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Rain can be quite polluted especially in urban/industrialised areas. I wouldn't recommend using rain water.
BC
In support of water conservation effort, I just want to seek opinions from everyone on this:
1) Is it safe to use rain water for planted- or fish-only tank? Assuming the water is properly collected, ie. from the sky or after 15mins of heavy downpour where pollutants have already been washed off the roof.
2) Will rain water severely alter the tank's chemistry?
3) Any suggestion on how to safely treat rain water before using it for aquarium.
4) Any other considerations/comments, on whether this option is viable.
Rain can be quite polluted especially in urban/industrialised areas. I wouldn't recommend using rain water.
BC
It's a noble effort. But as bclee said, can be polluted.
And the effort to treat it, storage and transferring to main tank is not quite worth the effort, in my opinion. Moreover, the amount of rain depends on season.
How about saving water in another way? During water change, store some of the water for watering plants or even flushing toilet?
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
With the lately news on Salmanalis bacteria found in fish tank, if one plan to preserve tank water for flushing may be a good practice to add in small amount of bleach to it.
Over the past few years I have been using rain water for my pond, and so far cause no problem to my goldfishes. The only time I stopped collecting is during the severe haze season (also when Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines erupted) which brings in a lot of pollutants. Singapore is surrounded by the sea and most of the rain are picked up at sea. This leaves little chance of pollution like other major cities where industrial activities are rampant.
btw, I store the old aquarium water in jelly-cans for watering plants and other use.
Yes, right!Originally Posted by dc88
I don't practise flushing toilet with fish water actually. Afraid my children may handle it without washing their hands later. And I have enough laundry water to flush toilet.
I do keep a pail or two of fish water to water the plants. They grow nice with the excess nutrients we always have in our planted tank water.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Rain water can be use in aquarium but you have to have the test kit for measuring PH, GH, KH.
Carbon (black stone) can help to clear away acids, check on this web http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/carbon.html ,do click on water chemistry to check out more information on water hardness.
Another method is using the water filter system with RO, with Peat filtration. Water hardness can be reduce with help of RO...but it won't reduce that much ok. Adding of CO2 will help to reduce PH. Another is using methods of Deionization (resin).
Resin can be recharge but it's very slow in improving water conditions.
All this methods are quite troublesome.
I tried that juts last week, the PH is 6 - 6.2. I have store them in container in preparation for my apistos...
From my experience, rain water in Singapore can be beneficial for rearing/breeding. I have several outdoor tanks, including a large FGT, that are partially covered. EVen though I hardly manage the tanks (water changes, cleaning etc.), my fishes breed fairly readily.
If you collect from run-off from roof, you need to be wary of possible contaminants/pollutants.
It is true rain water is good for breeding. Many fish-farms do that. My goldfishes also spawn regularly during the raining season. I once had this fairly large outdoor pot which I threw in a pair of betta and they breed like crazy.
The methods (RO & DI) as suggested by Nao may not be as feasible. Too expensive! Processing rain-water also requires large storage containers. Space is an issue in Singapore! Nevertheless thanks for your information, very helpful indeed.
just for you information collection of rainwater is illegal in singapore.
this was told to me some time back in reservist when we were talking about the massive drainage below our camp. as shock as i was about the information i would trust the guy's as he is a full-time regular and had spoke to some of the utilities officers regarding the drainage.
however if someone has more correct information do post it up!
celticfish
It is a good day to die!!!
I finally uploaded an avatar and Cupid is dead!!!
Interesting. Do you have floating plants or any plants in the tanks to soak up some impurities that may be collected as well?
I know of a fish farmer that recycles its water and collect rain water too.
He has 2 ponds separated by a layer of peat moss. Old fish water is siphoned during water change to pond A where it slowly filters through the peat moss layer in to pond B. In pond B, there are a lot of water hyacinth and other plants that soaks up the excess nutrients. Rain water also gets collected. And he just pumps up the water from pond B for his fish. And since it is like aged water without the chlorine etc, he can use it straight away during water change.
Cool.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Hi Guys
When i was staying in a kampung...i used to collect rainwater to change my tank water. Dont remember any side effects but i cant safely say it since tht was ages ago.
However, logically it should not cause any prob since we hardly see dead fishes in the pond or reservoir after heavy down pour.
If it is harmful, our fish farm would have covered their ponds.
Just my 2 cents worth
Stephen
just an fyi for those who still follow this thread.
Curious to see if there are significant side-effect, I did a 50-60% water change using only rain-water. It was during the heavy downpour yesterday around 4pm in the east. PH was exceptionally low (4.5) and I believe at this reading KH should be non-detectable. Added bi-carbonate to supplement the loss. Within 30mins, PH was back to normal 6.8, KH back to 8. Initially the water was a bit cloudy, but soon back to normal by 6pm. The tank was exceptionally clear this morning when the light came on.
No other noticeable side-effect on the plants or fishes. Oh, temp was a cool 26C.
Practically all my aquariums have plants. The largest FGT (no aeration and filter) has water hyacinth, water lettuce, some frogbits, duckweeds and remnants of hornwort. I had to remove most of the hornwort as they were being starved of light by the floating plants and the decaying plants resulted in the death in all of my bigger fishes. Now it has only platys and guppys.
As for "illegal" rainwater collection, that is true for large scale collection (the law was passed one or two years ago). The house owner or developer is not allowed to prevent all rain water run-off from the property from entering the drainage system.
Seriously, of all the water sources that I tried, rainwater is still the best for fishes (but not neccearily so for plants). Fishes kept in rainwater are healthier (very rarely sick), and breed more readily.
I'm sorry I just HAVE to say something about this mistake you're making. Pollution in rain is picked up as it FALLS though the air. Oxides then dissolve into the water through the air. So it doesn't matter where the water comes from. There's no difference in rain water from a spring and rain water from a industrial drain. Only what it falls through, which in this case is the air over your house.
That being said, i'd imagine it's actually quite safe if the wind is blowing west since there's nothing particularly toxic in mid to east singapore. HOWEVER why no one uses RO water in their tanks is the same reason one shouldn't use rainwater. It's TOO pure. the lack of nutrients wouldn't be good for plants unless you dose ferts regularly.
I think it's safe to do, the fish farms are always exposed to the rain.
Cheers!
rain water is contaminated with pollutants (smog, dust, ...) for initial part.
after about 15 minutes, it should be ok to use (at your own risk).
fish farms are not affected because the amount of rain water falling into their ponds is very small compared to the pond volume.
thomas liew
you can drink from a spring (provided it is not smack in the middle of a polluted area). water from a spring is cleaned and filtered naturally.
though singapore does not have much heavy industries, the air is polluted due to automotive exhaust, pollutants blown from neighbouring countries as well as other parts of the world, ...
thomas liew
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