r/o vs. distilled

I don't have an RO unit. I used a water purifier system which filters tap drinking water. Before the initial filling of the tank I let the water run for a good ten minutes before using the purified water.

Is this OK or do I still have traces of certain elements which won't allow me to keep inverts and/or corals down the line?

Thanks all.

 

Wow I feel better, Awake in chem class

Matt! Thank you. That is very interesting for a moment there I thought I'd lost what's left of my mind! My experience, (now I realize limited) with distilation was with glass tube set ups. I was trying to figure out where the coppor was coming from!

As for loosing basic elements and leaching them from the reef I worried about that myself. I don't know but does RO serve better. Intuitively you would think so.:-/

 

Dador,
IMHO, the distilled water leaching issue is a non-issue. If you're using distilled fresh water for top-off, that's probably less than 10% of your tank volume each month. Not a big deal. If you're using it to mix new salt water for water changes, the salt mix has various and sundry (love that phrase) elements already in it.

 

I use RO/DI for six mounts my self its pretty good

 

You will still have phosphates and other metals.

 

In that case and before I go any further with my tank should I start all over using RO/DI water or can I phase in the RO everytime I add water (due to evaporation)?

 

If you cycle don't start over, just add RO every time that you do a water change. I buy my RO for $1.00 a gallon.

 

Reef Lover:
I will start the cycling probably in the next two weeks, I am waiting for my LFS to cure the LR. Once I put the LR in the tank the cycling should begin, no?

After the tank has cycled if I use RO to top-off will traces of the elements which I don't want eventually disappear? And if I proceed to use RO as top-off in due time is that like using RO from the start?

Thanks

 

I would tank all the water out and replace it with RO. You don't want anything to settle down in your rocks.

 

Here is a list of the elements my unit deals with:

Alachlor Reduction
Asbestos Reduction
Atrazine Reduction
Chlordane Reduction
Cyst Reduction
Ethylene Dibromide Reduction
Dibromochloropropane Reduction
Heptachlor Epoxide Reduction
Lead Reduction
Lindane Reduction
Mercury Reduction
Methoxychlor Reduction
MTBE Reduction
PCB Reduction
Toxaphene Reduction
Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction
Turbidity Reduction
VOC Reduction
Xylenes Reduction
2,4-D Reduction
2,4,5-TP (Silvex) Reduction


I am planning to keep fish only with shrimp and possibly crabs at a later date. I have no plans in the immediate future for corals although I would like to be able to have this option open. Am I OK or was this initial filling in vain?