Useing Rain Water In An Aquarium ?

[mark2109111]

As many of you know hurricane Irena is about to hit new England. And my question is , is it safe to bucket the rain water and use it in my discus tank. I have read that pure rain water is better for your fish than R/O water but is this true ? Just wanted your take on this idea.

 

[fluttermoth]

As long as you live far away from any heavy industry, you should be fine to use rainwater; I use it with no problems.

I'd add a quarter to a third of dechlorinated tapwater to it though; rainwater is so soft, it can lead to pH crashes if you use it 'neat'.

 

[hanny93]

if you catch it yourself, ie in a water butt and as fluttermoth said, as long as you dont live next to any heavy industry plants it would be very pure.

 

[MizuFish]

This was a great thread! I had no idea about rain water, we got a lot coming too, definitely going to try it!

 

[Vin Swords]

Rain water is pure water.. Like RO water. Not good for fish. Infect It's very bad.
If u want to use rain water, you have to add minerals. Like RO water.

Ps... If u just like to topup, than it's just fine.

 

[mark2109111]

As of now i have 3 1/2 gallons and counting

 

[StandbySetting]

Personally I'm not a fan of using rainwater, any are of main land has air pollution, so that means gasses such as Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide etc are being dissolved into the water, forming nitric and sulphuric acids, which leads to a reduction in pH, as before it is quite pure and has a low TDS, I'd rather use RO with minerals added back in.