[nickdu]

Has anyone ever tried using the gutter rain water in their fish tank? My roof is made from wood and the inside of the gutters are somewhat rusted and not painted. Wood seems pretty old. the water comes out yellow much like how driftwood makes it its first time in water. I tested it and it has 6.0pH or lower and super soft 0-1 KH & GH. I guess my question is... is water yellow from rust or from old wood roof? And is it safe to use with tetras?

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[Diana]

The low pH might be from tannins in the wood or from CO2 in the air that is collected by the rain as it falls.

The yellow might be from rust or tannins.

Do you have any place you could test this:
Put something on the roof that diverts the water so it runs across the wood, but is caught before it enters the gutter?

 

[nickdu]

Ill try try that with the next rainfall. Good idea, thanks.
Why didnt I just think of that?

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[Hoppy]

That next rain here in Sacramento may be months away! I don't think we will see another one inch rain this rainy season.

 

[nickdu]

Yeah I know, thats too bad.

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[Nathaniel]

I did this for a while when we had a water shortage where I live. With hardy species it's OK, I think, however there was a lot of variation in the parameters so I had to limit myself to very small WC and if I'd needed to do a proper big WC for any reason, I would have been a little stuffed as each rainfall came with new parameters!

 

[nickdu]

I dont do water changes in my tank. Just topoff.

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