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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #963
On 18/9/97 8:07 PM, Gerry Skau <gerry at ans_net> wrote:
>
>Rats- I was hoping to start a fascinating thread a la *what color is clear
>water in a white pail* but George is a man of few words... ;-)
>
>I use distilled water when replacing evaporated water to avoid mineral
>build up in my tanks. Does anyone else do this or feel that this is
>neccessary?
>
I do, but I use R/O water rather than distilled.
I understand the theoretical basis for it, but wonder at the actual
necessity. In a heavily planted tank with fertilisation/ trace element
supplementation closely adjusted to need, water replacement using
ordinary water would replace the need for some supplementation. The tap
water would also contain some unwanted/unnecessary solutes and some
wanted ones in excess quantities. What extra you got would depend on the
makeup of your tap water. It may not produce problems - tap water that is
naturally soft and low in other dissolved solids would essentially
produce the same results as distilled water. A fortuitous mixture of
dissolved solids (highly unlikely) could perfectly replace your
supplementation schedule.
In practice I think it's really try it and see, but going the distilled
or R/O water route is safe and technically correct, or should I say
"ideologically pure"?.
David Aiken