Rainwater?

[Fish in the Highlands]

Living in the Highlands with an abundance of peat around, it came as a big surprise when testing our newly filled tank for the first time - pH 7.6. Hazarding a guess, this is down to our local water treatment plant - can check pH of the water feeding it tomorrow.
Having intended to set up an acidic, soft water tank, this leaves us having to either change plans or change our source of water; exploring the latter :
- we have an abundance of rain here; little chance of running short of it for water changes. Rain pH (conveniently raining now) is 6.4.
- streams. Becuse of our abundance of rain, we have plenty of local clean streams. As it's dark & raining, haven't been to check the pH, but would be very surprised if it's not acidic.

Wonder what people think of the idea of using either rainwater or streamwater for the tank & water changes...... Please be gentle!
Fish in the Highlands

 

[DrRob]

Rainwater is OK, just make sure that you keep the collecting gutters clean and keep a north eye on the forecasts for any pollution clouds.

Streamwater may have fish in it, and therefore carry diseases.

 

[TheShrimpGirl]

Our rain here is really clean, so in the winter I use it. I still use a water treatment in case of heavy metals.

 

[CezzaXV]

Try leaving your tap water 24 hours before testing it. The pH can be affected a fair bit by gasses in the water, most of which gas off over 24 hours and give you the "true" pH of the water.

My tap water straight out of the tap is alkaline, but if I leave it to gas off for 24 hours its acidic, so it's worth testing.