Rain water

[doodlebug]

I'm not sure if these is the right place to post this, but since most plecos seem to require soft water, I thought I'd ask here. I've read where many people use rain water for their tanks. How do you prepare the rain water? I mean do you boil it lst before putting it in your tank?

[MatsP]

Shouldn't require boiling. Depending on where you live (for example in a big city or near big roads/industry), you are probably best of not using the water.

Anywhere else, just collect the water in a container (e.g. a water butt), and strain it to remove any coarse particles, then pour it in the tank.

Make sure you check your KH (Carbonate Hardness), as that is part of keeping the pH stable. If KH is less than 2 degrees on the German scale, the pH may crash.

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Mats

[doodlebug]

No, I live in the country. But I've been catching the water that runs off my tin roof. Is that a problem? The roof is like 3 years old. I don't think there is any rust on it yet. I did seem to collect a lot of debri though. I checked it with some test strips and it is extremely soft. The strip showed it was low in hardness. Would adding some coral to the filter help with stabilizing the ph? Should I add some ph up to it? I'm trying to get the tank ready for some L-333s that I will be getting soon and I can't wait! They are young though, so they won't be breeding anytime soon. Is it still important to keep the water soft while they are young? What i mean is, for discus its ok to raise them in harder alkaline water, but if you want them to breed the water usually has to be soft. Right? So does this apply to plecos too? Thank you

[Suckermouth]

Larry's L333 breed in tap water, if I'm not mistaken. Many plecs will do fine at hardness above what they live in in the wild, though they won't necessarily spawn.

Coral could actually raise the pH too much, but I've never tried just putting a little in the filter.

[MatsP]

Putting coral sand or similar in the filter will raise the hardness of the water, but I find that it's hard to "get it right" - if the water is exposed to coral for a long time, then it will get just as hard as [if not harder than] your tap-water - after all, it's the same stuff in the ground that makes water hard as you find in coral... And if it's in the filter, you don't really know how much you have left at any given time - if you run out, the pH may crash - quickly or slowly. But I do know there are some people who use this method, f'sure.

I prefer to use additives such as Salifert KH + pH buffer - and check the level frequently, and add a teaspoon or two to a large tank - smaller amounts to smaller tanks... Check the KH value, and go from there.

Alternatively, mix hard tap-water and rainwater to achieve the right KH value.

And of course, as Milton says, you don't have to use soft water to breed most plecos. But it may help get them going.

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Mats

[Bas Pels]

I'm not sure if these is the right place to post this, but since most plecos seem to require soft water, I thought I'd ask here. I've read where many people use rain water for their tanks. How do you prepare the rain water? I mean do you boil it lst before putting it in your tank?

@boiling, boiling water does 2 or 3 things:

firstly, it remouves gasses. Boiled water does not contain any oxygen, and is therefore not ready for use in a tank. 24 hours with an airstone will solve that

secondly, ik will kill life - but rainwater does not contain much life. Eventual bacteria might even be able to withstand more than 100 C - but they might not survive a tank for a long time

thirdly, some compounds will change chemically - if in the water. however, these are normally NOT found in rainwater

I'm not saying rainwater is, therefore, pure, but any harmfull substance - heavy metals, nitrogen containing stuff in agricultural areas, are not remouved with boiling.

If you have reason to fear them, I'd say don't use the rainwater, but a carbonfilter will normally remouve a lot of these compounds. In many cases it also raises the pH, but this can be solved by using peat filtration later (peat is always used after a carbon filter, as the carbon remouves the peat from the water)

[wrasse]

I used to use rainwater. Filter it with carbon and floss.
Don't put coral in the filter - that's too vigorous and the ph would rise. Instead, put a handful of coral gravel in a net bag and place it in the fish tank, out of sight. I find that's enough to stop the ph crashing. I've seen this method used by discus breeders.