One for the nerds

Lynnzer

Fish Addict
Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Messages
904
Reaction score
573
Location
sr8
As my tapwater is hard, and I mean around 400ppm, it means my choice of fish is constrained to exclude some of the ones I really like.
So I have been buying either Tesco or Asda 5 ltr bottled natural spring water at £1.20 a bottle to mix with the tapwater.
Since then I collected some rainwater in a dish the last time it rained and found it to almost, but not completely free of GH. The reading was at 18ppm.
I decided to go the rainwater route instead of buying bottles of water.
I purchased a 100ltr tank kit from Home Bargains at £18.99. It really is a bargain too as nowwhere else does it at that price.
Now comes the fiddly bit.
My kitchen extension is 8mtrs long and the gutter is sloped to the middle of the length with the downpipe dropping to a drain.
The only place, and the most aesthetic one, to put the rain barrel is in the corner of the yard alongside a bin cupboard where there's sufficient space to squeeze it in tidily.
That meant the gutter had to removed and the downpipe placed at the end, and the slope had to be adjusted so that it flowed to the end rather than the middle. Not too difficult even for a total DIY disaster prone person.
Then I had to saw the downpipe to put the water diverter spigot into it so that the outflow to the barrel was as tidy as possible, and as near the same height as possible: downpipe out to barrel input.
All of this is pretty commonsense and within the capabilities of most people, I expect.
Then the fiddly bits.
As the actual drain was still in the middle of the yard, I had to get the remainder of the downpipe to meet up with it. 1st of all, I didn't want the normal 68mm pipe to run diagonally from the bottom of the diverter. It's just too wide and in any case isn't really necessary for such a small roof area when a good amount of the rain will be diverted into the butt anyway. I bought some 50mm pipe instead. Finding a drainpipe reducer from 68mm to 50mm wasn't too easy but I got one from Amazon. So the reducer is under the diverter spigot and the pipe under that is, of course now the 50mm. If the drain was directly under the new downpipe location that would have been all I needed, but as it was to be laid across the kitchen wall from a height of 75cm to the drain I had to find couplings to allow a gentle slope. Got thewm at Wickes, 112.5 degree bends.
I'll be putting them all together today.
Next, and I consider this the most nerdish thing, I was worried about all the $hite that normally goes down the drainpipe such as bits of moss, dead leaves and, yeah, even seagull droppings. I definitely don't want these in my butt.
I'm in the process of designing an inline filter just above the diverter box that can be accessed via a hinged door on the 68mm pipe. This is intended to be something like a canister that is a tight fit, but can be removed for cleaning, sort of like those vaccum suction pipes that some stores use to suck up canisters of cash. I want it to be filled with suitable media and I even think I'll be able to design it to allow insertion of a UV light to kill any bacteria. I'm working on this right now and will add details when I figure things out.
For now though, and for others who also have hard water issues and would like to place their own water butt, I hope this gives some inspiration.
If anyone can suggest improvements then please add comments, and those who may have some suggestions on the in-line filter please share your thoughts. I need to figure out what sort of filter medium I need, whether to add some activated charcoal into it, how to make a neat door hinged to the downpipe that the filter can be out into. The UV light, if I go ahead with that will need a power source that's not a big problem as I can wire it into a kitchen socket and run it through an extractor vent right alongside the downpipe. However, I don't want the light burning all the time. It won't be raining all the time, so your thoughts on how to wire it up with a sort of water activated switch somewhere in the upper downpipe or where the gutter joins the downpipe, would be very welcome.
 
I would put the UV light on a circulating pump from your container, so you can then just worry about the water in the container, not the water that is entering it. It could be controlled by a simple timer.
 
Where we live, we collect rainwater from the roof of our house. It is stored in concrete tanks, and we only have a simple sponge filter on the system. We drink the water and use it for the fish, no problems.
 
Get a down pipe diverter and fit that above the collection barrel. They have automated types that divert X amount of water before allowing the clean water to be collected. Any hardware sells them or check online.

Normally you let it rain for at least 10-15 minutes to wash the stuff off the roof, and then start collecting.

What is the roof made of?
If it's a new (less than 12 months old) galvanised tin, don't collect water off it for 6 months because it will contain zinc that can poison the fish. Anything else is fine.

You can also set up a frame outside and put a sheet of plastic on it. Have the plastic so it channels down to a bucket and collect rain water that way.

Pure rain water should have 0 GH, 0 KH and a pH of 7.0.
If the pH is below 7.0, the rain water has been contaminated by impurities in the air or on the roof.
 
Get a down pipe diverter and fit that above the collection barrel. They have automated types that divert X amount of water before allowing the clean water to be collected. Any hardware sells them or check online.

Normally you let it rain for at least 10-15 minutes to wash the stuff off the roof, and then start collecting.

What is the roof made of?
If it's a new (less than 12 months old) galvanised tin, don't collect water off it for 6 months because it will contain zinc that can poison the fish. Anything else is fine.

You can also set up a frame outside and put a sheet of plastic on it. Have the plastic so it channels down to a bucket and collect rain water that way.

Pure rain water should have 0 GH, 0 KH and a pH of 7.0.
If the pH is below 7.0, the rain water has been contaminated by impurities in the air or on the roof.
If we did what you suggest here we wouldn't be able to live on our property.
 
Along with stopping bird poo and other unwanted "ingredients", make sure that the roofing felt & bitumen (if flat roof) or felt & tiles (if pitched roof with a gable end) does not contain anything toxic. Some felts and tiles can be made from recycled materials and the manufacturing processes are not geared to remove toxicity towards animals (or humans). Any wood used in fascias and trims can also contain preservatives whether natural of applied, so again, make sure there is nothing toxic. Sometimes when people have extensions built, the builder will keep the quoted price down, thus more acceptable to the client, by pricing up and using cheaper materials that might be potentially more tocix than more expensive alternative materials.
 
The whole shebang is already installed less the downpipe below the rain diverter which I have to work in with an existing kitchen drainpipe. I have it in hand though. Just waiting for parts.
The roof is typical tiles, not slate, not metal of any sort and no other material that could contaminate.
It's too late to add something that delays water collection but the way I see it, the filter I'm putting together should be well capable of handling even small pieces of detriment. The base of it is a fine fish safe 2mm mesh. I will be putting 2 inches of activated charcoal on top of that then build above that for another three and a half inches of filter material with larger material at the top then working down in incrementally smaller/finer material.
I possibly won't finish this for a few days though as I have other things to do, but it'll give me time to think, and who knows, perhaps come up with other ideas or suggestions from yourselves. Photo's will be added as soon as I get a bit more time.
 
Yeeaayyy. It rained around 20 minutes after I completed the diverter installation.
65 litres already collected. I'll be putting some in empty 5 litre Asda/Tesco spring water bottles as a reserve to draw down on as needed,
 
Get a down pipe diverter and fit that above the collection barrel. They have automated types that divert X amount of water before allowing the clean water to be collected. Any hardware sells them or check online.

Normally you let it rain for at least 10-15 minutes to wash the stuff off the roof, and then start collecting.

What is the roof made of?
If it's a new (less than 12 months old) galvanised tin, don't collect water off it for 6 months because it will contain zinc that can poison the fish. Anything else is fine.

You can also set up a frame outside and put a sheet of plastic on it. Have the plastic so it channels down to a bucket and collect rain water that way.

Pure rain water should have 0 GH, 0 KH and a pH of 7.0.
If the pH is below 7.0, the rain water has been contaminated by impurities in the air or on the roof.
I tested my 1st collection of rainwater this morning. It's spot on. That is pH of 7.0, and both the GH and KH are are as low as they get. KH at 1 drip to turn purple to blue and KH at 1 drip and the yellow comes straight through. So all's fine by the looks of it. Now just to get a filter made and installed for further collection. And Hey.... here's hoping we don't get any nuclear fallout drifting down if Putin goes completely nuts.

o6Ol6P[1].gif
 
I had a house within sight of the highrises downtown in a major city. My rainwater was good. I let it rain for 10 minutes, then collected. I'll rig a system later this Spring to collect rainwater off my garage roof, even though I am kind of close to the sea. It'll be an experiment.

Here's the problem. What do you do when a drought hits? I don't mean camels dying in the back yard drought, but 3 or 4 weeks in summer where nothing falls? I don't know where you are, but it all sounds British, so maybe you'll face dry conditions less than some of us, but I had serious trouble maintaining my water changes a couple of years. You probably won't have a long winter, which is good rainwise, but you're bound to get hit with dry spells along the way.
 
I had a house within sight of the highrises downtown in a major city. My rainwater was good. I let it rain for 10 minutes, then collected. I'll rig a system later this Spring to collect rainwater off my garage roof, even though I am kind of close to the sea. It'll be an experiment.

Here's the problem. What do you do when a drought hits? I don't mean camels dying in the back yard drought, but 3 or 4 weeks in summer where nothing falls? I don't know where you are, but it all sounds British, so maybe you'll face dry conditions less than some of us, but I had serious trouble maintaining my water changes a couple of years. You probably won't have a long winter, which is good rainwise, but you're bound to get hit with dry spells along the way.
We have 19000 liters of storage in our tanks, we have just been through a draught of sorts, no rain in 5 weeks. The tanks got down to about 2/3rds capacity. We are fine but we do monitor it.
 
I'm just using my empty 5ltr bottles of Asda water to store it. Of course that ain't really practical for the amount you want.
I guess an industrial tank would be best if you can source one cheap enough. Perhaps a local farmer may have something he doesn't need anymore, or even a water bowser from the ex army auctions
 
I'm in a hard water area and I use rainwater mixed with tapwater in a 3:1 ratio for my tank. I filter the rainwater through a small micron sieve to remove any particulates (there are seldom any of note actually) and then mix the rainwater with tapwater in a food safe bucket and run a small internal filter for a few hours or sometimes overnight with filter floss and Polyfilter. The roof, drain pipes and water butt are all pretty old so I'm sure anything nasty would have leached away by now. There is of course the risk of air-borne pollutants dissolved in the rainwater, and also any bird poo and also rotting moss, leaves etc. All I can say is that I've never had a problem and my cherry shrimp and chilli rasboras are thriving. I did think about boiling the water (it's a nano so my water changes are only 8 litres per week), but I just went with it without boiling and it's worked out fine. The only problem I've had is with detritus worms living in the water butt, but actually, they may have saved my bacon because when the chili rasboras were first introduced to the tank they wouldn't eat anything I gave them for a couple of weeks and I was worried they'd starve to death. But there was a sufficient population of detritus worms in the tank from the water changes, so that every few minutes a worm would come sailing across the tank in the filter current and would be greedily snapped up by the fish. Once the fish started taking flake and frozen I decided to filter the water butt water through the sieve to remove any worms and small particulates and there are no longer detritus worms in my tank. The recent dust storm did make things a bit trickier with the pre-filtering, but the filter wool and some seachem clarity got rid of it.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top