Distilled Water

[twins6511]

I HAVE BEEN USING DISTILLED WATER(FROM WALMART) FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS NOW AS I HAVE BEEN READING GOOD THINGS ABOUT IT.THE TDS READINGS ARE UNDER 15,NOW I AM HAVING A SERIOUS ISSUE WITH GREEN ALGAE.IS THIS THE PROBLEM? I WAS USING TAP WATER RUN THROUGH A TAP WATER PURIFIER WITH NO PROBLEMS BEFORE THIS.NOW SOME OF THE CORALS ARE WASTING AWAY.MY PHASPHATE HAS ALWAYS READ THE SECOND COLOR ON MY RED SEA TEST KIT.I HAVE BEEN USING PHOSGUARD FOR A GOOD WHILE FOR THIS PROBLEM.PH IS BETWEEN 8.2-8.6 AND AMMONIA ALWAYS READS .025 ON RED SEA TEST KIT.ALK IS GOOD.I DONT HAVE $$$$ FOR RO-DI EQUIPMENT BUT, MY LFS IS SELLING IT MIXED WITH IO SALT FOR 64 CENTS PER GALLON.HOW LONG TILL THINGS TURN AROUND IF I DO A 10 PERCENT WATER CHANGE ON MY 45 GALLON?ANY THING ELSE I SHOULD BE DOING?I JUST WENT OUT AND BOUGHT MORE CRABS AND SNAILS AS MY CLEANUP CREW WAS GETTING SCARCE.I HAVE TO CLEAN MY GLASS EVERY DAY TO GET THE GREEN ALGAE OFF IT.MY TANK IS NOT OVER CROWDED AND I FEED THE CORALS EVERY OTHER DAY WITH EITHER BRINE SHRIMP OR CYCLOPEEZE.WHATEVER THE FISH CATCH FROM THIS IS THEIR MEAL.

[Chelsey]

I have used distilled water (it's RO and DI if it's from walmart and has a purple cap) for my tanks for around 2 years now and I'm not having I problem with it. Can you tell me what your stock list is as far as fish? What type of lighting do you have? How long do you leave your lights on? If you can answer these then more people will be able to help you. Also, please turn your caps lock off...on forums all capital letters is viewed as shouting and some find it annoying :)

[Andrew]

Ived used that water also before but I caused more algae for me. Thats why im finaly ordering a ro unit! :)

[twins6511]

my stock is 1 pj cardinal,4 chromis,1 royal gramma,1 possum wrasse,1 yellow clown goby.my lites are 192 watts pc and my lite time is 11 hours for blue actinic and 10 hours for the daylite bulbs.

[jasper24]

I use about a gallon a day of walmart distilled water with the purple cap. Been doing it for about a year. No algae problems what so ever. I would look elsewhere for the cause.

[twins6511]

bump

[twins6511]

bump

[hottuna]

check the source water...if hexametaphosphate(a common municipal water additive to prevent corrosion of pipes& water mains) was in the water prior to distillation it will not be removed by the distillation process...i found this out by trial and error and alot of research...there is one company in P.A.(sold at cvs drugstores) that has this phosphate in its water supply and it does carry over into the final product...distilled does not allways = ultrapure....it depends on the boiling point of the impurities of the source water whether they will be removed by the process...hope this helps

[OnTheReef]

Air, Water, Ice at http://www.airwaterice.com has excellent RO/DI units at very competitive prices. Their customer service is excellent. I have been using the Typhoon III for almost 3 years now and it produces water in the single digits of ppm TDS.