Should I use tap water for my Aloe and Lucky Bamboo?

Question

I've had my Aloe for about 5 months now; it's doing a bit better than it was at the store (they had it in direct sunlight and it was getting damaged). I just got two stalks of Lucky Bamboo also and I was reading about the type of water to put with the rocks. Now I'm afraid I'm damaging my Aloe, here's why:

On the site that talked about Lucky Bamboo it said tap water is okay as long as it's not softened, but other plants might be sensitive to tap water. I looked up about Aloes and there was a post by a lady who's growing crazy healthy Aloes where she talks about how tap water will kill an Aloe over time. Her suggestion is rain water or snow water.

I can leave a bucket out to collect rain, but it hasn't been raining much recently. And my cats will keep getting in to the water. What do I do? Is it okay to use water straight from the tap? Or should I boil it and let it sit over night? HELP! I'm already late on watering my Aloe by a week or so and I'm paranoid to give it bad water :(

Answer 1

I have a very healthy Aloe Vera as well as giant Lucky Bamboo (potted in soil), I use regular tap water for them and they are growing well. (You can use normal drinking water if you want!)

Both of these plants are strong enough, hence you may not worry about them.

Some key points for these plants are:

Aloe Vera:

• Water it low to moderately.
• Keep it in partial to full sunlight.

Lucky Bamboo:

• If potted in soil, Water it moderately.
• If kept in water, weekly change half of the water.
• Keep it indoor or in partial shade.

Answer 2

You can use tap water if you use a water filter. Even a portable filter as along as it has activated carbon in it. That will soak up the chloramine and a few other compounds that some plants are sensitive to.

Distilled water is not a good solution as it has no dissolved compounds and plants use some of the things in water, just not the chlorine levels found in tap water, even if it is delivered as chloramine where it is bound to ammonia.

Boiling works too but is time consuming. Rain water, of course, is the best solution but not as easy for everyone.

Alternately you could go to a pet store and buy a product for fish that deactivates the chloramine. This works quickly but it's not cheap.

Edit: You can use bottled water but you need to examine the label to ensure that chlorine levels are less than tap water (0.04 to 2.0 mg/L) from here: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/water-eau/chlorine-chlore/index-eng.php There is a subtle difference between "Bottled water is the same as tap water" and "Bottled water has the same levels of dissolved salts as tap water".