It takes up to 24 hours for chlorine to evaporate from water.
Notice deposits of green algae on the walls of this jar.
Chlorine in tap water does not kill algae spores for sure.
And here I have a jar of distilled water.
I actually have never used distilled water in my aquariums so I can’t tell you for sure if it is safe or not.
A simple experiment should give the answer.
I use one liter glass jars to set up two aquariums.
Fill the aquarium with the yellow planter on the left with NYC dechlorinated tap water.
Fill the aquarium with the red planter on the right with distilled water.
Add one adult pond snail into each aquarium.
One snail should be enough for this experiment.
Pond snails breath atmospheric air.
And they feed on algae and organic detritus.
Here I add a cutting of Guppy grass.
Put planters on top to reduce water evaporation.
All is set and ready on December 11th, 2020
I keep the aquarium next to the window away from direct sunlight.
One week later the snail seems to do fine.
The plant starts losing leaves by the end of the second week.
Though, the snail seems to be alright.
January 2nd, 2021
The snail is alive for about 3 weeks now.
The plant has lost most of its leaves.
January 25th, 2021
It's been about 6 weeks of the experiment.
The snail is dead.
The plant is in bad shape.
That's all I need to know to not to use distilled water for aquariums.
Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)
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