affordable water

rick mletzko

New Member
I am new here and glad I found reef sanctuary. I have a 20 gallon tank with standard lighting (the real lighting will be spent on the 75g tank I have) The reef project is in the works. I have a few fish and inverts with great success, as I am not new to the hobby. My question is, Can I collect rain water in a 29gal. tank (NOT THE ROOF BUT RAIN), after about an hour of raining, and then filter it with activated carbon ?? Is this worth experimenting and what would be the main contaminates I should look for ?? I wanted to use it for top-off water and making fresh saltwater with reef crystals. I live in upstate New York (no where near the city) with crystal clear skies. I currently use distilled for top-off water and no deaths for a year and a half now.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
:welcomera to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary, with lots of very nice members, that are very knowledgeable & always willing to help
745.gif


Never heard this question before... the ocean gets rain... so... if you catch it clean, maybe so... Sure someone here will know... :)
 

ReefLady

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I think you might run into some issues with acid rain or other contaminants. I'm hoping someone will chime in with more detailed information, but before I'd try it, I'd take a sample to a good lab and have a full test run on it. Watch for trace metals (copper, etc). I can give you a link to an article that shows what is in seawater if you want it for comparison's sakes.
 

BobBursek

Active Member
Rick,
I have seen this question 100's of times. But you have had it nailed with collecting a hour after it starts to rain to have the previous rain rinse out the junk in the air below the rain, but what was in the higher atmosphere air that the rain clouds carried in with it? Snow starts with a grain of field dirt in Iowa, that gets into the atmosphere and collects moisture, turns into a snow flake and falls. Long sorry short, maybe ok for a FO tank after being filtered in carbon, as far as sending out to be tested, every rain storm maybe different as far as what is in the air. Burning fossil fuel, power plants, steel mills add "fly ash" into the air and is very acidic, car exhaust, ect. Do you know why the air smells so fresh after a rain? All the junk, pollen, mold spores, ect are out of it!!!!!! If you do it, keep us updated on your tank results.
 
Top