Is distilled water ok to use?

[reefrunner69]

Originally Posted by PaulD

I\'ve never had trouble using well water in the past but now I moved and only have access to city water which is heavily chlorinated. I don\'t have an RO system but I do have access to distilled water. Is this OK to use for water changes? Is this better than tap water? How does this compare to RO water?

What kind of tank is this for? FO, FOWLR or Reef?

Edited, this was posted twice in the same forum, I deleted one of the extra posts and my guess is someone else deleted this one, while I was replying, I have added the original contents of PaulD's post in the quoted portion Sorry for the mix up, sometimes efficiency can work against you

[PaulD]

The tank is FO. I've had it for over 20 years. I currently only have 4 fish (tomato clown, blue tang, yellow tail damsel, and striped damsel). All of which have been in the tank over 7 years. No fatalities in the past 2 years, but I know using the city water will catch up sooner or later. I have easy access to distilled water so I was thinking of using this for my water changes.

[reefrunner69]

If it's a FO, I think distilled would be fine, I would probably run it through some carbon to remove any traces of copper, in case it is not glass distilled, or simply run carbon in your tank. I have not experienced a problem using store bought distilled in my reef in emergency situations