turbos!!! Hit me back... PM if you want! not to mention you have a PM from me right now... hehe

[chufa]

OK, here are the specs of my distilled water:

 

IBWA bottler

Ozonated

Produced by vapor compression distillation

<5 ppm solids

 

comments? Thansk

[kimura]

printerdown01,

I have a 12g, should I do a 20% water change instead and just wait?

[Dave ESPI]

you didnt answer my question, but any way.. You can ALWAYS do a waterchange.... there is no set sechedule.

[chufa]

Dave: my tank is 12 gallon, 2 weeks old, brand salt is coralife.

[Dave ESPI]

Coralife can cause blooms IME as will Crystal Sea. Let yer tank run... the algae and nutrients will cycle naturaly out. your tank will not stay pristine right off the bat... it takes time.... give it some. ! good luck.