Moving and only rainwater accessible.

[Johnykiwi]

Hi all

So, in a month I’m moving to a property that only has rainwater. It rains a lot in the new area, I’m I’m not worried about water supply. I am however worried about the water for the fish. (I am trying to breed these fish, currently plecos, but possibly other species). My plan is to buy a big bin to collect the water (try not to get the water off the roof), and to run that through a rodi unit, and then remineralise it. Now I want to store large quantities of remineralised water and was wondering if anybody know if the remineralised water will become less mineralised over time or more concentrated as the water evaporates. If there are any flaws with my plan let me know and please give me some suggestions if you have any on how I can efficiently use rainwater and not kill my fish. I would really appreciate it. Ps I’m planning on setting up 6 tanks once I get there, all 20gal. Thanks

 

[Naughts]

if the remineralised water will become less mineralised over time or more concentrated as the water evaporates.

Only pure water will evaporate, so all the minerals will be left behind.

suggestions if you have any on how I can efficiently use rainwater and not kill my fish

Filtering, including filtering through carbon, will reduce contaminants.

UV light may reduce pathogens.

 

[Colin_T]

What's wrong with collecting water from the roof?

Rain water has no minerals in it and does not need to go through a reverse osmosis unit.

Most suckermouth catfish come from soft water (GH below 100ppm) without a lot of minerals in it.
How hard (GH & KH) do you normally make the water?

 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

does not need to go through a reverse osmosis unit

No minerals, but I'd be worried about drinking the rainwater these days without an RO filter:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c02765

No Ozzy sample sites in the study, but PFAS in now in rainwater everywhere.

 

[Colin_T]

You can put it through a reverse osmosis unit if you like, but it might only need to be filtered through carbon.

 

[itiwhetu]

I live in Hokitika, New Zealand. We collect rainwater from the roof store it in a couple of large concrete tanks (20000 Liters), we drink it and I run the fish tank off it no problems. We have a very simple microfiber filter on the system

 

[Johnykiwi]

What's wrong with collecting water from the roof?

Rain water has no minerals in it and does not need to go through a reverse osmosis unit.

Most suckermouth catfish come from soft water (GH below 100ppm) without a lot of minerals in it.
How hard (GH & KH) do you normally make the water?

There is nothing necessarily wrong with the rain water being collected from the room, I’m just worried about any contaminants like bird poo etc getting in the water. I’ll also have to check the gh and kh again. I do however plan on breeding other species later on aswell, which is why I want to remineralise to suit their needs.

 

[Johnykiwi]

You can put it through a reverse osmosis unit if you like, but it might only need to be filtered through carbon.

how do you think I should go about this whole thing for the best results?

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on where you are moving to. If your going up into the hills away from civilisation, you should be able to let it rain for 15 minutes then start collecting water. Most rainwater tanks have a diverter in the down pipes that lets the first lot of rain go down the pipes and then it diverts the water to the storage tank.

I used to have a frame in the backyard and hung a sheet of clear plastic on it. I didn't need much water but could easily get a few hundred litres when it rained. After I got the water I packed the plastic sheet up until it was needed again.

 

[Johnykiwi]

It depends on where you are moving to. If your going up into the hills away from civilisation, you should be able to let it rain for 15 minutes then start collecting water. Most rainwater tanks have a diverter in the down pipes that lets the first lot of rain go down the pipes and then it diverts the water to the storage tank.

I used to have a frame in the backyard and hung a sheet of clear plastic on it. I didn't need much water but could easily get a few hundred litres when it rained. After I got the water I packed the plastic sheet up until it was needed again.

Ok, and would you recommend remineralising the water.

 

[Colin_T]

Ok, and would you recommend remineralising the water.

It depends on the fish you keep. If the fish come from soft water (upper Amazon) then you probably don't need to. If they come from the rift lakes in Africa, you will need to.

 

[itiwhetu]

I never bother about adding anything unless I am keeping African Cichlids or the like and then a substrate of fine limestone was all I needed. We would need a lot of bird poo for it to be a problem.

 

[Johnykiwi]

I never bother about adding anything unless I am keeping African Cichlids or the like and then a substrate of fine limestone was all I needed. We would need a lot of bird poo for it to be a problem.

Makes sense, I’m not planning on breeding any African cichlids so I should be good. My only worry was the ph fluctuating because there is no kh or very little, which could make ph fluctuations possible. I’m planning doing a drip water change system, so I guess it won’t effect it that much, but I wonder if it will still drastically impact the water.

 

[Colin_T]

You can add some shells, limestone rock, or dead coral rubble to an aquarium or filter to help stabilise the pH.

 

[Johnykiwi]

You can add some shells, limestone rock, or dead coral rubble to an aquarium or filter to help stabilise the pH.

I’ll do that then, so I shouldn’t really worry about the gh?