Rainwater or tapwater?

[David (Melbourne, Australia)]

Our tap water has started to have a strong chlorine smell and taste and
has a pH of over 8.(Bromothymol blue goes a completely blue colour.)
For the last 2 water changes I've used rainwater, collected from a part
cement tile and zincalume roof into a plastic 1000 gal rainwater tank.
The pH of the rainwater is completely neutral, pH7.

What would be safer for a tank of guppies, corys and danios -
conditioned tapwater or the rainwater?

If I continue to use rainwater, should I add a calcium carbonate/mineral
dissolving block to make the water harder? What about trace elements -
that may be lacking in the rainwater?
We live out of Melbourne in a clean rural area, so I don't think the
rainwater would have much atmospheric pollution.

David

[Charles]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2007 15:55:11 +1100, "David (Melbourne, Australia)"
> wrote:

>Our tap water has started to have a strong chlorine smell and taste and
>has a pH of over 8.(Bromothymol blue goes a completely blue colour.)
>For the last 2 water changes I've used rainwater, collected from a part
>cement tile and zincalume roof into a plastic 1000 gal rainwater tank.
>The pH of the rainwater is completely neutral, pH7.
>
>What would be safer for a tank of guppies, corys and danios -
>conditioned tapwater or the rainwater?
>
>If I continue to use rainwater, should I add a calcium carbonate/mineral
>dissolving block to make the water harder? What about trace elements -
>that may be lacking in the rainwater?
>We live out of Melbourne in a clean rural area, so I don't think the
>rainwater would have much atmospheric pollution.
>
>David


I would think that the rainwater would be too soft for the guppies.
cories should be okay, maybe, I don't know about the danios.

You could mix some rain water with the tap water to get whatever
hardness you want. I have found that really soft water tanks can be
troublesome. My tap water is quite hard and works well for the fish I
keep.

[Gregory Ho]

I am not sure how large your aquarium tank is, but if it is not over 55
gallons there is a good option if you have enough buckets.

If you have strong chloramine problem in your tap water you can collect
your tap water in 5 gallon buckets and let it sit for 48 hours for the
chloramines to evaporate. If you have an extra powerhead or header
these would speed up the process a little bit.

You could also use a chloramine remover that can be found at your local
pet store. This way, you could just introduce the tap water into your
tank.

The advantage of this is that you get the minerals that are found in
your tap water which is important for the hardness of the water as well
as for aquarium plants. Rain water does not contain these important
minerals.

[Richard]

Chlorine will dissipate easily - Chloramines wont - that is why the water
treatment people like them...


"Gregory Ho" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I am not sure how large your aquarium tank is, but if it is not over 55
> gallons there is a good option if you have enough buckets.
>
> If you have strong chloramine problem in your tap water you can collect
> your tap water in 5 gallon buckets and let it sit for 48 hours for the
> chloramines to evaporate. If you have an extra powerhead or header
> these would speed up the process a little bit.
>
> You could also use a chloramine remover that can be found at your local
> pet store. This way, you could just introduce the tap water into your
> tank.
>
> The advantage of this is that you get the minerals that are found in
> your tap water which is important for the hardness of the water as well
> as for aquarium plants. Rain water does not contain these important
> minerals.
>

[David (Melbourne, Australia)]

Thanks guys,
From what you are saying I'll stay with tap water rather than using
rainwater.
We have choramine in out water supply so I'll use choramine remover and
let the water sit for 48 hrs before using as you recommended.

I have a very noisy powerhead that I was going to throw out but it may
be good for pre-treating the tap water before I add it to the aquarium.
I can do this in the outside shed so the noise won't bother me.

BTW are there some brands or models of small inside powerfilters that
are very quiet?

David



Richard wrote:
> Chlorine will dissipate easily - Chloramines wont - that is why the water
> treatment people like them...
>
>
> "Gregory Ho" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>> I am not sure how large your aquarium tank is, but if it is not over 55
>> gallons there is a good option if you have enough buckets.
>>
>> If you have strong chloramine problem in your tap water you can collect
>> your tap water in 5 gallon buckets and let it sit for 48 hours for the
>> chloramines to evaporate. If you have an extra powerhead or header
>> these would speed up the process a little bit.
>>
>> You could also use a chloramine remover that can be found at your local
>> pet store. This way, you could just introduce the tap water into your
>> tank.
>>
>> The advantage of this is that you get the minerals that are found in
>> your tap water which is important for the hardness of the water as well
>> as for aquarium plants. Rain water does not contain these important
>> minerals.
>>
>
>

[Michael]

Never use rainwater except as a dilution agent and it still must be
filtered before use. There are plenty of man-made and natural
pollutants rainwater picks up on its way down that the earth filters
before fish swim in it.

I created a dual filter system using a carbon and chemical filter you
can buy at any hardware store. These are the undersink kind or
refrigerator filter for the ice machine. I put two different kinds of
filters together (a block of wood serves as a mounting point) to give a
complete filtering of the water (both mechanical and chemical) . I have
this outside by the garden hose and whenever I need water for the tanks,
I connect the garden hose to the inlet of the first filter (mechanical
first, carbon second) and collect the water out of the outlet of the
second filter. I change the filters about once a year depending on
load. It is amazing how much 'crud' they filter out (hence I don't
drink unfiltered tap water).

All Chlorine, chloramines, metals, etc. are removed on the fly.
Depending on temperature, I feed the water directly to my tanks or mix
with pre-warmed water to get the right temperature. No chemicals are
ever added.

Water in Houston (Texas) is naturally buffered with a PH around 8.0
When I add CO2 for the plants, the PH drops to 7.8 - so this is a good
buffered source of water - straight from the tap.


David (Melbourne, Australia) wrote:
> Thanks guys,
> From what you are saying I'll stay with tap water rather than using
> rainwater.
> We have choramine in out water supply so I'll use choramine remover and
> let the water sit for 48 hrs before using as you recommended.
>
> I have a very noisy powerhead that I was going to throw out but it may
> be good for pre-treating the tap water before I add it to the aquarium.
> I can do this in the outside shed so the noise won't bother me.
>
> BTW are there some brands or models of small inside powerfilters that
> are very quiet?
>
> David
>
>
>
> Richard wrote:
>> Chlorine will dissipate easily - Chloramines wont - that is why the water
>> treatment people like them...
>>
>>
>> "Gregory Ho" > wrote in message
>> ups.com...
>>> I am not sure how large your aquarium tank is, but if it is not over 55
>>> gallons there is a good option if you have enough buckets.
>>>
>>> If you have strong chloramine problem in your tap water you can collect
>>> your tap water in 5 gallon buckets and let it sit for 48 hours for the
>>> chloramines to evaporate. If you have an extra powerhead or header
>>> these would speed up the process a little bit.
>>>
>>> You could also use a chloramine remover that can be found at your local
>>> pet store. This way, you could just introduce the tap water into your
>>> tank.
>>>
>>> The advantage of this is that you get the minerals that are found in
>>> your tap water which is important for the hardness of the water as well
>>> as for aquarium plants. Rain water does not contain these important
>>> minerals.
>>>
>>
>>

[Trevor Stenson]

Hi,

Tapwater should be used for the new tank as fish actually need some of
the minerals, etc. that are in it. However, the quality of tap water
varies greatly around the world and the amount of treatments - chemical
or otherwise - will vary greatly.

I'm not going to go into detail on that as I'm not an expert on that
aspect but I just wanted to say that you always should use cold tap
water. Hot water (or a mixture of hot/cold) is often full of excess
minerals as the evaporation in hot water tanks and leeching for old
tanks concentrates harmful minerals and metals in the water. For a new
tank most people will tell you to 'run' in without fish for a month so
that a normal bacterial balance can be achieved and a proper nitrogen
cycle and micro-biosystem can be established.

Rain water should be mostly pure water - but again this is dependent on
location and some rain water is acidic and laced with pollutants.

If you want to top of an existing aquarium that has lost some of its
water (this is not your regularly scheduled 1/4 to 1/3 water change)
then regular cheap distilled water is a good alternative (NOT mineral
water!). DH20 is virtually pure water. So you can add water back to
your tank without increasing the levels of dissolved solutes.

I use 4 - 8L a month. And then it is time for my water change with
treated tap water.


Cheers,

TS

--
Edmonton SCTV Locations:
http://members.shaw.ca/pumpkin27/iwebber2

My Blog feed:
feed://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/iwebber/TheStenonsNewDigs/Blog/rss.xml

[Charles]

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:59:18 +1100, "David (Melbourne, Australia)"
> wrote:

>Thanks guys,
> From what you are saying I'll stay with tap water rather than using
>rainwater.
>We have choramine in out water supply so I'll use choramine remover and
>let the water sit for 48 hrs before using as you recommended.
>
>I have a very noisy powerhead that I was going to throw out but it may
>be good for pre-treating the tap water before I add it to the aquarium.
>I can do this in the outside shed so the noise won't bother me.
>
>BTW are there some brands or models of small inside powerfilters that
>are very quiet?
>
>David
>

I use mostly aqua clear filters indoors, they are usually quiet. The
power heads I have are quiet when I maintain them properly, keep the
sponge from collapsing, purge them of air when they get air into them.

My filters get noisy when the center shaft of the motor wears thinner.
Replacing the shaft quiets them again.

[David (Melbourne, Australia)]

Thanks to Charles, Richard, Michael and Trevor for your great advice!
I am new to newsgroups and have returned to the aquarium hobby after
many years. So many things have changed since then - Thanks to this
group my knowledge has been updated. I am keen to set up a larger,
second tank now that I know about cycling, etc.

David

[Tynk]

Trevor Stenson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Tapwater should be used for the new tank as fish actually need some of
> the minerals, etc. that are in it. However, the quality of tap water
> varies greatly around the world and the amount of treatments - chemical
> or otherwise - will vary greatly.
>
> I'm not going to go into detail on that as I'm not an expert on that
> aspect but I just wanted to say that you always should use cold tap
> water. Hot water (or a mixture of hot/cold) is often full of excess
> minerals as the evaporation in hot water tanks and leeching for old
> tanks concentrates harmful minerals and metals in the water.
>
> Rain water should be mostly pure water - but again this is dependent on
> location and some rain water is acidic and laced with pollutants.
>
> If you want to top of an existing aquarium that has lost some of its
> water (this is not your regularly scheduled 1/4 to 1/3 water change)
> then regular cheap distilled water is a good alternative (NOT mineral
> water!). DH20 is virtually pure water. So you can add water back to
> your tank without increasing the levels of dissolved solutes.
>
> I use 4 - 8L a month. And then it is time for my water change with
> treated tap water.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> TS
>
> --
> Edmonton SCTV Locations:
> http://members.shaw.ca/pumpkin27/iwebber2
>
> My Blog feed:
> feed://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/iwebber/TheStenonsNewDigs/Blog/rss.xml

TS...
I must question you on this:
<< For a new
> tank most people will tell you to 'run' in without fish for a month so
> that a normal bacterial balance can be achieved and a proper nitrogen
> cycle and micro-biosystem can be established.>>>

Running an emtpy tank for a month does nothing to establish nitrifying
bacteria.
You're just running an empty tank.
In order to start the nitrifying bacteria, steps need to be taken.
Thing such as adding pure ammonia and doing a fishless cycling, using
plants, or seeding it from an established tank by using either gravel
or the filter material.
You can also use a product called Bio Spira. This bacteria starter is
the only product out there that has the correct type of start up
bacteria in it. The others like Stress Zyme, Bacterboost, Bio Zyme,
etc., all have the wrong bacteria in them and do not cycle your tank.