Is anyone using distilled water in there reef?
 

I picked up a water distiller at a yard sale for 10 bucks! it'll do about a gallon in 5 to 6 hours. Is this as good as an RO unit? I'm thinking the distilled water should be 100% pure. and by the looks of the crud on the bottom of the pot after a few gallons, its goota be better than nothing

I sometimes do ( mixed with RO)... I think it is better than just RO.
Its on sale at $.99/ 4L at shoppersdrugmart sometimes or can be bought in quantity at the same price provided you bring a container for it.

msjboy

isn't that expensive at the end due to electricity bill?

One gallon in 5 hours? sound a bit tedious if you need 20 gallons ??

I can do 20 gallons overnight at 0 TDS with my RO/DI. I guess the distiller would be ok if you have a small nano tank maybe.

I have an old water distiller that my parents let me use, it seems to work pretty good for my nano which is a total of 25 gallons including the sump. I use it for my ATO water and water changes.

a good quality distiller can make better quality water than a ro, but most out there are not of that quality, and they are maintenance intensive to maintain optimal output. Ones that the average person could aford have low outputs, and most parts are replacable instead of cleanable which raises operating costs.

In reality unless you are prepared to spend about 2400.00 bucks (24 gal per day) and then spend 24rhs down for maintanence ever week or two, then just spend 300 on a good RO.

Steve

missed the part about you already have it LOL. do you have a pic, and model number or anything?

Steve

its just a counter top unit from sears probably. And i havnt had it long enough to notice my power bill. I could be wrong, but don't RO's waste alot of water? And since I pay for water... whats the difference? With the amount of time I've got it running, I'm sure it will burn out eventually and i'll have to do somthing else.
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water is a heck of a lot cheeper than power, thats the differance. the one I am talking about has two 2200 watt elements in it, so running thoes 24 hours you will get 25 gal of water. the 50 gal of water you waist running a 25gpd ro is a tiny fraction of that, and if you want you can repurpose that wast water to a tub, watering your garden, ect..

I have been working with comercial deselination plants for the last 22 years and believe me they are not the most economical way to make water, but they can provide the purest and have the capability to produce huge amounts. the ones I last worked on would make 791 gal of absolute pure water every hour, a ro with that output would be way to much money to buy.

you have it so use it, when it is dead, or you want more output, look for a RO to replace it.

Steve

I thought distilled water was not a good way to go as many use copper tubes for the heating and copper ions can end up in the output.

I use a distiller...I also run the water through a carbon filter first...although mine is a larger one...also runs off my hotwater tank..might be more expensive tham ro...but no waste water and cleaner....you might have to add tracce elements to your tank...always good anyway