# Rainwater



## andy (19 Oct 2008)

Would adding say 40-50 litres of rainwater to my 200L planted tank do any harm in order to make the water softer. We live in the middle of the south downs in Sussex and the water is filtered through chalk so is fairly hard.

The collected rainwater is pretty pure as there's very little in the way of industry round here.

Fish are mainly south american and i may even considder some discus in future.

Should i bother ?

Many thanks

Andy


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## Ed Seeley (19 Oct 2008)

I've used it in the past before I had an RO unit.  The fish loved it (I'm a firm believer in using soft water for soft water fish) but the weekly trips to the top of the garden (even in the depths of winter) became tiring!!!  All I did was make sure the water butt was well cleaned and put some floss in the down pipe to trap any debris.  When I wanted the water out I syphoned it through a gravel cleaner filled with carbon and plugged with floss.  I never had any problems - except for the cold!!!


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## Themuleous (21 Oct 2008)

I switched to rainwater when I got my new 4ft as there was no way I was going to produce 60-80lt of RO water each week, the waste would have been absurd.  So I hooked up a water butt and got a 1400lpg internal power head to pump the water out of the water butt, through a pond carbon filter (not cheap but it'll literally last a lifetime, so a one-off payment) along the side of the house and in my living room window where the tank is.  Takes a while to refil the tank but its a darn sight easier than using 20lt plastic jerry cans of RO water!!  

The water going into the carbon filter has a slight stagnant smell, its odorless when it comes out the other end.  You coudl probably drink it.

Here's a video I took of it in action.



Sam


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## willmaddoxUK (23 Oct 2008)

yep great stuff use it when w/c my 240 litre tank, which has discus, and its crystal clear


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