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Can you use rainwater in the aquarium?
Anyone who has particularly calcareous and hard tap water or finds changing the water in a very large tank expensive in the long term will certainly come to the question of whether rainwater can also be used for the aquarium. After all, rain, depending on the season, is plentiful and completely free. However, it must be noted that there are many pollutants in the rain that you do not want in your aquarium. If you do not have the time and capacity to filter the rainwater beforehand, it is better not to use it. In addition, it must be tested and filtered beforehand. So it doesn’t save any time. Depending on the stocking of the aquarium, the fish cannot survive the harmful components in the rainwater.
Harmful components in rainwater:
- much dust and ash
- Partly hydrochloric acid
- Sodium chloride near seas
- Ammonia from animal feces and fertilizer
- Partly sulfuric acid
- nitric acid
Under no circumstances should you use rainwater for your aquarium if you live near a busy road or a factory. Fertilized fields nearby also make the rainwater unusable. It is also important to note that the gutter and the roof must not be made of any harmful material. This affects heavy metals, which also make the water unusable.
How to use rainwater for the aquarium?
If you want to use the rainwater, collect it in a large rain barrel. Then test the rainwater for contaminants such as copper or zinc. Neither should be present in the water under any circumstances. If it is present, the water is unfortunately unusable because the inhabitants of your aquarium die from it. It is best to only use rainwater from a heavy rainy day and filter it with an activated carbon filter before adding it to the pool. In this way, smaller impurities are filtered out. Whether you use the rainwater pure or mix it with your tap water is up to you.
What alternatives are there to rainwater?
There are also other alternatives to rainwater. Both osmosis water and distilled water can be used in the aquarium.
Both lower the values PH, GH and KH. You can buy osmosis water, but you can also make it yourself. With the help of an osmosis system you save a lot of money. The purchase of such a system is not particularly cheap, but it works very reliably and reveals excellent water values.