Ro And Or Rain Water

[Donny Steve]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site and would like to ask a question,

I have an RO unit that the wife used for her marine tank, i also have a water butt that collects water
from my conservatory roof, would either of these waters be harmful to my tropical fish?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Miss Wiggle]

potentially yes,

RO is basically pure H20 containing no minerals, waste etc, when your wife used this water for her marine tank she'll have added marine salt, this also contains mineral compounds for the fish. Fish absorb minerals from the water by osmosis, keeping tropical fish in pure RO is like a person existing solely of McDonalds cheeseburgers. While the lack of vitamins and minerals will do no immediate harm to you, long term it's gonna cause health problems and leave you weak. So pure RO is a bad idea. The only time I'd advise using the unit is if you suspect there is something wrong with your tap water in which case the RO unit will flush out the nasties. You can buy a powder to re-mineralise the water and you should try to use that with it if you can. either way it's just a short term thing. RO unit's also waste a massive amount of water, if it gives no benefit then it's just plain silly to do this!

rainwater...... well some people use it but i wouldn't, god knows what's found it's way into it!

 

[raptorrex]

potentially yes,

RO is basically pure H20 containing no minerals, waste etc, when your wife used this water for her marine tank she'll have added marine salt, this also contains mineral compounds for the fish. Fish absorb minerals from the water by osmosis, keeping tropical fish in pure RO is like a person existing solely of McDonalds cheeseburgers. While the lack of vitamins and minerals will do no immediate harm to you, long term it's gonna cause health problems and leave you weak. So pure RO is a bad idea. The only time I'd advise using the unit is if you suspect there is something wrong with your tap water in which case the RO unit will flush out the nasties. You can buy a powder to re-mineralise the water and you should try to use that with it if you can. either way it's just a short term thing. RO unit's also waste a massive amount of water, if it gives no benefit then it's just plain silly to do this!

rainwater...... well some people use it but i wouldn't, god knows what's found it's way into it!

you just cant put it better than this

 

[Donny Steve]

potentially yes,

RO is basically pure H20 containing no minerals, waste etc, when your wife used this water for her marine tank she'll have added marine salt, this also contains mineral compounds for the fish. Fish absorb minerals from the water by osmosis, keeping tropical fish in pure RO is like a person existing solely of McDonalds cheeseburgers. While the lack of vitamins and minerals will do no immediate harm to you, long term it's gonna cause health problems and leave you weak. So pure RO is a bad idea. The only time I'd advise using the unit is if you suspect there is something wrong with your tap water in which case the RO unit will flush out the nasties. You can buy a powder to re-mineralise the water and you should try to use that with it if you can. either way it's just a short term thing. RO unit's also waste a massive amount of water, if it gives no benefit then it's just plain silly to do this!

rainwater...... well some people use it but i wouldn't, god knows what's found it's way into it!

you just cant put it better than this

Thanks for the quick reply, i'll stick to conditioned tap water

 

[NonstickRon]

Rainwater is used in breeding vats, ponds, lakes, rivers etc everywhere...I'd be worried about whats leaching into it from your roof though.

 

[petertr]

I'm really keen on this rainwater idea.


Seems that the biggest issue is with using rainwater that has been collected from a roof, through guttering systems, into a water butt.

If I have JUST a water container, and gather only rainwater that falls directly onto it (I will make some kind of funnel, with foam and carbon filters in it) - do you think that would be ok?

My water changes are about 40L - If I could change 10L of that with "pure" water (ie rain water) - it would greatly help my discus survive my extremely hard and high pH tap water.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if the result you want is softer water then adding a layer of peat to the filter would be a lot easier!

 

[petertr]

if the result you want is softer water then adding a layer of peat to the filter would be a lot easier!

Ive just found some peat on ebay to buy. Will this - wrapped in some tights - work?

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=013

 

[Miss Wiggle]

looks like the right stuff to me although i'm not familiar with that particular brand and there isn't much detail on the ad.

 

[Sarette]

Did you buy some Peter? Make sure you report back on if it works or not!

 

[waterdrop]

Sarette,

I see you are fishless cycling. Making changes to pH is something you want to resist as much as possible once you have fish. Pushing pH up with crushed coral is tricky but can be done, pulling pH down with peat is, I think, even trickier and has its various problems. Probably MW can elaborate if necessary, but just though I'd throw out that it is something to think and discuss quite a bit before getting involved in action.

For your fishless cycling, a pH of 8.0 to 8.4 should be ideal, but a somewhat wider range should also work.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[andywg]

Rainwater is brialliant to use, provided you don't want hardwater. The chances of any pollution in it is very slight. Just run the water collected through some carbon and you will have brilliant soft acidic water that is great for many South American species.