Distilled Water

[Longnose Hawkfish]

I just tested my rodi water with a tds meter and it comes up as 10. Ugh, no wonder why I am having cyano problems. Anyway, can I use distilled water in my reef tank until my new filters and membranes come in? The tds of the distilled water is 0. Is it okay to use? Thanks very much

 

[Flashy Fins]

Yes, you can. I've been running my tank for 2 years with distilled water and only recently (like, 2 days ago) bought an RO/DI unit to save myself all the trips to the store and the expense of buying water by the gallon. Your tank will be fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Distilled water is usually OK.

The concern is if the condensation pipes or other contacting pipes were copper, but that may not be the case today in most developed countries.

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

Okay it will only be for a week. I am trying to get it replaced as fast as possible but I guess I'll just distiller water for a week than. Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

i too am on distilled but also just drinking water including dasani /evian /generic

literally used every water known for topoff as avail. harmless but then again it wasnt sustained, distilled is the backbone. dasani was a trip it had me worried when thats all i had lol. have used dasani as a topoff about 20 times now if thats what case of waterhappens to be laying around

 

[eric3316]

Been using strictly distilled water for over a year now and has been the only type of water used in my tank.

You still might want to test every jug to make sure it is zero TDS as some times people have gotten some TDS readings. I personally have not tested my distilled with a meter.

Also, as Randy mentioned back in the day they might have used copper piping but I don't think that is really a concern anymore with commercially bought distilled water and I have yet to read a story about anyone having any issues related to copper and distilled water of today.

 

[czreef]

I'm on distilled water too..I only have a Fusion 20, but with the AC this summer I have to fill my 2 gal ATO res about twice a week-- haven't had any issues with distilled, I pick 16 gallons up at Winco every few weeks

 

[Mark426]

I am a nano-tanker and doing the math it has always been more economical for me to use distilled. Been using walmart water for 10 years with mainly SPS corals.
Lately a couple of Triton tests every year with typical results. Not one water related problem...
So far

 

[chaoha]

I was using distilled water then I had a diatom outbreak and tested the distilled water. Some were 0 and I had a high of 240. Worse than tap water right out of the tap. Got new filters for RODI and all is good.
Test each gallon

 

[jade2122]

Yes distilled will work fine, lots of people use just that instead of ro/di. I still think ro/di is better when you make it so that you can quality control it

 

[AZDesertRat]

If you are purchasing water, no matter what or where the source, a $25 ATC handheld TDS meter is your best friend. Something like the HM Digital TDS-3, TDS-4TM or AP-1 could save you system and you a lot of $$. Make sure the treated water you are buying is really what you think or are told it is, often it is not. For $125 I prefer to have ultimate control over my water quality:
www.spectrapure.com .

 

[hig789]

I have used distilled a few times when I forgot to get water from work. A lab with computer monitored 0 tds DI water is pretty nice.

 

[hig789]

I have been trying to talk the wife into one of the brs drinking my water systems though.

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

Ya I have a tds meter that is pretty accurate. The filters are replaced and tds is back to zero.

 

[Squadir]

what about regular bottled water? is that safe for a reef tank?

 

[AZDesertRat]

You want distilled water or RO/DI water. Most bottled water is RO only and some if it is intended for drinking has minerals (TDS) added back so it tastes good. The idea with a reef is you want 0 TDS or very close to that for stability.

 

[Squadir]

ahh I see, i don't use it but was just checking to see if it were a viable option in case of an emergency.

 

[AZDesertRat]

In a pinch RO only is certainly better than tap water but not something I would use everey day since RO is only a 90-98% efficient device without the additional DI stage which is what gets the TDS to zero.

 

[Squadir]

ok, great. thanks