Rainwater?

[crazyred]

Okay, I know rainwater is not great to use in a tank because of acid rain and pollution and all that jazz, and I'm not considering using any since we haven't had any to use in a long time. :rolleyes: What I was wondering though, would you have to put replacement minerals in it like RODI water? I wouldn't think so, but I know it is extremely soft and I was just curious......this would be straight from the sky rainwater, not collected of the house. I think the minerals in the water from these fish's natural habitat comes from the rocks and stuff so would you have to replace them in straight rainwater? Interesting.......just wondering.

[Buddha_Red]

rain water from cities is deadly to fish for the most part. You cannot control the chemicals in it. Ammonia and the other additives would not be able to clean it i dont believe. no telling whats in there. If you could get it tested by a lab, them maybe its ok. check with colleges, they love to analize things for extra credit.

For now stick with the water you use. Its best and you know its safe.

[crazyred]

No, I wasn't going to use any....we don't have any to use, and I know ours would be too deadly...... :eek: If there was some in a far flung place (Antartica???) that was pure enough would you have to add RO Right? Just a curiosity kind of thing.

[Buddha_Red]

doh, sorry about that.

yes, if you lived in west or east texas you could use the rain water just fine. i would think with ro/di supplments would be all you need to do. it would be number one water source.

[AngelMom]

Red,

Rainwater, in a remote place with no crud in the air, would (theoretically) be pure water. The evaporation process would leave everything else behind. So, the answer to your question would be yes, you need to add minerals, etc back in. However, I'm not sure that any rain water would be completely safe to use........after the water evaporates, the clouds formed are going to move with the prevailing winds and when the rain does fall, it will pick up junk from the atmosphere.

[crazyred]

That's kinda what I figured. I was just wondering. I'm dangerous when I'm thinking. BTW, I would NOT use rainwater from west Texas. The biggest inland refinery in the US is in my hometown of Big Spring and talk about pollution.... :eek: I wouldn't trust rainwater form anywhere available to me, jsut curious.

[Buddha_Red]

ahh i havent spent much time there. I know east texas air makes you cough its so clean. It's freaky me being boen and raised in la porte (by keymha seabrook and sort of baytown)

i worked in the refineries for years. Its amazing what goes into the air there.

[crazyred]

Man, refinery towns are cancer factories. There is more cancer there then should be. It's sad, but we need refineries if we're gonna keep suckin' crude. I wish we could find somethin' else to move us around the country. More on this later......

[Jaimecid]

Perhaps during a big storm,after a few hours of raining...the atmosphere would had washed off the pollution...then....rain water could be safe... this would be a good one to ask a meteorologist.
how much is the reverse osmosis water????( price per gallon probably??)

[crazyred]

Down here that's all we use and there are water mills on every street cornere that sell RO water. Typically it is 25 cents per gallon and $1.00 for 5 gallons. There is one car wash we go to all the time where we can get it for 15 cents per gallon and 5 gallons for 75 cents.....pretty cheap!

[AngelMom]

Just keep in mind that some (not all, but some) of the vendors don't provide the proper maintenance to their machines, so you may not always be getting what you pay for. I used to use those machines myself and suggest periodically checking the water quality..........just in case.

[crazyred]

Good tip, where do you take it to check the water quality? As bad as our tap water is I can't imagine it being worse, but anything's possible.

[AngelMom]

I just use my test kits to check it.

[crazyred]

Oh yeah, I already did that for comparison to my tap water......yikes :eek: the difference in hardness was amazing. Thre parameters were quite a bit different, pH, kH, and gH. It (my RO) had a higher pH and kH and a waaaaaaay lower gH!!! Everything else was the same----no nites or nates. It had no ammonia and my tap water does because of the chloramines.

[Jaimecid]

I will take that into account...will check the places first to make sure, as far as I can, that the place does maintenance to its Reverse Osmosis machines..
Good to know the price too, I knew nothing about it...and I could had been ripped off easily....1.50 a gallon....I could not had known real from rip off.