Rain Barrel

[demosthenes]

I'm about to set up a rain barrel. The initial purpose was to water the garden, but I remembered hearing somewhere that collecting rain is a nice and easy way of getting RO water to add to your fish tanks. I'm wondering if there's anything i should be worried about as far as contamination. The barrel is plastic, and i live in the suburbs of philadelphia. Should i worry about chemicals leeching from the barrel? or pollution?

[Lady Hobbs]

Years ago rain water was considered pretty pure. Anymore I couldn't say that. There are so many pollutants now the rain goes thru that I'd rather use tap.

[demosthenes]

what can i test for to see if the water is ok? i've also read that if i filter it through carbon it will remove any scary toxins.

[PostalPenguin]

I would use tap water since it is tested and treated. Rain scrubs the air of pollutants as it falls through the air so depending on air quality at the time of the rain shower you could get clean water or relatively "dirty" water. Plus there is no guarantee the pH will remain constant.

[demosthenes]

i forgot to mention, i'm not looking to use entirely rain water in my tanks. My thought was to add a fraction of rain water to lower the Ph and hardness of my nasty Philadelphia water to a level more in line with what's ideal for my fish.

Maybe this is paranoid, but i feel like the water that is coming out of my tap is bound to have more chemicals added to it than the rain.

I can test for Ph constancy, and I'll only be using a fraction of it anyway. If i test the Ph and it comes back way low then it's an indication of acid rain and i'll dump that barrel and wait for the next rainfall.

[Lady Hobbs]

I was out of dechlorinator and thought I'd add rain water. Not only was it a hassle to heat it before adding to the tank, I had to strain it thru cheese cloth and still it didn't lower my pH. Big waste of time. A rain barrel will attack bugs, birds stopping to drink and bathe and whatever else finds that water handy.

[Algenco]

I would filter it for awhile with high quality carbon

[PostalPenguin]

I cant say for certain which one would have more chemicals but your tap water by law is only allowed to have certain allowable amounts of chemicals and pollutants. There is no limit on rainwater however so it could have anything in it. Running it through a Brita type filter would probably remove most of them though.

How hard is your water? You may have to use a significant amount of rain water to lower the pH since hard water has a strong buffering ability. But anyways I think the water would be relatively safe to use if you acclimated your fish to it and ensured it was clean. Good luck!

[terrapin24h]

it's been my witness that unless you are collecting the rain water in an underground sealed, filtered cistern, you're gonna end up with a bunch of stinky water that you don't even want to use on your lawn, let alone a fish tank. I know a few people that did this at homes in the country to lighten the load on their wells/springs and they had to invest significant $$$ in filtration and treatment gear to get it up to spec. Phila water is no worse than any other NE city water(used to live on the great lakes, talk about hard water) and they all have to fall in certain federal guidelines. If you want to make your tank water softer you are better served mixing in R-O or bottled water with your water changes, or better yet use peat in your filter to help slowly soften your water over time and maintain it.

--chris

[demosthenes]

it's been my witness that unless you are collecting the rain water in an underground sealed, filtered cistern, you're gonna end up with a bunch of stinky water that you don't even want to use on your lawn, let alone a fish tank.

--chris

with about 70 gallons of fish tanks and a garden i don't think the water will be sitting long enough to fester. the barrel i'm using is designed specifically for collecting water with a spout at the bottom and a joint at the top to attach to the gutter.

i found this article on practical fishkeeping that talks about using rainwater in tanks if you guys want to look at it: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]