I use straight tap water ( but bottle water for the hermit crabs), as some times it smells like a pool supply place when you first turn it on. I never got a bunch of the useless items I did get hte reptile relief while I was waiting on the PAM to come in with one set of snakes cause they had mite bad ( a white snake looke like it had freckles ) and people wonder why it had not been eating and was staying in the water bowl