General Aquaria Discussion • Rainwater

[sirdavidofdiscus]

Does anyone collect rainwater for their tanks? I have well water that gaes through a whole house filter. The problem is I burn through these filters about once every 3 wks. Not anywhere near the 3mo. the filter cartiridges say on the label. I have 4 55gl. drums that were used 2 for canola oil and 2 for cocanut oil. I thought about an ro, but for the volume I want they aren't in the budget. Also as I understand about 1/3 of water that goes in the ro is waste.

[justflow1983]

well rainwater is dechlorinated, but that doesn't mean its clean. Rain is actually formed by water vapor condensing around particles in the air, whether they be dust, bacteria, smoke, pollution, etc. So depending on where your rain is coming from, it could be fairly dirty, acidic, alkaline, or whatever else. I would collect a bit of rainwater, and see if its the kind of water you're looking for, but I wouldn't expect to be getting distilled water out of the sky.

[sirdavidofdiscus]

My well water is not the purest either. We are always getting rust stains on our laundry even our dishes have rust stains on them. Not to metion the sulfur smell. My problem isn't dechlorinating its trying to extend the life of my whole house water filters.

[TheFishGuy]

The problem with rain water is you never know where it's coming from. I've often thought about having a collection pond in my back yard plumbed directly to the fish room.... but I'm nervous about the fact there's no way to know where the water's coming from. Of course the pond would be stocked with cichlids too

[TheFishGuy]

Ok, how's this.... Whilst doing paperwork and making and paying bills I ran across my oldest reference book and it was open to a page entitled "Unfit waters for aquariums" The first one listed was rain water, it often contains "atmospheric poisons" is says. #2 is lake stream or pond water...

[sirdavidofdiscus]

I was thinking about runnig the water through an activated carbon filter before it enters the tank. My real problem is it's a pita to change the whole house filters. Rght now I'm only running a 75 and a 55 but with 20% changes 2x weekly it seems to burn through the whole house filters. I was actually more curious about collection and storage of the water.

[Number6]

someone better give all the cichlids of the world little umbrellas... they must get rained on all the time and who knows what it's doing to them!
LOL
I used rain water for years with apistogramma before I owned an R/O unit... no harm came to my fish!

[kid_stripes]

If rain water is no good for you aquarium then how do people have cichlids in ponds outside uncovered so the rainwater goes directly into them, also how do the cichlids in the wild filter the rain befor it hits the lake??????

[TheFishGuy]

I agree 1000000000% with the last two posts. But it seems that books won't allow it I've kept cichlids in my pond outside all summer...

[kid_stripes]

i think the no rain water thing is jus a money thing really, if i could collect it i would.

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

if you use rain water its worth running it through carbon before adding it to the tank, just to remove contaminants.

in rural areas its not such a problem, but the more built up the more smog is released into the air, and then the rain washes it down. you wouldn't shove an exhaust into the tank as an air supply now would you.

[boostspike]

How about snow. (got another 9" here the other day)

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

How about snow. (got another 9" here the other day)

same as the rainwater, need to purify it before use, as you never know what was picked up while it was in the cloud

[TheFishGuy]

Interesting Madman, I've got a few pounds of charcoal I could use, and Lord knows I've made a filter or two

I'm liking this idea more and more. I could run piping from my gutters to a pond.... Then plumbing straight from the pond to the fish room... Have the filter in fish room for easy maint. then just turn a valve.......

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

obviously, if you do that the gutters must be clean.