Quote Originally Posted by SideWinder View Post
I have a container of Madelaine's Crystal Clear Tobacco Humidifier. Forgive my ignorance, but is that what you're calling "beads?"
They'll do, but I would upgrade to the Heartfelt beads from Viper(do a search, lots of good info on them in here)

Quote Originally Posted by indysmoker View Post
having had a 200 gallon reeftank.....and A Reverse osmosis unit....it is just as good if not better than distilled water. Same thing a different way of getting there....Reverse osmosis basically runs the water through different filters using a slow and high pressurized process. one of which I know is charcoal. I used it to keep a different type of "stick" healthy....coral.....A coral frag (maybe the size of your pinky) could run anywhere from 25 to 75 and up.....RO water is okay to use.

cited proof (hey its on the internet)
The answer is distilled and r/o are so close in quality that it is a 'wash'.
Some say (I agree) that r/o has better flavor because the oxygen hasn't been boiled out of it. Distilled tends to have a 'flat' taste. R/O is far more convenient and cost effective. The difference is that distilled cost about 3 to 5 times as much per gallon to produce. My home has a special R/O lead-free tap and a connection to the ice maker. That is hard to do with any bottled water. There are some fine r/o systems out there. You can visit WQA.org and look up "drinking water devices". Whatever you choose make sure they meet the WQA and NSF standards for performance. You can check them out at NSF.org. The National Sanitation Foundation is the most respected lab for that sort of thing, and the Water Quality Association represents water treatment equipment dealers world wide. So your decision is really one of convenience and what you feel comfortable with. Good Luck, hope I helped, Fred
yeah what he said.