leeves Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 I dont know if this has already been brought up but here goes. I want to set up a rain water collection unit. I read a few conflicting opinions on the topic as to wether you live in the city you should not do this because of the pollution. I live in west Auckland so is this area ok for rain water collection? The Waitakere water damns provide some of the water to Auckkland or has this changed ? hmmm If I do decide to create a collection unit what would I construct this out of ? Is rain water from roof run off ok? or does that contain heavy metals and paint particles etc... I have a painted corrugated iron roof. any ideas :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Leeves said... > I want to set up a rain water collection unit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think there are many cases where using rainwater in a typical aquarium is justified. IMHO, it's just too prone to problems. Better to stick with tap water. Others will disagree I'm sure. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Why do you want to collect rainwater anyway? It tends to be quite acidic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Hi Leeves, We have discussed this several times on this forum, and we have a number of users on tank "rainwater" supply that have no probs. Andrew said: IMHO, it's just too prone to problems. Better to stick with tap water. Just two questions for all those on town water, If you were not on town supply what would you do ? If you were not on town supply, would you still be keeping fish ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 I'm on rainwater and the only problems I've found is a bit of trouble keeping the PH up on a tank that's heavily stocked, but I've got that sorted out. I HAVE found that using rainwater seems to kick ass for keeping algae down. All 3 of my tanks have essentially no algae and get about 50% water changes weekly. I assume it's because of the rainwater because other people using tapwater with similar stocking and water changes get much more algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 I began using rainwater from my friends property in the country. I was a bit wary of our town water when I noticed it smelt a bit. I have been using rain water collected from my friends house now for a few months with no problems at all. Since using this I have had more babies than when using the LFS filtered water (at $1.00 per container x 5 containers per week!). I wondered if this 'softer' water had anything to do with it or if I have just bought a bunch of 'horny' fish. :lol: I wont collect it in winter though as she has an open fire and dont want the ash etc in my tanks. It will be back to using filtered water. I am looking at getting a water purifier at about $70 bucks so that will pay for itself eventually. Each time I have tested our local water I get different results so god knows what they put in our drinking water! Maybe I have just been lucky so far ... who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 well hey i might use it for fish :-? i might not... but seeing as there are plenty of you who grow plants of both aquactic nature and otherwise - would this not be a useful resourse :-? I would like to know if those prescribing to collection of rain water, what would be a good method of doing this :-? what would i need :-? I guess my main concern is if this free commodity is truly free - or do you pay for it later on down the track... so far opinions looks 50/50... :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Been drinking rainwater for 8yrs and hasn't effected me so think it should be ok for the fish. Although its acidity measures out at 6.6ph maybe thats whats given me such a sour nature :roll: Roofs: You should be alright with painted galv roof. Roof paint has to be lead etc free because so many people have to use rain water. Remember everytime it rains its getting a good wash. Collection: Cut into your down pipe high up, and run it through whats known as a leaf catcher. This is simply a box with an angled top with both a coarse and fine mesh on it. Any leafs, mozzies etc will simply be washed away thus keeping the organics down in the tank. Also keep your gutters clean. Nothing worse then grabbing a glass of water and finding it a big fat earthworm in it! Storage: From the leaf catcher glue on an elbow and more downpipe. A great storage container for garden, aquarium etc use is a plastic 200ltr drum. They sell them at the local tank shop here but got no idea of where to pick one up in a city. Try Payless Plastics, Wrightsons, or you might have to travel to a rural town that is not connected to a water supply. Be careful if you get a 2nd hand one since they are also used to store chemicals including weed killer - not the best for your garden or aquarium :oops: Extraction Build a stand for the tank then simply attach a tap to the bottom of it (the 200ltr drums have a threaded hole for this purpose). You will also need an overflow so you can redirect the excess back to your drain system. Make sure its the same size as the downpipe and take it from the top edge of the storage tank. Acidity One problem with plastic tanks is that they are inert. We have a problem of a blue buildup on any white surface that gets wet. This is caused by the acidity of the water reacting with the copper in the hot water tank. To solve a block of limestone etc is dropped into the water tank. Shells should also work for a 200ltr. By experimenting you could obtain the correct PH for your aquarium in the storage tank. Hope this helps. Cheers Shilo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Now there was a helpful post! Well done Shilo I have used rainwater on occasion but just lined barrels up under the eave of the bird aviary (covered in Decromastic roof tiles) since it didn't have a downpipe. Haven't done it for a while though because a) we pulled down the aviary b) the roof was sprayed with moss killer and we were told not to use the water from it for at least 6 months. c) it is summer - not enough rain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 great post Shilo. Now hubby is going to attend to our roof. How hard would it be for him to do that little adjustment LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 yes that was of help Shilo just what I was after, I just need to try it out. It rains a lot in Auckland so the water collection would help with the water rates I hope - I just gotta put some of this information into practice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 Pegasus said... > If you were not on town supply what would you do ? > If you were not on town supply, would you still be keeping fish ? I'd probably still keep fish but would modify both my techniques and the fish I chose to keep. Luckily many of the killies like soft acid water so I'd be OK with those. Some of the other species would require me to fiddle with their water and I'm not all that keen on doing that so I'd perhaps give them up. I like to do plenty of water changes with a minimum of fuss so anything that made my life more difficult would be a serious issue. Also, often, people on 'rainwater' have limited supplies since it has to be used for the house, garden and so forth. I'd probably limit the number of tanks I had so I could be sure to keep doing their regular water changes, even when it hadn't rained for a while. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 Cat said... > ... I have had more babies than when using the LFS filtered > water (at $1.00 per container x 5 containers per week!). I also don't buy into the 'Palmerston North tap water kills fish' theory. Where-ever I've lived in town, over the last 15 years or so, I've used water straight from the tap for my fish. This has been with killies as well as more typical 'community' type fish - even discus. I've never had a problem I could attribute to being caused by the tap water. I try and do a minimum of a 25% change per tank per week and I generally have more fry than I can easily cope with. Good food and regular water changes are your best friends when it comes to fishkeeping. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 Also, often, people on 'rainwater' have limited supplies since it has to be used for the house, garden and so forth. You get used to water saving techniques without really thinking about it. In fact the place I rent has a 10000 gal tank just for myself, and I still gringe at a running tap!! Large households are another matter but you are not limited in the amount of rain only in the amount of storage. Here on Waiheke all tanks overflow during the winter so it is a simple (but expensive) solution to hook up another tank or use a larger one. You can buy bore water at $150 a tanker load if you have run out. I like to do plenty of water changes with a minimum of fuss As above - its all in the amount of water storage you have. You can fill your aquarium the same way (hose or tap) as you do now. Out of interest does the PH from a town supply ever change? Cheers Shilo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Shilo said... > ... - its all in the amount of water storage you have. Spending vast quantities on water storage is included in my definition of 'fuss' > ... does the PH from a town supply ever change? Don't know. I don't possess a pH kit. Or any other kit for that matter... Generally, in a decently buffered system, you don't get big pH shifts. Frequent water changes fix most problems with water quality. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Spending vast quantities on water storage is included in my definition of 'fuss' :lol: Its not the spending that’s the definition of 'fuss' It's the earning!!! Cheers Shilo (Who definitely can't afford any 'fuss" but wishes he could!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 I used rainwater for about 2 years. It worked really well for Discus and planted tanks. Needed a little buffering to keep the pH up but not much. Was really good at keeping the algae down. Before that, my plants would not grow and algae was always dominant. It didn't help that the tap water had 6-8ppm phosphate! Have now changed to RO since I'm in Hawkes Bay where it is mostly sunny. I old have 2000L of storage and it was not enough to get me through summer. RO solved that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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