Rainwater

[Fishdude101]

Can i use rain water from a watertank in my aqaurium?

 

[coralbandit]

You need top see what the parameters of the water are.
It likely will not match your source water unless it is very soft.

 

[kashif314]

Can i use rain water from a watertank in my aqaurium?

Rain water is like RO water. Lack many essential minerals. You can use it if you are going to reminiliz it otherwise I don't see any reason to use rain water.

 

[BBradbury]

Rain Water

Can i use rain water from a watertank in my aqaurium?

Hello Fish...

Actually, there are minerals in rain water. Magnesium and calcium for starters. The levels can be affected by oxygen in the air. The action is called oxidation. The mineral content is also affected by geography, believe it or not. Mineral content depends on where the rain is falling. You could use it in your tank. There's no chlorine or chloramine.

B

 

[coralbandit]

All rain water is not safe.It does depend where you live and activity around you.
It is not just a matter of it being like RO ,it could have residue from all sorts of human interference...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...K/rain2.html&usg=AOvVaw1lxqfBZ2BJWGxctRwIvI4d
I would carefully consider using it.

 

[kashif314]

I would never use rain water ever. If I need water without minerals I would use RO or distilled. Rainwater never. But I did read people use it but they reminilize it but as I said we never know which minerals are already inside water.

 

[Caliban07]

As Coralbandit says, it depends where you collect it from.

Simple test is to use Daphnia as the ‘Canary’. They are used in the water industry because they are sensitive to pollutants and so if they are swimming about freely in it then it’s probably ok to use. Not that rainwater is 100% without but if you think about the bleaches, pesticides, herbicides and medicines reportedly found in tap water it doesn’t sound like a bad alternative to me.

Edit: when I was dosing heavy ferts I took some daphnia and mosquito larvae from a bucket in the back garden and put them in a pint of my tank water. They were all dead in half and hour. Could have been many reasons but they were fine in the bucket.

 

[Caliban07]

http://ei.cornell.edu/toxicology/bioassays/daphnia/culture.html

 

[Fishdude101]

Where can i get daphina?

 

[Fresh2o]

Where can i get daphina?

If there are any fish clubs nearby, then chances are you will find a daphnia breeder in that group.
You can ask your LFS if they can be ordered or they may point you in the right direction.
If you are in the US, Carolina Biological Supply carries them: https://m.carolina.com/living-orga.../daphnia/10500.ct?intid=srchredir_daphnia_cat