Marine Depot Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Corals and Coral Reefs - by Eric Borneman / Rain Water / Latest Posts

RE: Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:45:57 GMT

Hi Pat,

Again, with the prevailing winds and lack of any industry, I have to assume that all is well yet there are so many chemical unknowns as Eric mentioned that I thought it prudent to run some carbon past the rain water as lingering doubts will end up driving me crazy...lol, I hate unknowns. Thankfully the only carbon available to me is actualy very good, I soaked some in a bit of rain water and could not detect any phosphates and from what I could find online about it (sera super carbon), it appears to be a good brand and now have a small cannister filter dedicated to rain water "clean up", just to be safe. For the reef tank, I made a sock out of an old fish net and have it attached to the overflow into the sump, the sock being on a detachable pvc connector makes for easy change outs. oh, and I wish I was still stuck in the 60s, being a teenage "hippy" during the 70's disco craze left a life long disdain for any and all fads that persists to this day.

Chuck

RE: Rain Water

subsea — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:52:05 GMT

Chuck,

I think you may have dated yourself with the "turn the skimmer into a bong comment". As my coworkers would say "he is lost in the sixties". With respect to using the word "trust" concerning rainwater, consider the fact that if the air is that bad then what about the harmful effects on your self. Or for that matter, what about the air water interface of your tanks. Or for that matter, what about the air water interface of the ocean.

As you might can tell, I am not big on "doomsday profits". I do believe in being an "Environmental Steward". "Informed and happy" or "ignorance is bliss" or "scared for the future". I choose "Don't Worry Be Happy".

Be blessed, because it is a choice.

Pat Castille

RE: Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:03:20 GMT

I'm really hoping that the presentations are made available on DVD as every one of the subjects presented are exactly what I want to hear / know about.

And what better way to meet a new friend than standing in line for a free drink? But me not being much of a drinker, I probably would have been passed out after only meeting two peaple.., or worse, getting kicked out for turning one of those new fangled huge skimmers into a bong.... Hopefully I can win the lottery this year or find a new species and take 500,000 dollar bids to name it...lol Actualy, that may not be so far fetched as I have been collecting coral crabs and the first five species came out of my own tank. Which I had a coral crab specialist look at (she discovered four new species recently as well) and believes that two of the five might be unknown to science! That would be awesome.

Heres the link if interested, keep in mind, just a rough start for now.

Corals and their Commensal Crabs

Chuck

RE: Rain Water

redsonja — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:29:17 GMT

[quote]charlesr1958 (9/17/2007)

From the few photos I have seen of MACNA this year, It looks like I did miss out on a great time. Not so much that I wanted to see product lines, but to have the chance to meet everyone. An open bar would have been another good perk...

Chuck[/quote]

It was a great MACNA, but the open bar lines were so long that there was a lot more networking and chatting going on (in the lines) than there was drinking But it was great overall, and you were mentioned/referenced in several of the presentations as well!

-Sonja

RE: Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:52:56 GMT

Already have a cannister filter in the budget for next month. But first want to do the Steven Pro carbon test on the carbon brand available to me (sera) and see if it adds any phosphates, which is my biggest concern. The tank itself eats up nitrates faster than I can add them. Once I knocked the nitrate levels down in the 20's through water changes, it was only a matter of a week and I was getting undetectable levels. Phosphates are down to "3" and could have had them flushed out by now but again, the weather is horrible. Any other possibles that are untestable in the rain water, is not something I am going to allow myself to worry about since there is not a thing I can do about it other than going back to bottled water that I know is not all that pure either. Somehow I trust the rain over treated ground water. I also store the rain water in bottled water jugs and trust that those containers do not add anything. I seem to be using the word "trust" a lot. Guess I have few options yet believe the rain is as pure as I am going to get here as far as freshwater goes. I've been using the rainwater as top off in my little compartmented holding tanks that house my pair of harlequin shrimp and sexy shrimp and they seem to be just fine. Just started using it on the reef tank and have not noted any kind of reaction at all. So far.

Chuck

RE: Rain Water

Eric Borneman — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:38:47 GMT

Chuck, your rainwater collection/cistern idea can work. Several of the islands I visit use them to supply water since it is the only real source of freshwater and is used for showering and cooking if boiled. Rainwater can be pure or can collect dust and pollutants on the way down, which of course you wouldn't have the ability to test for those many potential chemicals. More importantly, I think, is what happens on collection and storage and the materials used. If the runoff and collection materials are such that you aren't worried about contamination, great. Some materials may release more toxic material. I don't know, in your case, which is the best solution or which is the least harmful to your tank. Assuming your collection and storage are short-term and do not leach anything toxic, is the potential for toxic material in the atmosphere more or less of an issue than what may be already in your water sources (bottled or tap) plus the known detrimental nutrients? I don't know, but suspect it may vary from rainfall to rainfall. I might be tempted to make up a small tank or container of seawater using rainwater from several different rainfalls and put a few test species in the tank to see how they behave/react before using it on a regular basis without some other filtrations. Maybe activated carbon treatment of rainfall would be a good idea?

RE: Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:41:17 GMT

Hi Steve,

I think the carbon is a good idea just to be on the safe side, had the water not tested out as neutral pH, then that would have been a big clue as to it being unfit. Also, I check the weather satellite images each morning and the prevailing wind comes at us from nothing but open ocean. If it was coming at us from China, then I would not even think about its use. Oh, and the below photo is the reason why I am sitting in front of the computer all week again and not face down over the reefs...lol. Usualy the clouds/wind will get right at the door step of the Philippines and then veer north towards Taiwan, lately its been making a direct hit on us instead, bringing all of these storms. Must be the monsoon season (our summer).

Chuck

RE: Rain Water

CTReefer — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:04:49 GMT

Sounds like a plan to me Chuck. After all, this is the very same water that is falling into the ocean around you. I did have a thought though. It's not possible to test for all of the chemicals that might be in that rain water. So, you might consider just running it through a Carbon filter before using it.

Steve

P.S. You missed a terrific MACNA! Wish that you could have made it...

RE: Rain Water

Reefski — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:59:05 GMT

brilliant, a unique use for an umbrella.

RE: Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:55:31 GMT

Well I managed to remove the roof and drain pipe from the equation by just taking an old umbrella, punch a few holes at the top and invert the whole thing sitting on top of a large water container. With as heavy as the rain comes down here, it takes no time to get as many gallons as I wish to store at one time. Just looks goofy sitting out on the front porch while its raining, but at least its easy enough to set up and put away...

Chuck

RE: Rain Water

jonnyloback — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:27:33 GMT

I know NOTHING about this. But it is cool. I would assume that since it appears to be testing fine, that it would probably be useable.....??? It gives me a thought to test mine and see what it comes out as.

Rain Water

charlesr1958 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 19:06:08 GMT

Having recently discovered that my tap water ranks right up there with nuclear waste, I switched to using bottled water for top offs. Even that though has a trace of nitrates and sometimes, a touch of phosphates.

While sitting on the front porch in a heavy rain yesterday, I got to thinking about putting together a solar powered distillation unit when it dawned on me that I was watching a great deal of distilled water falling from the sky. So I collected a cup of it from the roof gutter drain and found it to have a pH of 7.0 (neutral) and of course nothing else detectable with the other test kits I have. Normaly, I would not think to use rain water due to air pollution (acid rain) yet with being on a small tropical wind swept island, with no industry anywhere near me, I am having a hard time convincing myself to not use it for top off. The roof is tiled and the drain pipe is pvc.

I figured as long as I let the rain wash off the roof first for 15 minutes during heavy downpours, it should be some of the best fresh water that I can get. Of course I wanted to run this past other minds first just in case I am missing something.

Chuck