Rainwater

[Keith]

I live in rural Australia and our water supply is rainwater which we collect
into large tanks. This is not a polluted area and the water is of very good
quality.

I have read in several places that rainwater is too pure to use unmodified
in an aquarium because it "lacks minerals essential for life" and I have
therefore always hardened it up a little with a locally manufactured
product.

Is it necessary to modify rainwater when keeping sof****er loving fish such
as tetras (which I am now doing) or do I need to continue to add some
minerals?

Keith

[Kenneth Ho]

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I think it all down to how soft and pure your water really is, a GH test kit
may help. A bit of K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Mn would probably be good if its
really too soft, my tap water is GH < 1, I add enough of those chemical to
bring my water up to GH 2, the ratio is close to Seachem's Equalibrium with
more Fe and less K. I also have a Characins community tank and they seems
very happy with the arrangement.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Keith" > ¦b¶l¥ó
¤¤¼¶¼g...
> I live in rural Australia and our water supply is rainwater which we
collect
> into large tanks. This is not a polluted area and the water is of very
good
> quality.
>
> I have read in several places that rainwater is too pure to use unmodified
> in an aquarium because it "lacks minerals essential for life" and I have
> therefore always hardened it up a little with a locally manufactured
> product.
>
> Is it necessary to modify rainwater when keeping sof****er loving fish
such
> as tetras (which I am now doing) or do I need to continue to add some
> minerals?
>
> Keith
>
>



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[Keith]

My water is very soft, <1 dGH and <1 dKH.

The main concern I have with the product I use is it contains quite a lot of
NaCl (I used to keep Rainbow fish so didn't worry about it). I'll look into
a solution more like yours.

Do you increase the carbonate hardness too? I have been doing so using
sodium bicarbonate but only up to 3 dKH.

Keith

"Kenneth Ho" > wrote in message
...
> **** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****
>
> I think it all down to how soft and pure your water really is, a GH test
kit
> may help. A bit of K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Mn would probably be good if its
> really too soft, my tap water is GH < 1, I add enough of those chemical to
> bring my water up to GH 2, the ratio is close to Seachem's Equalibrium
with
> more Fe and less K. I also have a Characins community tank and they seems
> very happy with the arrangement.
>
> Cheers
> Kenneth
>
> "Keith" > ¦b¶l¥ó
> ¤¤¼¶¼g...
> > I live in rural Australia and our water supply is rainwater which we
> collect
> > into large tanks. This is not a polluted area and the water is of very
> good
> > quality.
> >
> > I have read in several places that rainwater is too pure to use
unmodified
> > in an aquarium because it "lacks minerals essential for life" and I have
> > therefore always hardened it up a little with a locally manufactured
> > product.
> >
> > Is it necessary to modify rainwater when keeping sof****er loving fish
> such
> > as tetras (which I am now doing) or do I need to continue to add some
> > minerals?
> >
> > Keith
> >
> >
>
>
>
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