I am not sure but what you'd want to use is spring water because it has minerals which fish need to be healthy. If you want to save money maybe you can find a friend that will let you fill up gallon jugs from the tap.

Do you drink the well water? That could certainly be an invitation to a serious illness in the future for you if you are drinking it.

 

I decided to use store bought distilled water

Distilled water is not fish safe. It lacks everything the fish needs.

 

yes you can use distilled. i use it all the time. there are no dissolved minerals in it. it is soft like rain water. i think my bettas like it better than the tap water in my area, very high in calcium and other junk.

 

Thank you guys, should I do a water change and add the spring water asap? Or can it wait until Sunday, my normal water change day? So far Cerulean doesn't seem to mind it, he's swimming around, eating well, and made a huge bubble nest today, still working on it three hours later. Should I add water conditioner to the spring water just to be safe? Or can I do without? Also, to jadaBlu, I have been drinking the water since I was about 5 when he started doing it, and I'm 19 now so I have a feeling the damage has already been done to me haha!

 

Over a period of time fish kept in distilled water do not do well unless it is mineralized; that's why straight distilled is not good. Straight distilled may work for a few months but eventually the fish suffer because of a lack of necessary trace elements for sustained health.

 

you don't need to condition the well water, unless someone's chlorinating it. you can let it stand for 24 hrs and give it air to help equalize the pressure (like letting coke go flat)
sorry, with all due respects, rain water is distilled water, without the air pollutants.
pure distilled water is not good for plants, they absorb nutrients right out of the water, but fish are fine with it.
you can use distilled water.

 

I would prefer not using the well water, just because of the large amount of pesticides in it during the spring and summer months, my dad has a crusade against ants and crabgrass, usually putting down anywhere between 20-50 gallons of pesticides mixed with water onto the ground a week. His old saying is "If it takes every day of my retirement and every penny I've got, this house WILL have a lawn by the day I die." I don't want that high number of poisons to harm my little scale baby. I will pick up some spring water just to be safe, is there anything else I should keep in mind?

 

Distilled water contains zero minerals, electrolytes and buffers that are absolutely necessary to keep fish healthy and a tank stable. It should NOT be used in a fw tank unless these are added back with a product such as Seachems Replenish or Kents RO Right in addition to a water conditioner.



PLEASE STOP listening to the people at petXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your going to kill your fish!!!

 

I would imagine using distilled water would also create issues with the pH.

I've always seen it written that 100% distilled water is harmful for fish as it does lack any trace minerals.

 

Thank you so much! I had no idea! I feel so bad. I will go to the store tomorrow and get some spring water and also some Seachem Replenish.

 

like everyone else is telling you, distilled water isn’t good for long term use. You can buy products that remineralise it however. I currently use rain water, which is very soft and low in dissolved minerals, I use equilibrium by Seachem to add minerals back into the water.
Unless you are going to remineralise do not use distilled water for a long term solution. Your fish will end up with big health problems.

 

Started getting bottled water for you too! Look at it like smoking some people who stop early don't end up with lung cancer. You are young and have the potential to lead a healthy life. I have seen someone face cancer at mid-life and the sorrow they had for all the things they were not going to get to do and the people they would no longer see, kids that they would not see grow up. Make yourself as important as your fish.

 

There are uses for distilled water in the aquarium. If you have hard water or if the alkalinity is high, you can "cut" or dilute your source water with some distilled water until your desired water parameters are reached.

Dissolved minerals (GH) do not evaporate. So when water evaporates from your aquarium, the minerals are left behind. If you top off your aquarium with tap water, more minerals are added so you will see your GH start to climb in between water changes. To prevent this, you can top off evaporated water from your aquaurium with distilled water to keep your GH and KH stable (and your pH, to some degree).

I routinely use distilled water to top off my aquarium in between water changes. I also monitor my water parameters closely, especially whenever I add or remove water, to ensure the parameters are all stable and where I want them.

My pH stays at 7.4, GH is 8-10 degress, and KH is 3 degrees. My GH is considered "medium hard" water and my aquarium is certainly not lacking in dissolved minerals, even though I use some distilled water.

Since distilled water is almost entirely pure water, you do not have to use water conditioner with distilled water.

I should probably mention that I use very little distilled water in my aquarium. When using distilled water, I probably add less than 1% of my total water volume in a given week.