Water crisis

[Mikeyboy123]

I use a mixture of rainwater and tap water in my nano tank in a 3:1 ratio. Tap water in London is pretty hard and I find that this mix has worked very well for the last year with my shrimp and fish doing very well.

I collect the rainwater in a water butt which is connected to the downpipe of a gutter that collects rainwater running off a tiled roof. The roof, guttering and water butt are all quite old and weathered (water butt is probably around 20 years old). I filter the rainwater/tap water mix with Polyfilter overnight before using it.

The problem is that we have had very little rainfall recently and my water butt ran dry a couple of weeks ago and there is hardly any rainfall forecast for the foreseeable future. It has been almost three weeks since I did a water change (I usually do 50% water changes every week) and I've got no idea when I'm going to have any more rainwater. I go on vacation for 11 days on August 1st and I'm having a friend come in to feed the fish, but I cannot leave the tank much longer without a water change. I want to have the tank as fresh as possible before I go away.

I could buy RO water from the LFS but I have never used RO water before. If I did use it, I'd mix it with tap water in a 3:1 ratio just as I do with the rainwater. Do you think this would work? My thinking is that with the RO water being essentially pure water, it should just take the place of the rainwater in the mix (and if anything be cleaner) and I can carry on as normal until my water butt fills up again. But I am a bit concerned that I may be overlooking something.

Grateful for any feedback.

Thanks.

 

[connorlindeman]

I could buy RO water from the LFS but I have never used RO water before. If I did use it, I'd mix it with tap water in a 3:1 ratio just as I do with the rainwater. Do you think this would work? My thinking is that with the RO water being essentially pure water, it should just take the place of the rainwater in the mix (and if anything be cleaner) and I can carry on as normal until my water butt fills up again. But I am a bit concerned that I may be overlooking something.

That should be fine. In the long run, it may be cheaper to buy an RO unit. But then again, once you get rain again, it will no longer be necessary.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Bottled water is probably cheaper than RO, and would achieve the same results

 

[Mikeyboy123]

Bottled water is probably cheaper than RO, and would achieve the same results

Do you mean distilled or deionised water?

I can get 25 litres of RO for £5 from the LFS. Worth it as a stop gap until it rains again.

 

[Colin_T]

Reverse osmosis water mixed with your tap water 3-1 will be fine and work the same as rain water mixed with tap water. Just buy some r/o water and do a water change.

If you get someone to feed your fish while you are away, measure out specific amounts of food and put them in small plastic containers/ bags. Get the person to feed the fish once every couple of days. They can add 1 packet of food every couple of days and no more. The only exception to this is if you have baby fish, they should be fed every day.

 

[Essjay]

Bottled water in the UK usually has some mineral content depending on the source of the water.

 

[Mikeyboy123]

Okay, thanks for your replies. I’m gonna get some ro. There is a chance that it’ll rain tonight or tomorrow so we’ll see, but I’m not holding out for it.