I was reading about setting up aquaria, and in the book it stated that aged tapwater or bottled water could be used, but not distilled water. So the question is this: what is it about distilled water that is so different from normal water that it can't be used in an aquarium?
Answers:
Distilled water is essentially collected evaporated water. Tap water, and any water good for fish, contains many minerals and nutrients needed for their long term health as well as for chemical stability. Since none of these things evaporate with water, distilled contains nothing. You can use distilled water, and it's actually the purest way to set up a clean tank from the start, but it requires an experienced aquarist who knows what needs to be added back to the water and how to do it, and is willing to do this for every water change.
Most peoples tap water already contains all these elements, and the harmful parts are easily neutralized with tap water conditioner. It's the easiest way to fill the tank and works most of the time. Aging water is also a hangover from an older era - water conditioners act instantly and aging will not remove chloromine or toxic metals from the water and is unreliable - just treat the tap water and pour it in, case closed.
It's lacking in dissolved minerals, mostly.
Aging or bottled water has no chlorine.
How old is this book?
You can use your tap water, and that is just fine, in most cases, and just make sure you dechlorinate it. I have no clue why you would want to use bottled water, that's a hell of alot more expensive to do and you'd still want to dechlorinate that. I can't think of any reason off the top of my head why distilled water would have any adverse effects.
JV
distilled water has no minerals in it that are essential for the fish. just use tap water, and then put the stuff in that gets rid of chlorine.
i used water right out of the sink for my saltwater tank and everything is going fine. except my salinity is kind of high.. i think that it from the live rock though.
