Distilled water help

Freshermenreefer · Sep 7, 2020

I was trying to see what this water okay for using to top off my reef tank I've been using tap water since I got into the hobby a couple years ago just never really had the time or ever got that deep into the hobby to get a RO system so i have a 5 gallon reef thank not to big and i want to try something different i tried this before all my three gallon and everything. I think I was using spring water but thanks to reef2reef I don't have to make the same mistake i can always just ask first and overall I just want to see any different would be noticeable in my tank

GaryE · Sep 7, 2020

Distilled water will be fine. I used it for quite a while back in the late 90's when I could get it for less than 50 cents a gallon.

An RO/DI system is better in that you have it on demand. However, with such a small reef I wouldn't bother.

plc001 · Sep 8, 2020

How about purified water, the one with no minerals added. That is what I used before my RODI unit.

brandon429 · Sep 8, 2020

Id use any brand of distilled water on my super old nano for sure. ive even used dasani in a pinch, with all the stuff added. the difference is minor brown diatom growth on the glass needing cleaned off vs none. good to go there above.

mike550 · Sep 8, 2020

If you have a 5G tank, I think buying distilled water would be fine. I'm guessing your water changes would be 1-2G at a time so it's hard to justify the costs of a RODI given the volume of water you need to make.

Freshermenreefer · Sep 8, 2020

GaryE said:
Distilled water will be fine. I used it for quite a while back in the late 90's when I could get it for less than 50 cents a gallon.

An RO/DI system is better in that you have it on demand. However, with such a small reef I wouldn't bother.

Thanks yes it only a 5 g i just want to see how much of a difference well it make

Freshermenreefer · Sep 8, 2020

plc001 said:
How about purified water, the one with no minerals added. That is what I used before my RODI unit.

How do u get that water i got a water filter but I feel like your filter water too fast and what brand do you use

Freshermenreefer · Sep 8, 2020

brandon429 said:
Id use any brand of distilled water on my super old nano for sure. ive even used dasani in a pinch, with all the stuff added. the difference is minor brown diatom growth on the glass needing cleaned off vs none. good to go there above.

So it stopped brown diatom well thats what i need because thats one of my problem I actually set my tank up this year so i dont really have a clean up crew

brandon429 · Sep 8, 2020

this way will stop it too, if the topoff doesnt control it better (a full tank cleaning stops diatoms, fast, and is harmless if your tank is not huge)

everything is brown...

Hello all I was hoping somebody could help guide me through an algae issue Im having with a fairly new tank. This is my first attempt at a reef tank, I just have a tiny 15 Litre nano tank. The tank finished cycling about 6 weeks ago, levels are all 0 for nitrites, ammonia and nitrates. I am...

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