Distilled Vs Ro Water

[Benauld]

What are the differences between these two types of water, and can distilled water (the type sold for irons and car batteries) be used safely in the aquarium?

I can pick up distilled water much cheaper than the lfs charges for their RO water, and probably cheaper than I could produce it from an RO unit myself.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there was a great big debate about the benefits and drawbacks of using RO water a few weeks ago, might be helpful reading for you

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...&hl=osmosis

is there a reason you can't/don't want to just use dechlorinated tap water?

 

[krazie2004]

What are the differences between these two types of water, and can distilled water (the type sold for irons and car batteries) be used safely in the aquarium?

I can pick up distilled water much cheaper than the lfs charges for their RO water, and probably cheaper than I could produce it from an RO unit myself.

Ok, the differences between distilled and regular tap water is that distilled water is pure H2O,. it is made by boiling regular tap water and condensing down the steam which it produces, meaning that all the salts like carbonate and ions like calcium along with the other metals are not present in the dilstiled water but rather left in the boiling pot. If that makes sense. LOL.

I would think that fish need H2O and salts and ions (small amounts) in order to survive as no lake or river in this world contains distilled water. Even humans need salts present in water.

hope this helps.

 

[Don Trinko]

I mix ro and tap 50/50. I buy the ro at Wallmart for $.37 g. Don T.

 

[Danno]

Their are five main types of water:

1. Distilled
2. Reverse Osmosis
3. Spring
4. Well
5. Surface

Distilled water is purified by boiling the water. The steam is drip collected in bottles. The "extras" in the water do not evaporate and thus stay in the boiling bin. Distilled water is also known as Steam Distilled water.

Reverse Osmosis water is obtained by pushing water through semi-permiable polymer membranes to filter out minerals to obtain close to pure H[sup]2[/sup]O.

NOTE: DISTILLED WATER AND RO WATER IS HAZARDOUS TO FRESHWATER FISH! YOU MUST ADD TRACE MINERALS!

Spring water is exactly what it sounds like. Springs are areas where aquifers seep to the surface with small amounts of force. This type of water has various kinds of minerals and traces. Depending on your source it may or may not contain chlorine if processed. Most likely it doesn't.

Well water can be separated into two categories. There are water-level wells, also known as the "common well", and artesian wells. Most of us have just the common well that takes water from the ground's water table. Artesian wells drill through many layers of bedrock and suck water right from an aquifer. Note that this water when it comes from your tap is processed and may contain copper and chlorine due your water processing in your house.

Surface water is areas like lakes and oceans. I live in a small hamlet, and we get our water from the lake. The hamlet has a central water processing area. I don't want to use it but I do on my freshwaters. As before it may contain copper and chlorine, and in this case, phosphates too.

Optimum water to use on saltwater tanks is distilled and RO. Optimum water to use in freshwater is everything but make sure if it is not RO and Distilled you need to use water conditioner. If it is RO and Distilled you must add traces to the water.

 

[MHunt]

I have read that distilled water is so pure, it can suck the essential minerals right out of the fishes body by osmosis.

 

[Danno]

That is why you need to add minerals to the water if you are adding it to freshwater. With saltwater, you don't need to because the salt mixture already contains traces for this exact reason.

 

[Benauld]

Thanks for the replies everyone,

Having reviewed the previous thread linked by Miss Wiggle, my first impression was that this seems to be a bone of contention between various factions in the fishkeeping world! I definately don't want to step on anyones toes here .

However, having said that I do think the judicious use of R.O./Distilled Water has it's place. I can see that it would be extremely useful in changing water parameters to meet the needs of specific fish species.

The reason I ask is that I am keeping a tetra tank but live in quite a hard water area: GH = 18 from the tap. So, the way I see it there are two ways I could go about lowering this, to a target somewhere around GH 6, using Distilled/R.O. Water,(bearing in mind I have a 130L tank & change 20L per week):

i] I could use either pure R.O./Distilled water and add minerals using Freshwater Aquarium salts to obtain the desired GH.

OR,

ii] I could use 2/3rds R.O./Distilled and cut it with 1/3rd dechlorinated tap water, which would give me my desired GH. (18 divided by 3 being 6).

Any advice on which is the best method to go for?

P.S. Sorry if I've opened a can of worms again!

 

[Danno]

I would go pure RO/Distilled and then add salts and minerals to it to get that purrrrrfect blend.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Having reviewed the previous thread linked by Miss Wiggle, my first impression was that this seems to be a bone of contention between various factions in the fishkeeping world! I definately don't want to step on anyones toes here .

he he that thread did get a little heated, but there's some very important and good information in there when you wad through it all.

i] I could use either pure R.O./Distilled water and add minerals using Freshwater Aquarium salts to obtain the desired GH.
ii] I could use 2/3rds R.O./Distilled and cut it with 1/3rd dechlorinated tap water, which would give me my desired GH. (18 divided by 3 being 6).

ok option 1 will be more expensive but give you greater control of exactly what minerals, salts etc you are adding to the tank
option 2 will be cheaper but give less accuracy and stability of the minerals etc

there is of course option 3

2/3rds remineralised RO/Distilled water and 1/3rd dechlorinated tap water, which would give greater stability of the minerals in the water and give you greater control of what's in there, and just allow the tap water to buffer the gH