Rainwater

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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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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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
...
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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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