Rainwater/tapwater

[lurcher]

New to rainwater/ tapwater mix,rainwater coming off of concrete?.tiles, (standard roof tiles,)running into. plastic water butt.is it enough to run rainwater through sieve before use or do i need to do more? Thanks

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

New to rainwater/ tapwater mix,rainwater coming off of concrete?.tiles, (standard roof tiles,)running into. plastic water butt.is it enough to run rainwater through sieve before use or do i need to do more? Thanks

I look on <"Daphnia in rainwater as an advantage">, but some sieve them out.

If you daisy-chain two butts together (like the two on the left) it means you can draw water from the second butt (furthest away from the down-pipe) and you can also clean each butt alternately, without losing all your rainwater.

Have a look at <"If it's yellow, let it mellow and RO is the devil">.

Cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

I’ve never thought I should maybe clean my water butt out. Should I? I use it for top offs and water changes in my shrimp tank. It’s not connected to a down pipe. It is just open to the rain in winter and then the lid goes on in the summer. I’ve got a mesh lid to keep the crap out in winter though like leaves and whatever.

 

[Maf 2500]

I’ve never thought I should maybe clean my water butt out. Should I? I use it for top offs and water changes in my shrimp tank. It’s not connected to a down pipe. It is just open to the rain in winter and then the lid goes on in the summer. I’ve got a mesh lid to keep the crap out in winter though like leaves and whatever.

If you are not connected to the downpipe you are going to miss out on most of the crap from rooves and gutters like leaves and moss and bird poo. Also, you probably go dry most summers in that situation? Perfect time to rinse out any accumulations. I wouldn't usually clean water butts more than once per year.

P.S. How rainy is it where you live? If I had a water butt just open to rain with no roof runoff, it would never get more than about 6 inches deep!

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

P.S. How rainy is it where you live? If I had a water butt just open to rain with no roof runoff, it would never get more than about 6 inches deep!

Edinburgh. This year it never stopped raining.
I barely had to water the garden so only used the butt for the shrimp tank which is only small so it didn’t run out. In a hot summer it may dry out at which point I’d switch to the tap. We’re not short of water up here.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I was cleaning out my water butt every year. Primarily because of the bugs that got in and invariably died. The last time though I completely sealed the lid so virtually nothing can get in through the top. I collect the water from a large shed roof so I also jammed some foam into the top of the downpipe at the end of the gutter. I’m hoping this keeps it a bit cleaner. I still “filter” it though through some kitchen towel a few times.