haycait Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Hi all, I am in the process of moving to a rural area which does not have town water available and will need to be using rain water or dam water for my beloved aquariums which will be coming with. Now I know the merit fo using town water when available, but that will not really be an option for me so I was wondering if anyone out there is using tank or dam water and how they condition it for use in aquariums? Is it best to get a seperate holding/treatment tank/drum to add in additives?? What do the non-metro aquarists do? Thanks in advance. Cheers Haycait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch1983 Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hay mate! I use Tank and Bore water for all my fishy stuff. We catch the water of our roof and we pump it from the ground using a Bore, this water is than mixed when it goes into our holding tanks!!!! I keep Tangs exclusively so i am very particular about water quality!!!! I have several 270L drums to age the water! I don't know if its necessary but i age the water for a whole week. I do my water changes once a week so after i finish, i refill the drums and leave them for the week. When i fill the drums i add the required buffers and some prime. The drums have there own air surply. I think it would be smart to get your tank water tested by a professional to see if there is any heavy metals coming off the roof, and just to check the ph anfd whatever else may be in the water!! Hope this helps...... Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 If you are using dam water, I would suggest you run it through a UV steriliser before adding it to your tanks to kill off any nasties in it. I often use rain water as well as town water for my water changes and have been running it all through a 40watt UV before adding for a few years now. In addition to the safety net it provides for other nasties, I haven't had a single instance of white spot since I started doing this. Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haycait Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hi all, Many thanx and this give me a bit more confidence with the up coming more. :cool: Keep the input coming it is all much appreciated. Cheers Haycait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 i have used both rain and bore water in the last 2-3 years with no problem. i keep my sumps/filters full of coral rubble/crushed shell which hardens the water and raises the ph and add no neutralisers etc and dont age the water. i keep both tangs-featherfins,tropheus, calvus etc and mbuna. the only problem i have with the bore water is that the water is quite cold as it comes up from underground and the fish take a while to acclimatise. good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch1983 Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Mbuna, very good point! The water coming out of the Bore is very cold, i have measured the temperature in winter and it can be as low as 9'c. I keep my water change barrels in my fish room so over a few days the warm to nearly room temp!!! Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 The rain water I use for water changes can be quite cold in the cooler months, so I have installed two second hand solar panels (scavenged for free from old solar hot water heating systems) on the roof and pump the water up through these on a sunny day to warm it up before running it through the UV and straight into my sumps. Works a treat. I also know of other people who have made their own successful water heaters using black irrigation tubing by making a wooden cross, spacing nails an inch apart and wrapping the tubing around the nails ~ same principle, put it on a nice sunny roof and pump the water through it. Cheer, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakes Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 I live on a rural block and have only rainwater available. For Americans i add a soft water conditioner for tropicals to raise general hardness. It also raises pH a little and adds trace elements. For Africans i add a rift lake conditioner plus carbonate hardness generator for additional buffering. You could substitute the hardness generator for crushed coral or similar. I agree with Doug i would not use dam water without a UV sterilizer. Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 probably is better to pump the bore water into barrels mitch, i just dont have that luxury at the moment bet it gets alot colder down there too. doug, that sounds like a great idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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