Using River Water For Fish?

Spishkey · Mar 26, 2009

morning all.

tomorrow is the big day that i find out if we get the house or not. cant wait!!!
it looks 99% sure that we will! fingers crossed for us eh?

any how the house sits in the middle of the country on the edge of a river and i was wondering if you could use river water in fish tanks? i ve heard of people collecting rain water to use in tanks so why not river water? what would i need to test the water for to see if its suitable apart from the usual ph, kh, ammonia nitrite nitrates etc??

pammy172 · Mar 26, 2009

I wouldn't - you never know what people may have dumped in the river that your test kit might not pick up.

WILDER · Mar 26, 2009

Don't think you can as river water different to tap water.
I agree you never know what you would be fetching into the tank from toxins to parasites.

Spishkey · Mar 26, 2009

is there not some way to filter it to make it 'purer'? just trying to find ways of cutting the water bill out there!

oscars r ace · Mar 26, 2009

i wouldn't you don't know what may of died in or near the river further upstream like sheep etc, same reason you shouldnt drink water out of a river. it may well be polluted, not worth the risk

Spishkey · Mar 26, 2009

ok idea has been forgotten, thanks anyway!

three-fingers · Mar 26, 2009

If it's just to save on a water bill, you probably could use it the river water if you put it though a carbon filter first to be safe.

Parasites and other fish pathogens could be present I guess though, so to be completely safe of that, UV would have to be employed, which will cost in electricity, so you probably wont save much...

Inchworm · Mar 26, 2009

Depending on where the water is coming from, there could be chemical pollution as well as biological. :sick:

I hope you get good news tomorrow, Spishkey.

kevinthecow · Mar 26, 2009

Rain water for their tanks?!
Acid rain! http

/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain
And anyways, you never know whats dumped into the river.

three-fingers · Mar 26, 2009

kevinthecow said:
Rain water for their tanks?!
Acid rain! [URL="http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain"]http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain[/URL]
And anyways, you never know whats dumped into the river.

People use rain water for tanks all the time, acid rain is only really a problem in exceptional cases. If it were a problem, nobody would be able to keep pond fish in cities

.

Rain water has many advantages, it's like cheaper and less wasteful RO water. Though, just like RO water, it isnt ideal for a lot of fish since it doesn't have many minerals in it, so with things like guppies and goldfish, it's best to add minerals back into the water...which costs money.

Mikaila31 · Mar 26, 2009

Not to hijack the tread, But what about spring water?

I only ask cuz there are some natural springs only a mile from my house.

three-fingers · Mar 26, 2009

Natural spring water sounds like it has a lot of potential...but it would very a lot from spring to spring!

People use bottled spring in small tanks, and we drink it too, so it should be great. If your interested, you should take a sample and do all the regular aquarium tests on it too see if it would be useful to you, or if you'd have to add minerals. Also check to see if there's fish living there, just in case of potential pathogens.

And if in doubt, carbon filters arent very expensive, less than £20 to set one up here, and the £6 cartrdge would need changed every 6 months.

I'm glad I don't have to think about water costing money -_-

, otherwise I would be using rain water.

Mikaila31 · Mar 26, 2009

three-fingers said:
Natural spring water sounds like it has a lot of potential...but it would very a lot from spring to spring!

People use bottled spring in small tanks, and we drink it too, so it should be great. If your interested, you should take a sample and do all the regular aquarium tests on it too see if it would be useful to you, or if you'd have to add minerals. Also check to see if there's fish living there, just in case of potential pathogens.

And if in doubt, carbon filters arent very expensive, less than £20 to set one up here, and the £6 cartrdge would need changed every 6 months.

I'm glad I don't have to think about water costing money , otherwise I would be using rain water.

I'm on a well so I don't really pay for water either, just electricity. Considering that the spring is only a mile away, its very likely that its the same water coming out of my tap. It's just something I've though about when I drive by them. If I ever get a chance I may take a sample, but the springs are kinda located in the middle of a trout creek. There are pipes stuck into springs that stick out of the water, they kinda make natural fountains. I'd have to wade out there to get some of the spring water. Considering it was snowing today, I won't be doing that anytime soon. Still it would be interesting to find out. There are indeed trout in the creek.