Easy question about distilled water

[AR15 guy]

I bought some distilled water to use for water changes in my tanks. Does distilled water contain chlorine? If so how long should I let it sit up before it evaporates so I can add the water to my tank?

 

[JG]

Distilled should not contain chlorine. Use the water right out of the container.

 

[AR15 guy]

Thats what I figured. I know it isn't as good as RO water but I was using tap. So I defintely took a step in the right direction.

 

[copi]

KMart sells private-label RO water as "purified water." The label reads something like 'municipal water purified by reverse osmosis.' That's what I'm using right now for top offs.

 

[EJS4]

Why do you say distilled is not as good as RO? Distilled should be purer than RO since its made by collecting and cooling steam.

 

[skennelly]

Actually distilled water is as good as RO water if not better. Anybody who argues that, doesn't really understand distillation. Scientists prefer distilled water because of the natural methods of obtaining it. RO requires the use of artificial membranes and resins to remove impurities. There are arguments that distilled water isn't completely pure because the metal containers that are used to make it leach metals into the water, but that can also be said for the containers that we store our RO water in also.

I would say RO is definitely the cheaper router as far as reef aquarium goes. I myself prefered to purchase a RO unit for $69.00 off of Ebay rather then purchasing bottles from the store. Its saves the countless trips and I have pretty close to pure water at my fingertips.

my .02

 

[klam]

A reason why distilled gets a bad rap is because some water plants use or have used copper piping in the process. And we know that having copper in a reef tank isn't a good thing.

I use to use disitlled bottle water but that got too expensive. $1.50/g is too much cash when compared to $0.25/g

 

[AR15 guy]

I picked up some at kroger. It was 69 cents a gallon. I am looking into getting a RO unit someday.

I was reading online and people seem to think distilled water is bad for us to drink?

 

[JG]

There is some new data that suggests that some of the chemicals which leach out of plastics are causing health issues.

 

[Jonathan G.]

lol its funny you say this cause i was arguing with this girl at work that swears chemicals leached out of plastic over time makes people or gives them homosexual tendencies.

 

[AR15 guy]

hmmm.....

Maybe in California 8O

 

[douggiestyle]

Actually distilled water is as good as RO water if not better. Anybody who argues that, doesn't really understand distillation. Scientists prefer distilled water because of the natural methods of obtaining it. RO requires the use of artificial membranes and resins to remove impurities. There are arguments that distilled water isn't completely pure because the metal containers that are used to make it leach metals into the water, but that can also be said for the containers that we store our RO water in also.

I would say RO is definitely the cheaper router as far as reef aquarium goes. I myself prefered to purchase a RO unit for $69.00 off of Ebay rather then purchasing bottles from the store. Its saves the countless trips and I have pretty close to pure water at my fingertips.

my .02

actually distilled water is not as pure (depending on the distillation process) as ro/di water as hydrocarbons or voc, (volatile organic compound) can be found in distilled. as well as other chemicals that have a boiling temp at or below waters boiling temp. there are voc filters available but carbon will remove most when not at extreme levels. but for the most part distilled water is pretty damn pure.

 

[EJS4]

There is some new data that suggests that some of the chemicals which leach out of plastics are causing health issues.

Yes and one of the plastics we should avoid reusing is plastic water bottles. They are suppose to be okay the first time. So all those refilling your bottled water beware.

 

[JG]

lol its funny you say this cause i was arguing with this girl at work that swears chemicals leached out of plastic over time makes people or gives them homosexual tendencies.

I don't know about this, but there are studies which link these chemical ( Phthalates) to birth defects of the male reproductive organs.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000902/bob9.asp

I have even seen reference to a decrease in the numbers of male fish due to chemicals leaching into the environment.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/07/23/2003180078

There is still much controversy.

As for reusing bottles - that is mostly out of concern for bacterial growth - YUMMY !. You are only supposed to reuse them once or twice.