Rain water.

[Ken Wilson]

120litre tank with moderately planted. angels, silver sharks, gourami and
tetras.
ammonia 0; nitrite immeasurably, nitrate same as tap water at about 10/15.
hard water. ph 8.
new external filter with them bone tube things, carbon and floss.

my rainwater comes off the roof and into a water butt. PH 6.5; nitrate 0
and soft. Supposing i washed it out (in a fit of enthusiasm i installed it
with plans to water the garden - but, hey, there is one of those tap things
connected to a hose in the garden and thats easier) let it refill and used
it at, say, 12 litres a week to gradually change the ph and reduce the
nitrate. Or are there likely to be any nasty bugs in there that aren't in
our tap water because the chlorine sterilises it?

TIA

ken
portsmouth england.

[Happy'Cam'per]

Rainwater does not have much buffering capacity if any at all. You might
experience a ph crash. YMMV!
--
Kind Regards
Cameron

"Ken Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> 120litre tank with moderately planted. angels, silver sharks, gourami and
> tetras.
> ammonia 0; nitrite immeasurably, nitrate same as tap water at about 10/15.
> hard water. ph 8.
> new external filter with them bone tube things, carbon and floss.
>
> my rainwater comes off the roof and into a water butt. PH 6.5; nitrate 0
> and soft. Supposing i washed it out (in a fit of enthusiasm i installed
it
> with plans to water the garden - but, hey, there is one of those tap
things
> connected to a hose in the garden and thats easier) let it refill and used
> it at, say, 12 litres a week to gradually change the ph and reduce the
> nitrate. Or are there likely to be any nasty bugs in there that aren't in
> our tap water because the chlorine sterilises it?
>
> TIA
>
> ken
> portsmouth england.
>
>
>
>
>

[Gill Passman]

"Ken Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> 120litre tank with moderately planted. angels, silver sharks, gourami and
> tetras.
> ammonia 0; nitrite immeasurably, nitrate same as tap water at about 10/15.
> hard water. ph 8.
> new external filter with them bone tube things, carbon and floss.
>
> my rainwater comes off the roof and into a water butt. PH 6.5; nitrate 0
> and soft. Supposing i washed it out (in a fit of enthusiasm i installed
it
> with plans to water the garden - but, hey, there is one of those tap
things
> connected to a hose in the garden and thats easier) let it refill and used
> it at, say, 12 litres a week to gradually change the ph and reduce the
> nitrate. Or are there likely to be any nasty bugs in there that aren't in
> our tap water because the chlorine sterilises it?
>
> TIA
>
> ken
> portsmouth england.
>
>
>
>
>
I'd always be very wary of any pollutants in rain water - I live in Reading
and am pretty sure that I could add some air fuel into the mix.....not to
mentions the pollutants from the heavy traffic.

Gill

[NetMax]

"Ken Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> 120litre tank with moderately planted. angels, silver sharks, gourami
> and
> tetras.
> ammonia 0; nitrite immeasurably, nitrate same as tap water at about
> 10/15.
> hard water. ph 8.
> new external filter with them bone tube things, carbon and floss.
>
> my rainwater comes off the roof and into a water butt. PH 6.5; nitrate
> 0
> and soft. Supposing i washed it out (in a fit of enthusiasm i
> installed it
> with plans to water the garden - but, hey, there is one of those tap
> things
> connected to a hose in the garden and thats easier) let it refill and
> used
> it at, say, 12 litres a week to gradually change the ph and reduce the
> nitrate. Or are there likely to be any nasty bugs in there that aren't
> in
> our tap water because the chlorine sterilises it?
>
> TIA
>
> ken
> portsmouth england.


OTOMH the concerns are as follows:
i) the first several minutes of rain 'washes' the air and your roof,
undesirable for an aquarium.
ii) rain has no buffering capability, so if you use enough, your pH can
lose stability.
iii) rain is not regular, so unless you have a storage reservoir, you
might need to switch to hard-water changes again (so your tank goes from
hard to soft to hard again, not desirable).

So a common strategy is to let the first 20-30 minutes of water bypass
your reservoir, then collect the rain, and use a % of rainwater with tap
water for your water changes (so the changes are gradual and your tap
water provides some buffer). Try something like a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of
rainwater to tapwater, and you will reduce your NO3 by 75-80%. hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

[bassett]

Sounds good, if you have alternative water supply.
But when you only have rain water tanks and it's not rained for 6 months
what do you do.

But I agree with you about , taking water directly off the tin roof, much
better to let it brew for a while in a tank.
And yes I have lost fish due to Ph crash. the answer is not to use Tank
water when it's stirred up with fresh rain water.
bassett


"NetMax" > wrote in message >> and soft.
>
> OTOMH the concerns are as follows:
> i) the first several minutes of rain 'washes' the air and your roof,
> undesirable for an aquarium.
> ii) rain has no buffering capability, so if you use enough, your pH can
> lose stability.
> iii) rain is not regular, so unless you have a storage reservoir, you
> might need to switch to hard-water changes again (so your tank goes from
> hard to soft to hard again, not desirable).
>
> So a common strategy is to let the first 20-30 minutes of water bypass
> your reservoir, then collect the rain, and use a % of rainwater with tap
> water for your water changes (so the changes are gradual and your tap
> water provides some buffer). Try something like a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of
> rainwater to tapwater, and you will reduce your NO3 by 75-80%. hth
> --
> www.NetMax.tk
>