Tap Water vs. Distilled vs. Spring

[RAHermits]

Hey all,



I'm still a little confused when it comes to water. Should I ever be using spring? I know everything must be treated with Prime, but can you use bottled spring water? I've been using bottled distilled water to mix my substrates, and tap water treated with Prime for my salt and fresh water. Can I use tap water for everything, including wetting my moss?

And do you all just fill up old jugs of water and leave it stored and ready to go?


Thanks for any help!

[Carissaraeee]

From my understanding, any bottled water that is de-chlorinated is completely fine. If you want to use tap water, you just have to get the stuff to de-chlorinate it! Me personally, I just go to Walmart and get the Walmart brand bottled water. And the guy at the pet store said thats completely fine. Hope this helped to answer your question

[JoeHermits]

You’ll have to check the labels on the bottles. Anything that is labeled as reverse-osmosis (RO) should be fine. It seems to be fading away, but there used to be a lot of brands that just filled their bottles right from the tap.

I prefer using a dechlorinator with tap water just because it’s cheaper and more convenient.

And yes, I do store my dechlorinated water for later use, as I typically treat it by the gallon.


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[curlysister]

From my understanding, any bottled water that is de-chlorinated is completely fine. If you want to use tap water, you just have to get the stuff to de-chlorinate it! Me personally, I just go to Walmart and get the Walmart brand bottled water. And the guy at the pet store said thats completely fine. Hope this helped to answer your question

Hmmm, from my understanding of what I have read, even bottled spring water should be treated with Prime (or equivalent).
It is also my understanding that distilling water does not remove chlorine, but RO does.

I hope one of the Mods can jump in with their expertise!

Edited to add - Yes, you can definitely use tap water treated with Prime for everything, from fresh water to salt water to wetting substrate to wetting moss!

[JoeHermits]

Hmmm, from my understanding of what I have read, even bottled spring water should be treated with Prime (or equivalent).
It is also my understanding that distilling water does not remove chlorine, but RO does.

I hope one of the Mods can jump in with their expertise!

Edited to add - Yes, you can definitely use tap water treated with Prime for everything, from fresh water to salt water to wetting substrate to wetting moss!

Distilled water is pure H2O and has no chlorine. It is often used in chemical laboratories because of its purity.


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[PinchersAndShells]

I just want to back up that you should be treating bottled water, with the exception of distilled water. It’s pure H2O with all the nutrients removed. I prefer to use Prime and tap water because it’s less expensive in the long run.

[curlysister]

Well, apparently my science knowledge isn't very good! Sorry!

What is the difference between distilled and RO water then??

[PinchersAndShells]

They both produce purified water, but utilize different routes to get there! Here’s a more in-depth description if you’re curious:
https://bestpurification.com/is-reverse ... distilled/

[curlysister]

I just had a quick look at the link, and found this on the page:

"Same as RO water treatment, a distiller is known to remove plenty of contaminants including heavy metals, such as lead, fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, salts, bacteria, cysts and viruses.
However, a distillation process most likely can’t separate chlorine and its byproducts, some herbicides and VOCs, and the chemicals that have lower or almost the same boiling point as water. In particular radon or gasoline components that quickly turn into gases may still combine with water vapor unless the distiller is specially designed to remove these contaminants."

[PinchersAndShells]

Huh, I didn’t know that. Strange!

[JoeHermits]

I also didn’t know that. This article would suggest that RO water has greater potential for removing impurities than distilled.


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[JoeHermits]

Hang on, this article from the University of Nebraska says otherwise.

http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/as ... htm#target

“Distillation also can remove many organic compounds, heavy metals (such as lead), chlorine, chloramines, and radionucleides.”

The boiling point of Cl2 is -34 degrees Centigrade, so once it’s released from the vaporized water during distillation it will likely remain an airborne gas. Ergo, no Cl2 in the water.


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[curlysister]

Well, geez, does it or doesn't it??!! LOL!! Interesting stuff!