bjocque Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 cutting to the chase, is it ok to use steam distilled water in your aquarium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 Yes, its essentially just pure rainwater, however it will have absolutely 0 hardness, and mainting a constant pH may be difficult. Possibly use a shell in the tank to slowly raise hardness and stablise pH. If you do lots of water changes with distilled water your fish will love you. (unless you have african cichlids which might not be so enthusiastic about it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 Rain water is distilled water with the polution it picks up on the way down added. I would be tempted to let it sit in the atmosphere for a while to allow for the natural absorption of gasses that are driven off in the distilation process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 doesnt distilled water have very very little minerals etc like RO water? like SW said it will be hard to maintain a stable tank using distilled water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 what reason would you fill a tank with distilled water please anyone ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMAZONIAN Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 Anybody that uses pure distilled water to completely fill a tank is asking for trouble. Just remember> "A FISH TANK REPLICATES A SECTION OF A BIOTOPE" and distilled water just don't happen in Nature. :lol: Use distilled water to adjust pH up or down or to alter hardness; BUT NOTHING ELSE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 Thank you Amazonian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Doesn't it? I don't know you'd call rain, but the whole water being heated, evaporated then condensing when it cools sounds a lot like distillation to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMAZONIAN Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Hi Ira Thanks for the Science Lesson. Unfortunately most of the world's hobbyists don't have the luxury of a laboratory for a fish room. Fortunately for me, I do have a laboratory at my disposal and also have laboratory equipment at my home..... I can use any of 7 different condensers to achieve distilled water of differing qualities and grades. Distilled water is exactly what it is called. It hasn't picked up any pollen or dust particles, or "NOXIOUS" gases, or anything else that helps to form "SMOG" on the way to earth from the clouds in which it was generated. IT IS NOT TO BE USED SOLELY TO FILL A FISH TANK TO KEEP FISH IN. This will start a lot of comment and critisism and that is good. I look forward to being made out that I don't know what I am talking about, but I say as I know to be correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 so is distilled water the same as RO pretty much? if so i wouldnt think many fish would be able to survive in it let alone bacteria colonies etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Distilled water is dead and will contain any contaminants that have come over with the water, namely volatiles which have a lower boiling point than water. This is unless very elaborate fractional distillation is used. My question would be: Why would you want to used distilled water? RO is a process that allows the water to pass through a membrane that will filter out any molecules bigger than water but will also contain molecules smaller than water. Not much is pure but then not much needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMAZONIAN Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 In a word; No. Distilled water has: "NO ACIDITY"----"NO ALKALINITY"----pH IS EXACTLY 7", (NEUTRAL)----"IT HAS NO CONDUCTIVITY", (Siemens)----"NO DISSOLVED GASES:" "IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN IT". Distilled water is totally inert and the purest form of H2O you can get, and as I stated in my earlier post; :roll: DISTILLED WATER AS SUCH, DOESN'T HAPPEN IN NATURE. IT IS THE PRODUCT OF SCIENCE IF YOU LIKE. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 It is a matter of personal preference but I think water is a living thing and boiling it or using fancy filters is not a good idea unless the water is pretty gungy. If the water is potable it should be OK for fish. I think many fish breed better in water that contains some life as they expect the fry to feed on something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Potable levels of Nitrate & phosphate found in some water supplies are MUCH higher than can possibly be recommended for aquarium use. I can also safely drink water with a pH of 8- not great if you're keeping Cardinal Tetras, or a pH of 5, fairly intolerable for a group of Tropheus for instance. RO filtration is a reasonable and necessary method of preparing water for many aquarium circumstances. Usually needing adjustment post filtration (to increase gH & kH for instance) it can allow the aquarist to taylor their water to the exact requirements of their pets. DI units can also be added to increase the level of filtration, particularly useful for Saltwater Aquaria where impurites are much less tolerated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 You can drink water with a pH of 4.6 (coka cola) I agree with what you are saying but I still think we get too carried away with science when nature has been doing it successfully since before we thought of science Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 I agree that "nature" does a great job, however nature isn't what is happening in an average aquarium, it's a completely unnatural environment with the fish far removed from their original environment & conditions, even those that are captive bred are not usually accustomed to our water conditions having often originated from fish farms in Asia. Plus that which comes out of our taps is not exactly as nature intended with additives from fertiliser runoff, plus chlorine & floride in some cases. Even in the fishes Natural environment our impact can be felt as tree felling and mangrove clearage for agriculture/industry disrupts nutrient exchange. Before some of the more recent advances in aquarium care, there were many aquarium inhabitants that could not be successfully kept in captivity and there are still plenty that suffer much shortened lives where a bit of water testing & intervention could easily have saved them. My opinion is just that sometimes science has to step in to correct imbalances and to make sure that we are offering the best environment for our pets. I think I may have gone a bit off track from the origional distilled water question... :roll: I guess people will do what is right for their circumstances, but at a minimum I would recommend knowing what your tap water starts out like-testing pH, kH, gH as a minimum, plus NO3 & PO4 if in a rural setting. If you don't want to purchase test kits then your LFS will often provide this service. Also a knowledge of the requirements of the fish you keep so that if you choose not to make any adjustments you can at least keep fish that will tolerate the water you provide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 What you suggest is obviously very good for you and the way you do things. However I have kept fish and plant for over 40 years and do not own any testing kits. I used to breed 50,000 tropical fish a year and never owned one (even though I have designed and built hardness & pH testing kits along with water softening kits. What I try to do now is do things in such a way that I don't get an excess of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate or calcium rather than becoming expert at measuring the results of what I have done wrong. There is more than one right way to do things and the best way is the one that works best for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMAZONIAN Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 DONT TRY TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL.................. Nature has been doing this longer than man has been on the planet. Man invented science to rationalise the actions of nature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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