Distilled Water For Top Off

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aadair22

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
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Location
Ocala, Fl.
So I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some distilled water for top of, and while looking for the cheapest distilled water, I looked at the purified water which said on the bottle 'purified by reverse osmosis'. When I looked at the distilled water, it said, 'purified by steam distillation, filtered and ozonated to ensure quality'. Lately I have been picking up the distilled water for my top off since I work at a grocery store and it is convenient for me, however, i have had hair algae and even some bubble algae popping up the last couple of months.. Basically since I started using this TO water..

Does anyone know what the difference is between these two? I just noticed this today and will start making it a point to get my Top off from my LFS instead until I can afford a better RO/DI unit.

thank you for any input!
 
I went on vacation a couple of months back and had the secretary top up the tank for me every couple days while I was gone. I noticed when I got back hair algae everywhere and I had to add on to the cuc. Fortunately I was ready to move my 10g into the 40b. So far, only a week, no algae issues and water test are good. In my estimation, and in accordance with your experience, I'd say the Sparklett's Distilled Water contributed to my algae issue. I now only use RO/DI water from LFS. Hope you can get rid of it!
 
Both types may be considered to be "purified." The process by which they purify is different. In the distillation process, water is boiled and turned to steam, then cooled to condense it back into a liquid. The result is very pure water.

The reverse osmosis process is simply a filtration method. Water is forced through a "semi-permeable" membrane. Only the smallest of molecules pass through the membrane. Some contaminants are smaller than water molecules and will pass through. So although some ro water may be classified as "purified," it may have some contaminants left in it.

You should be able to use either type in your top-off - they are very similar in that they neither should have any major contaminants.
 
I've used distilled water since I started and havent had an issue (well any issues I haven't caused on my own that is) yet.
 
I used to use the distilled water from Walmart for my nano reef. Worked great. Had some bubble algae that I brought in on some rock, but it came and went.

Might want to consider running GFO through a reactor. Nothing gets rid of hair algae faster.....and I mean GONE!
 
Both types may be considered to be "purified." The process by which they purify is different. In the distillation process, water is boiled and turned to steam, then cooled to condense it back into a liquid. The result is very pure water.

The reverse osmosis process is simply a filtration method. Water is forced through a "semi-permeable" membrane. Only the smallest of molecules pass through the membrane. Some contaminants are smaller than water molecules and will pass through. So although some ro water may be classified as "purified," it may have some contaminants left in it.

You should be able to use either type in your top-off - they are very similar in that they neither should have any major contaminants.

Interesting, thank you, and everyone for chiming in.
 
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