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  #1  
Old 01/03/2008, 06:52 AM
Jake_07 Jake_07 is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: QLD, Australia
Posts: 98
Rain

Hi, its been flooding hear in aus and the beach i usaly get my water from has become a bit seedy from all the floodwater from the river. I was just wondering as my water tank is full, could i put a drum under the down pipe to get water for my fish tank. I was told the water from my water tank might have phosphate from rotting leaves but if it comes strait from the roof through the gutters down the down pipe into the drum will it be ok. my roof and gutters are made from tin will this effect it. or should i put buckets out on the lawn to catch the water. I dont want to buy a ro/di beacouse the beach water is fine unless it rains alot, all 3 lfs around my area get their water from the beach and one even sells it for AUS 30c a litre for people to lazy to collect it so it must be fine.
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  #2  
Old 01/03/2008, 07:07 AM
Randy Holmes-Farley Randy Holmes-Farley is offline
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What is your roof and gutter made of? It may contaminate the water, even if it was pure when it hit your roof (which it may not have been, dust, nitrate, etc).
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  #3  
Old 01/03/2008, 07:10 AM
dinoman dinoman is offline
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I wouldn't do either, believe it or not rain water is not as pure as you would think and can actually have a lot of stuff (sometimes, very nasty stuff) mixed in with it. From all types of different chemicals to just plain ol' particulate matter. And the real kicker is you don't even know what could be in there! As conditions and the substances present in the air can change from day to day and even hour to hour.

And as for collecting from a downspout - it'll be even worse. Because not only will the rain water have whatever its collected from the clouds and the following journey down but also from the roof and following rain gutters. Not sure what type of roofing you have but here in the US asphalt shingles is very common. Asphalt is what a lot of roads are paved with and basically is what is left at the bottom of the pot after they refine crude oil . Then generally most roofs have some tar and other chemicals, and most tin rain gutters are also coated with a few different compounds to protect them from the weather.

You'd be much safer if you can to use tap for the time being, make sure if you have treated water with chlorine you treat it appropriately, but an even better idea I'm not sure what it's like down under but here in the US a lot of our grocery stores have RO/DI machines. You simply bring a container of your own (or many sell containers for you) and you can get a few gallons of water for mere cents.
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  #4  
Old 01/03/2008, 07:23 AM
Jake_07 Jake_07 is offline
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Location: QLD, Australia
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my roof and gutters are made from tin. I though rain water was pure, i thought it would be better than tap water at least. Ill trie to get ro water one of my lfs make it but when it floods every single reefer goes to him to get water. i think the supermarket sells it bottled where the irons and iron board are or somethink like that and its called somthing else thats what some one was telling me
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  #5  
Old 01/03/2008, 07:32 AM
dinoman dinoman is offline
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Not sure what it is like down there, but also here even places like Walmart you can buy both distilled and RO/DI in big jugs. The jugs are very handy as they're already clean so you can use them to collect that natural salt water in the future after things clean up a bit! Also quite a bit of bottled water is actually good ol' RO water and it'll say it right on the package usually .

I'd feel much safer using one of those sources than collecting rain, not that rain will destroy your tank overnight but it really isn't as clean as one would think, and you never know what might be in there.
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  #6  
Old 01/03/2008, 07:38 AM
Jake_07 Jake_07 is offline
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Ok thanks i will try to get some ro water thanks for you help
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  #7  
Old 01/03/2008, 08:07 AM
Randy Holmes-Farley Randy Holmes-Farley is offline
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The roof may not really be made of the metal tin, but if it is, that would be very bad to use. Tin is very toxic to marine organisms. Certain forms of it are often used to prevent biofouling on ship hulls. The RO water is a better choice.
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  #8  
Old 01/04/2008, 01:04 AM
Lotus99 Lotus99 is offline
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The stuff in the supermarket for irons is usually distilled water. It would be OK for topoffs, if you can't find RO water.
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  #9  
Old 01/05/2008, 05:25 AM
Jake_07 Jake_07 is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: QLD, Australia
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I got ro water today from my lsf today also why does every one at rc say to have your salt at 1.025 but on the salt bags and every where else it says to have it at 1.021-1.023
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  #10  
Old 01/05/2008, 06:13 AM
Randy Holmes-Farley Randy Holmes-Farley is offline
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Location: Arlington, Massachusetts
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I recommend matching the ocean, at about 1.026. This may help:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
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  #11  
Old 01/05/2008, 04:49 PM
mfp4073 mfp4073 is offline
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Location: Winter Park, FL
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they were talking about that 1.024 number. I tested my local beachwater to be about 1.026 too. The general idea is because at 1.024 they can say you get 200 gallons, vs 180 at 1.026.
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