Water Question

[bizmike]

I'm new to reef tanks - love it so far.
I have a 55 gal tank with about about 70 lbs of established LR. I don't have an RO/DI unit, so I've been using distilled water from the grocery store (at $1.00/gallon

). I've recently been noticing several different kinds of algae growing all over my tank.
Could my algae problem be due to using the store's distilled water instead of RO/DI?

 

[geoj]

Distilled water is just as good as RO. Sounds to me that your tank just needs to age some. Check nitrate, phosphate, and silicates and if they are very low or at zero then your good. You will go through a number of different algae blooms and all should end by them selves. If the blooms don’t end then something is adding to the waste, keeping them going.

 

[flower]

Is there a super walmart near you? RO water is only .37 cents a gallon. $1.00 is way too expensive.

 

[bizmike]

Thanks. I've heard the RO water at Walmart can be pretty shaky as far as reef tanks go - depending on when they change their filters.
Long term, I know I need to get an RO/DI unit. Any thoughts on the best place to get one? I'm not really sure where to look and what I should be looking for.

 

[geoj]

www.airwaterice.com