Distilled or Reverse Osmois Water

[fishdave]

I have a 55 gal saltwater tank that has been up about 3 months now. I have 3 small fish and some scavengers. The local shop that I got my supplies from is out of business and I need top off water. Can I use distilled water?

 

[reefrunner69]

Yes you can, but it probably isn't a long term solution. I would not hesitate to use it in my reef, in a pinch, but in the long run getting your own RO/DI is the way to go. You can find good ones on Ebay, for a fair price.

If you look at the machines in frnt of the grocery or at Walmart, that is usually RO filtered as well. Just read the machine and make sure it is RO filtered.

 

[fishdave]

Another Question

Thank you for the info.

You directed me to ebay. The have a lot of RO systems for drinking water at very good prices. Can these systems be used for tank use? Also I did not see any of these systems that stated "DI" is this something I could add later?

 

[reefrunner69]

Those would work fine, and you can easily add an after market DI cartridge. Doing a quick search on Ebay I found lot's of RO/DI units....

http://search-desc.ebay.com/search/...tProperty=MetaEndSort&srchdesc=y&BasicSearch=

 

[fishdave]

Again Thank you

Thank you for your help! It seems like a De Ionizer is important, but maybe not necessary?

 

[reefrunner69]

Deionizers are beneficial, but not necessary. I do not use one, but my water is purchased. An RO will remove a percentage of dissolved solids in the water, let's say 99%. The deionier will then remove 99% of what is left. So if you do not have a deionizer, butt here is alot of phosphate in your water, the left over 1% could still be a considerable amount.