# Does distilled water have chlorine in it? RO water?



## Wannaberooted (Jun 24, 2012)

I don't think either has chlorine. You could also put tap water in a bucket, let it sit, and it will dissipate in 24 hours.


----------



## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Chlorine will dissipate after a while, but chloromine won't. Chloromine is getting more common as a tap water additive because of the fact that it won't dissipate as quickly.

If it truly is distilled water in it, it will have as close to 0 TDS as you can get. Theoretically its as pure of water as you can get.


----------



## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

Royal Pleco said:


> I am cycling my tank with Tetra Safestart... water is evaporating, and I would like to top it off.... it;s been 2-3 days, and you are not supposed to use prime for a week into the TSS cycle. can I use Distilled or RO water to top off? which one is better with NO chlorine... some sites say there is chlorine in distilled some say there is not... is RO water safer? Thanks.


there is no chlorine in RO or Distilled water, its easier to use RO water, go for RO.


----------



## WheeledGoat (Mar 17, 2013)

yeah, by definition neither distilled or RO water will have chlorine or chloromine.


...but if we're talking about the gallon jugs or the bulk water dispensers at the grocery store, I wonder if it's added to extend shelf life?


----------



## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

RO is chemical free, you put it in the tank right after you collect it, no need to wait.

and as i believe neither chlorine nor clorom is presented nowadays in the tap water. its oldschool to use it, europe does not do that and i think the same goes for america


----------



## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

dzega said:


> RO is chemical free, you put it in the tank right after you collect it, no need to wait.
> 
> and as i believe neither chlorine nor clorom is presented nowadays in the tap water. its oldschool to use it, europe does not do that and i think the same goes for america



i use to add tap water in my tank without adding any conditioner. i think they don't add any of those chemicals in their waters.


----------



## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

so with RO water I do not need to use safe or prime conditioners?


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Soup12 said:


> so with RO water I do not need to use safe or prime conditioners?


In theory, yes, assuming the water is pure.


----------



## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

Darkblade48 said:


> In theory, yes, assuming the water is pure.


should I use some safe just in case? maybe half the reccomended amount?


----------



## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

I used to use distilled water and salt mix for my nano reef with no problems. TDS always came to 0. Now I use an RODI since I upgraded to a larger reef and have the same results. I believe even if you use just RO the filter will remove chlorine.


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Soup12 said:


> should I use some safe just in case? maybe half the reccomended amount?


You can add a water conditioner, if you want, though it will probably not be necessary.

I only added the "if the water is pure" statement since RO filters require regular maintenance in order to ensure that they provide pure water.

However, DI water should not have any chlorine in it, and you should be fine to just add it directly to your aquarium.


----------



## manlyfan76 (Jun 20, 2013)

Prime is just plain chlorine remover( sodium thiosulfate). If there is chloromines and you use Prime it will leave Ammonia behind as that is usually what the free chlorine has bonded to to form chloromines in a very simple explanation. you can buy sodium thiosulfate from your local poolshop for a few dollars and the MSDS on Prime lists it as less than 10%. 

My advice would be to age your water with an air pump running for 12 hours uncovered. (if the water is covered the burnt off gas can re enter the water).


----------



## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

> Prime is just plain chlorine remover (sodium thiosulfate).


Prime is not 'just sodium thiosulfate' it does work against chloramines, too, then locks up the ammonia so it is not toxic to the fish. 
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html



> i believe neither chlorine nor clorom is presented nowadays in the tap water. its oldschool to use it, europe does not do that and i think the same goes for america


Maybe in EU, but in most cities in the USA chlorine or chloramine is used in water treatment. Private wells usually have none, but most people are on a community water service that does use one or the other of these.


----------



## CrypticLifeStyle (Jan 16, 2013)

Here's some more food for thought was well about distilled that I heard over the winter, but never really looked into it, but sounds plausible. Some distilled systems use copper piping, and traces of copper could b in the water. Like I said its a comment I heard. Be interested if there was any truth to it or a concern.


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

dzega said:


> RO is chemical free, you put it in the tank right after you collect it, no need to wait.
> 
> and as i believe neither chlorine nor clorom is presented nowadays in the tap water. its oldschool to use it, europe does not do that and i think the same goes for america


In the United States, federal regulations require a water quality report to be available to almost all customers of public water supplies. ALL the reports I have read state that chlorine or chloramine is used to treat the water. 
What does your country use to reduce the bacteria in the water? Do you have access to a water quality website which would show us what is used? The only other alternate that I have heard of is bromine but I was never able to find confirmation of it.


----------



## Ghia (May 1, 2014)

Here in Norway, most water purification plants use enormous UV-sterilizer tanks. This is in addition to all their sedimentation vats and whatnots. Some smaller local plants are not yet modernized with UV, they still use the old-fashioned chlorine method. However, in times of excessive precipitation and runoffs that pollute the raw water supply, ALL plants may use chlorine as a final step in the purification process. So, chlorine in tap water may be there one day, but not the next...we never know without testing


----------

