Bradc Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Pretty self explanatory. Wondering whats best to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ageofaquariums Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I would swap my tapwater for someones rainwater in a heart beat. Better to be adding things to water, than trying to remove things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
none Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Far too many variables to give a one line answer to that question. Depends on: *Source of tap water *Source of rain water *Fish being kept *reliability and variations in supply of each *Storage of rainwater *etc., To elaborate: in many places pollution will effect the quality of rain water. Furthermore less than optimum storage of the rain water will further deteriorate the quality of the water. A good reliable council supply in many cases would be far more desirable. A stated though - impossible to give an accurate generalised 'one or the other' answer.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I've been using rain water for my large Malawi system whenever I have it available for many years now without any problems. I live on the Gold Coast with a tile roof, and while I live almost adjacent to the M1, I am well away from any industrial catchments and being close to the coast we get a lot of sea breezes here which hopefully help prevent any airborne pollutants being deposited on my roof. Whenever my rainwater tanks are full, I use the water as soon as I can for a big water change on my system and run it through a quality UV steriliser before it goes into my sump to take care of any nasties that may be in it. As I am doing the water change, I add bicarb of soda and Epsom salts to the sump to help maintain the PH cost effectively until the water change is finished, then I also add some Aquasonic Rift Lake conditioner to both balance out the PH and add trace elements which I believe are not present in rain water and are necessary for fish health. Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradc Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Yeah ok i have a 15,000L rain tank tiled roof and live away from industrial areas and busy roads ocean is probably 30kms as a crow flys from my house. Tiled roof. Water is used in our toilets and in our washing machine and when tank runs dry coverts back to town water so tank volume is constantly being used and replenished when it rains. Ive just been using town water as i wasnt sure if algae from the tank might transfer into my tank and cause issues or micro organisms might affect fish health if present. Was thinking of bringing home and icb and cleaning it out and running the overflow of the tank into and dosing it with salts and bicarb etc to its ready to use each week on water change day. 2 125g tanks sump teir which is 100g and a standard 3ft and 4fr tank id probably use an icb a fortnight. Probably catch that off my roof easy a week hasnt stopped raining this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 20 minutes ago, Bradc said: Ive just been using town water as i wasnt sure if algae from the tank might transfer into my tank and cause issues or micro organisms might affect fish health if present. That's why I run all my water change water through a quality UV steriliser before it hits my tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradc Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Might be worth looking into. Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Just research your scheme water supply, where it comes from, usually it's two or more sources,,, there are various issues for Sydney fish shops in certain locations that have scheme water issues and have engaged in uv sterilization usage,,, but don't fool yourself,,, these units are worth thousands, unless you buy a strong compact small one and be happy with very slow water top ups,,, as big size ones allows more flow. The affordable cheap pond uv units will do jack all, because they're just to slow algae growth,,, looking hard you should find something for $600-$800, which will do more than just kill algae, but most disease types it will exterminate. When you do a water change and replace, the water passing through unit needs to be fully treated with one pass, this is why you need a powerful one,,,,, other situations it's hooked up indefinitely in the aquarium turnover cycle,, and it's the continual passing through the unit that finally kills the nasties..... Best you take water sample into your water board for a complete analysis ($30-$120) and find out where the sources of your water are,,,, then you can make a desision as to wether you need uv treatment or not.... For Years I used uv treatment,,,, years ago I ripped the lot off, I only had it for precautionary or safe reasons,,, completely not needed unless you can identify a reason to incorporate,,, cost money, yearly bulb replacements. Much controversy with continual use in the aquarium turnover, being that it makes fish weak as it's the reverse of hardening up your fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ageofaquariums Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 "Much controversy with continual use in the aquarium turnover, being that it makes fish weak as it's the reverse of hardening up your fish. " I have heard this so many times in the past, and never once seen a shred of evidence for it. Certainly not in my own usage. Would be curious where the rumor started, I imagine it has a kernel of truth as most aquaria myths do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 That "myth" has been around since I started keeping fish, which is a very long time. I do use a high quality stainless steel UV steriliser myself (the same one used in the shop by Smith's Aquarium) but for all my incoming water change water only, it is not connected to my system, I just run the water change water through it before it goes into my sump. For as long as I can remember, Annerley Aquarium in Brisbane has maintained a "crash cart" with a canister filter and UV steriliser mounted on a hand trolley to spot treat tanks with new or ill fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 The basis of immunisations is to expose you to de-toxified pathogens so you body creates antibodies Healthy people/fish need to build an immune system.....keep either in a bubble and they don't cope well if they leave History has shown many new civilisations have been decimated by simple diseases introduced by their finders so I think the proof is there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 15 hours ago, DFishkeeper said: That "myth" has been around since I started keeping fish, which is a very long time. I do use a high quality stainless steel UV steriliser myself (the same one used in the shop by Smith's Aquarium) but for all my incoming water change water only, it is not connected to my system, I just run the water change water through it before it goes into my sump. For as long as I can remember, Annerley Aquarium in Brisbane has maintained a "crash cart" with a canister filter and UV steriliser mounted on a hand trolley to spot treat tanks with new or ill fish. Yes, think another option is a atomizer. I think. Yeah parasites in incoming water isn't nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 14 hours ago, Rod54 said: The basis of immunisations is to expose you to de-toxified pathogens so you body creates antibodies Healthy people/fish need to build an immune system.....keep either in a bubble and they don't cope well if they leave History has shown many new civilisations have been decimated by simple diseases introduced by their finders so I think the proof is there There are many wives tales in fish keeping, and I hear a lot of rubbish,,,,,,,, Fishes immune systems being weakened by UV lights is very real. I also am a Koi enthusiast,,, I would never buy koi of a person that runs large serious uv sterilizers running continuous or close to in a closed system ,,,, I know many great koi breeders in Perth, but ages ago a public one I went to only once, didn't like the look of his fish at all, but felt I had to buy one,,, his koi was riddled with koi pox,,, as soon as they come out from the uv situation, they break out in sores and fester up till they die or summer kicks in and water heats up in time to kill the pox, only to run the gauntlet next season again and again. Theres only one solution,,, don't have to much total desolved waiste solids in the water. Strip it out within 24hrs if possible,,, this means strictly no cannister type filters and no fine to medium sponges,,, ideally mechanical filter media should not be submersed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Australian indigenous in very early history got severely decimated by the European common cold. Native American Indians got done the same, also with measles. No one could dodge smallpox though, another couple hundred thousand years for that needed lol,,,, but as we know, as Rod pointed out, immunization takes over natures coarse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ageofaquariums Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 Yea we gave them small pox blankets and poisoned flour here in Australia too. Thats how we "dispersed" those around Bruswick Heads and Byron Bay. A UV steralizer kills things in the water that pass through the death chamber. They don't impact the microbes INSIDE a fishes digestive tract. Its terrible that unscrupulous sellers would sell any sick fish. IMHO though, fish from local breeders with germicidal UV sterilizers running are tougher and more consistently healthy. If you want to talk about weak fish in the hobby, you would do better to look at all the over medicated ones that have grown up in antibiotics. Now theres something that influences microbes INSIDE a fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 It's more so if the fish doesn't encounter Common minor diseases often enough, their immune systems become unused and weakens,,,, the fish then normalizes on it, and now dependent on it if a minor disease occurred. This is exactly same reasoning of overuse of antibiotics. For those that are already good at fish keeping but use the continuous uv anyway, likely wouldn't see issues,, but once the fish has left, possibility begins. Ive never heard of anyone thinking the uv treats insides of fish though lol,,,, it's meant to treat what's on the outside before it ends up inside the fish,,,,,,,,, I see some people get highly involved with gadgetry before the science is learned first,,, this can sometimes be a recipe for disaster. But don't believe it's a wives tale,, it's true as day and night,,, you can literally watch koi pox breakout within a week of uv shut of,, days of switching back on, evidence of pox clearing up becomes apparent. The uv helps the fishes immune system to get back to normal levels again if it's been normalized with a life spent in uv treated water,,,,,,,,,. Swear to god people, it's very real. Believe the hype. I only ever long time ago used one in my breed room because I had problems,,,, I got my head of the pillow and learned the sciences,,, I then ripped the whole lot of uv units out and never used again. They can be handy to switch on in koi ponds though, just as we come out of cold season as the bad bacterial action starts to respond to warmer water and multiply, towards end of spring the uv is then switched of,,,,,, so used in moderation as a tool, nothing wrong with in my books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 Ageofaquariums, you sound like you seriously know a heap of stuff from what I've seen of you now,,, you'd be totally spun out if you saw my system,,, it runs like no other,,,, there is no submersed waste matter in mechanical filtration longer than 4 hours, and most other situations never submersed. All I have to do is feed and collect fry,,, that's it,,, I'll never clean another filter in my life again, from my engineered inventions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradc Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 Throw some pics up buccal. Ive been interested in seeing your setup. Seems like youd have more gadgets then batmans belt lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 It's so compact, I can't get pictures because I can never get back far enough for pics. But if you stick around these sites, within time, not to long, I'm going to invest in a miniature head video camera and do a feeding round which takes 1.5 hours,, so every single species of mine can be seen rushing in together for food. but this is just one of my isles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ageofaquariums Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 Now thats a flameback! Is 3rd from bottom a Virgatus? Not something you see often unless its on the 2mm NLS thera tub lol. Appreciate the pictures, always good to see pictures of the walk being walked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.