Grocery Store Water

[gurnie]

can distilled water / grocery store water be used for filling the fish tank (after de-chlorination)? I want to make sure I buy the right kind of water so it has the right nutrients for my tank.

thanks

 

[scorphonic]

There's absolutey no problem in doing that so long as its dechlorinated (just to be sure!!) as you have already said.

Distilled water is just water that has been boiled and the steam cooled and seperated from the original water source. Its probably better for your fish than tap water thats for sure! We use distilled water in research since it contains no impurities for our work.

Go for it!

 

[gurnie]

thanks!!

 

[garethusa]

do a little more research on the distilled water.

it's not even that great for humans because basically all the minerals have been removed. i am not sure how essential minerals are in the water for fish to function but distilled water is really dead water.

i think if you want to buy water for your fish, it probably is a good idea to get spring water and dechlorinate it.

****

however, tap water should do as it is easily available to you and you can spend that money you'll save on the water by upgrading some useful natural plants and some variety of fish foods!

 

[Tolak]

Distilled water has no minerals, thus zero hardness. Hardness stabilizes pH, without it you are bound to have pH swings, which are something to be avoided. I would stick with tap water, municipally supplied tap water is much more strictly regulated than bottled water.

 

[RiiCKYOMD]

I was told by my LFS to not get any water fromthere tanks into mine. Because something like they use different chemicals and with loads of fish it is hard for them to check on each 1. Therefore using your own fresh water would e more beneficial but im not sure if it is true just what ive been told

 

[gurnie]

tap water it is.

I just need something convenient so I can do water changes at work without much mess.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

yeah as Tolak said distilled water has zero hardness so the PH will swing widly which will have a very bad effect on the fish (if it doesnt just kill them outright). Tap water would be the best bet for most fish.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

use tap water. most bottled water is just plain tap water

 

[garethusa]

what you can do to make things a bit easier at work is use some cleaned out 1L or 2L plastic bottles or even gallon jugs and store the treated water in there.

that way, when you need to replace water in your tank at work, the water you have pretreated in the bottles/jugs are already (1) at room temperature and should be the same as the temp of the water in your office tank and (2) treated already. just pour in!

good luck.

 

[gurnie]

what you can do to make things a bit easier at work is use some cleaned out 1L or 2L plastic bottles or even gallon jugs and store the treated water in there.

that way, when you need to replace water in your tank at work, the water you have pretreated in the bottles/jugs are already (1) at room temperature and should be the same as the temp of the water in your office tank and (2) treated already. just pour in!

good luck.

That's what I had already planned to do, just seeing what was the better of all the different types of "bottled" water sold at the grocery store.