Originally Posted by
spanko
http:///forum/post/3153345
Yes! Rainwater is perfect!
For watering the grass, vegetable garden, flowers etc.
But not in your aquarium please.
Henry I would disagree if the collector used caution and some care as to where and when it it is collected when it comes to this issue.......I have used Rainwater for the last 35 years.BUT I would not say to a Newbie this is the way to go... buy A good RO system.
I have collected rain water from down spouts for well over 30 years for use in tanks. Just a clean roof and clean downspout with a method to collect is all that is needed..Yes I do have a RO, but if rain is available I use it, and no wasted water from the RO.. Here an average of 3 to 7 PPM sometimes far less) one hour after that start of a steady rain...... Just do not use the first part of a rain, let the rain pre-clean the roof and air first. Another though is if you have a roof mounted dryer vent, collect from somewhere else....
In the old days it was the source for almost all Show Guppy waters..These show quality fish needed the softest water available, and rain water was it......
Yes there is a tiny bit of sulfur .and some particulates depending on location and how long after the rain starts you measure the specimen. Yet these levels of stuff are below what my RO water from my well is after a few months without new filters living where all my other water is well.
When using it for my Reef I simple add a tablespoon of baking soda to each five gallon bucket collected to help buffer and raise the PH to a level just over 8 .....
Jut remember, that ocean contains more impurities and heavy metals than just about any other place on earth............Ever see one of those underwater volcanoes on TV spouting out sulfur? Dilution is the solution only to a point...... Many nice reefs are near these sources.
Another issue that I should have addressed here is where one lives and the source of the rain they are receiving comes from.....
For examples, If one lived just east of a big industrial city like Pittsburgh, or a big coal fired power plant to your immediate west and such..... Rains coming in from the west would naturally contain more crud to deal with...(like many of our short duration winter storms north-west winds off of the lakes cause..)
I would not use rain water if I lived there....
BUT...If like many here in the eastern states most of our systems generate their precipitation over the Atlantic, then dropping the rain here on us....... These systems contain a very low PPM content normally, possibly better than some of our RO set ups can produce......The same should hold true to others living within a few hundred miles of a coast line with ocean generated precipitation.
Again I have used both rain top off and PC water for years off of my downspouts. A good summer wet spell can give me 50 gallons in a couple of hours. Yes in the drier periods I do use RO, but the rain is free with none running down my drain the way my RO does..
