Rain Water
- Thread starter nw nick
- Start date
kris walker
Active Member
Why not test it? It would be a very interesting test to see what the chem levels of such water would be. I'll be happy to test rain water in Palo Alto if someone will test it up in the northwest.
sam
sam
salisbury a d
Member
No do not use rain water.
If you collect it off the roof there are many toxins and bacteria and fungus spores.
Also rain collects all the toxins out of the air as it comes down.
Living on the West cost there is alot of polution isn't there?
That is all in the rain water.
NO! No! NO!!!!!
It is more than just nitrate nitrite ammonia ph.
Adam
If you collect it off the roof there are many toxins and bacteria and fungus spores.
Also rain collects all the toxins out of the air as it comes down.
Living on the West cost there is alot of polution isn't there?
That is all in the rain water.
NO! No! NO!!!!!
It is more than just nitrate nitrite ammonia ph.
Adam
just_got_tanked
Member
I agree with everybody that disagreed about using rain water. I live in Denver, Colorado and there is alot of polution out here. Not nearly as much as California, but it is high.
There are alot of toxins in the air that is bad for us humans. Just think what it can do to your tank life. Ro water is very inexpensive and you dont have to take the risks.
[ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: just_got_tanked ]
There are alot of toxins in the air that is bad for us humans. Just think what it can do to your tank life. Ro water is very inexpensive and you dont have to take the risks.
[ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: just_got_tanked ]
kris walker
Active Member
Yes, I totally agree with everyone. I would never use rain water in a reef tank. Nonetheless, I still think it would be a neat experiment to see what the ammon., nitrite/ate, Ca, PO4, etc. levels are in rain water from various parts of the country.
Since it's the rainy season now where I live in central CA, I will put out a clean container to collect some rain water. I'll post the results after I get lucky...with rain I mean.
sam
Since it's the rainy season now where I live in central CA, I will put out a clean container to collect some rain water. I'll post the results after I get lucky...with rain I mean.
sam
wally
Member
For those of us blessed (or is it cursed?)enough to live in the "snow belt" areas fresh snow is quite clean after it has been snowing for a while. I tested some last year and found it to be as pure as RO or distilled water. I heard on TV (weather channel I think) that after a few hours of snowfall all of the dirt gets cleaned out of the air
Wally
Corry, PA
Average snow fall 180-200 inches per year
Wally
Corry, PA
Average snow fall 180-200 inches per year
javajoe
Member
I agree-- it would be interesting to see test results from rain water and snow across the country. maybe someone with a little more ambition (aka TIME ) can post the results in a table or something....
I live in buffalo-- I'll do a test of our rain, and then another of our snow once we get some... and then post the results here... unless someone thinks we should start a post JUST for test results of rainwater.....
i still agree with the others who say that it wouldn't be good to use rainwaer in the tank though- unless there was a way of testing for other 'stuff'...
[ November 28, 2001: Message edited by: Javajoe ]
) can post the results in a table or something....I live in buffalo-- I'll do a test of our rain, and then another of our snow once we get some... and then post the results here... unless someone thinks we should start a post JUST for test results of rainwater.....
i still agree with the others who say that it wouldn't be good to use rainwaer in the tank though- unless there was a way of testing for other 'stuff'...
[ November 28, 2001: Message edited by: Javajoe ]
kris walker
Active Member
Hi everyone,
Last night we had rain, lots of it. I did some tests, and the results are interesting, but I don't want to post the results yet until I verify them one more time. The problem is that the container I had to collect the rain also collected pieces of organics (I think from a nearby tree) that were presumably flying around in the wind. The organics weren't in the container long (maybe 4 hours at most), but still could hvae influenced the tests.
In any event, if you do a test, I suggest you try to collect water away from trees and roofs, unless you collect during a windless rain.
Very interesting about the snow fall, Wally. Thanks for sharing!
I'll post the results back here asap.
sam
Last night we had rain, lots of it. I did some tests, and the results are interesting, but I don't want to post the results yet until I verify them one more time. The problem is that the container I had to collect the rain also collected pieces of organics (I think from a nearby tree) that were presumably flying around in the wind. The organics weren't in the container long (maybe 4 hours at most), but still could hvae influenced the tests.
In any event, if you do a test, I suggest you try to collect water away from trees and roofs, unless you collect during a windless rain.
Very interesting about the snow fall, Wally. Thanks for sharing!
I'll post the results back here asap.
sam
kris walker
Active Member
Hi everyone,
I just got the second rain results. I will post both sets of results.
The first water batch had several bits of brown organic material in it, which looked like tree detritus. The detritus must have been in there for at most 4 hours.
pH = ~7.0 (my scale goes down to 7.4)
GH = 25 ppm
KH = 40 ppm
NH3/NH4 = 0.25-0.5 ppm
NO2 = 0 (not detectable)
NO3 = 0 (not detectable)
PO4 = 4 ppm
Ca = < 200 ppm (not detectable)
Note the very high phosphate and ammon. level.
Now when I collected the second batch of rain water, it had only 3 tiny chunks of organics in it, which I think were pieces of tree leaves in the water for at most 1 hour.
pH = ~7.0 (my scale goes down to 7.4)
GH = 25 ppm
KH = 40 ppm
NH3/NH4 = 0-0.25 ppm
NO2 = 0 (not detectable)
NO3 = 0 (not detectable)
PO4 = 0.2 ppm
Ca = < 200 ppm (not detectable)
In the second batch, the phosphate and ammon. levels are much smaller. My ammon. test kit stinks, so I'm not sure how accurate that measure was, but it was surely smaller than in the first batch. So if you collect water for tank use, which I still don't recommend, make sure there are no organic chunks in it. Otherwise, algae will love you.
It appears that the water is pretty neutral in pH. At first I was surprised at this, but then after thinking about it, I guess most of the rain here comes from clouds that formed over the Pacific, and therefore San Fran. Bay area pollution has not really had a chance to make the rain acidic.
This was fun. Thanks.
sam
I just got the second rain results. I will post both sets of results.
The first water batch had several bits of brown organic material in it, which looked like tree detritus. The detritus must have been in there for at most 4 hours.
pH = ~7.0 (my scale goes down to 7.4)
GH = 25 ppm
KH = 40 ppm
NH3/NH4 = 0.25-0.5 ppm
NO2 = 0 (not detectable)
NO3 = 0 (not detectable)
PO4 = 4 ppm
Ca = < 200 ppm (not detectable)
Note the very high phosphate and ammon. level.
Now when I collected the second batch of rain water, it had only 3 tiny chunks of organics in it, which I think were pieces of tree leaves in the water for at most 1 hour.
pH = ~7.0 (my scale goes down to 7.4)
GH = 25 ppm
KH = 40 ppm
NH3/NH4 = 0-0.25 ppm
NO2 = 0 (not detectable)
NO3 = 0 (not detectable)
PO4 = 0.2 ppm
Ca = < 200 ppm (not detectable)
In the second batch, the phosphate and ammon. levels are much smaller. My ammon. test kit stinks, so I'm not sure how accurate that measure was, but it was surely smaller than in the first batch. So if you collect water for tank use, which I still don't recommend, make sure there are no organic chunks in it. Otherwise, algae will love you.
It appears that the water is pretty neutral in pH. At first I was surprised at this, but then after thinking about it, I guess most of the rain here comes from clouds that formed over the Pacific, and therefore San Fran. Bay area pollution has not really had a chance to make the rain acidic.
This was fun. Thanks.
sam
saltwaterissocool
Member
Originally posted by NW Nick:
<STRONG>Living in the Northwest and not wanting to waste so much water through the RO process, is there anything wrong with doing water replacement with rain water??</STRONG>
are you guys stoopid? rain water has pollution and ACID THat water conditioner cannot even get rid of
<STRONG>Living in the Northwest and not wanting to waste so much water through the RO process, is there anything wrong with doing water replacement with rain water??</STRONG>
are you guys stoopid? rain water has pollution and ACID THat water conditioner cannot even get rid of