r/o vs. distilled

jonathan · 02-24-2006, 10:39 PM

i just wanted to reach a general concensus of what everyone is using. is there a significant difference between the two? i've been using nothing but distilled ever since i began this hobby, but i do know of some local reefers who constantly visit the local lfs to buy r/o. i've been too lazy to purchase a r/o unit but was wondering if the water could be more "pristine" or "pure" with r/o than using distilled. all comments welcome and appreciated.

Dador · 02-25-2006, 12:11 AM

Jonathan I don't think R O could be more pure than distilled. The distillation process leaves nothing in the water but the captured condensed evaporate. Pretty pure stuff. RO is clean as a whistle too. Biggest advantage I can see to RO is the ability to process pure water at home and not have to lug distilled water from the store. Where I am distilled water from Walmart is cheaper than RO from lfs. I have an RO unit in my basement that is plumbed to several sinks in my house and the refridge icemaker and water dispenser. My cost for maintaining the RO unit is $139 service call annually. After 1 year RO water at my house tests at 5ppm! Thats pretty clean.

Hope that helps.

Michaelr5 · 02-25-2006, 04:50 AM

Jonathan, I agree with Dador. I used Wal-mart distilled water for about 4 months until I could get my RO unit, mostly for the convenience. If fact if you look at the label on the wal-mart bottle (at least in this area), it says it is derived from RO/DI methods rather than steam distilled.

Mike

Reef Lover · 02-25-2006, 06:55 AM

If you test distilled water you will find a trace of copper in it.

NUGIO · 02-25-2006, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reef Lover

If you test distilled water you will find a trace of copper in it.

Yes due to the distilling process and copper which we all know is deadly to corals/inverts

Dador · 02-25-2006, 08:30 AM

WOW! That is new to me. Thanks

Matt Rogers · 02-25-2006, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reef Lover

If you test distilled water you will find a trace of copper in it.

That depends on their distilling method and whether they use copper tubing/containers or not. However, it may be hard to figure out if it doesn't say on the label and you can't get hold of the manufacturer.

jonathan · 02-25-2006, 12:15 PM

thanks for the feedback everyone...sounds like i'll be researching reverse osmosis units.

rickzter · 02-25-2006, 12:33 PM

I was using distilled water when I needed to top off freshwater and read up on it... not good. The lack of minerals in the distilled water make the water molecules bond with the minerals found in the reef itself, leading to disastrous things. Do a search on google, you'll be surprised what you find on distilled water used in reef tanks.

jonathan · 02-25-2006, 12:41 PM

i've used distilled for mixing and topping off on my 2.5 gallon pico for over a year now. i've never noticed any problems and i test religiously, i'll just might have to look that up and hopefully give me one more reason to buy an r/o unit.