water?

[mattjfishman]

I'm planning on starting my 15 gal. tank and was wondering if distilled water was ok to use cause my house is plumbed with copper.

[wabio]

Interesting question. I'm wondering myself since I'm sure the vast majority of older houses use copper plumbing.

[supervdl]

Get some RODI unit and you may be cheaper in the long run.

[rigleautomotive]

it can be used but some distillers use copper stills,so i would not recommend it.

[mattjfishman]

I can't afford an RODI unit. What about drinking water?

[stuccodude]

i use to use purified water from the grocery store, good luck

[rigleautomotive]

there is a tap water purifier you can buy from lfs that is decent.when they are new you get decent water,about 8 or 10 tds if you tap water is decent.also on ebay i have seen some real resonably priced rodi units at times.under 100 dollars.

[mattjfishman]

K, thanks

[rigleautomotive]

no problem,happy hollidays

[fierceseaman]

I used distilled water for about 6 months in my aquarium till I purchased an RODI unit. I don't see a large difference in my aquarium's health now that I'm using RODI although the distilled water tested around 15 TDS vs. 0 TDS from the RODI. The main reason I switched though was because I thought in the long run it would be more economical and I didn't like going to the store every time I wanted to do a water change. With 15 gallons, I think you could get away with distilled but if you upgrade you will want an RODI.

[Ritten]

distilled is just fine.

[mattjfishman]

Ok, thanks and rember, don't drink too much on New Years!

[rbrusletto]

I used wal-mart water for a while, they will say the tds on the system check sheet.

Once I got my bigger tanks though, the cost of buying water vs getting a rodi unit was severely different. If I had just stayed with my 14g, it would take about 3 years for the rodi unit to pay itself off.