# Rain Barrels For Water Changes?



## Sunny (Aug 26, 2009)

I'm thinking of using a couple of plastic barrels to catch rainwater for my water changes as the water in my area is liquid rock. The barrels originally housed non toxic potable plumbing antifreeze. Will these be safe for my fish?


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## J-P (Feb 27, 2011)

good question... I'd love to hear the answer also.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I think the main thing to watch out for is *how* you're catching the rain water. Be careful of leeching metals and chemicals.


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

+1 Even coming straight off the roof, it's going over the shingles, not sure what's in them. The calking of the troughs isn't food safe stuff either.


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

When collecting water from your roof you may be collecting parisites from bird dropping and whatever is laying in the eavestrough and as the water drains over the aluminum gutters it may absorb some aluminum. Just some things to ponder.


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## J-P (Feb 27, 2011)

I did a water test on some rain water in our area and it was very acidic. All other perams were normal.

The concerns of the others are quite valid though. The collection process is critical.

The reason I was interested in the question was that SW coral breeders had been using standard rubbermaid bins (the large stand up on wheels type) to mix SW for their tanks (and for RO/DI changes / water storage). They found that coral propagation wasn't as effective VS. food grade bins. These bins were convenient and not designed for potable water sources.

The OP's bins are...


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Get a tarp that's on sale (or two) and hang it on a tree and put the barrel under it to catch the water. That way you know the water is good then the questionable what not in the roof.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Using rainwater or any other soft water source such as RO, exclusively is not a good idea. It would mean paying close attention to your water parameters to avoid drastic changes in the TDS of the tank. It would mean premixing all water before changes and requiring that you always have enough of the soft water on hand.
Interesting thing about non toxic antifreeze as used for winterizing RVs and pools is that it kills grass better than Roundup.


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

After checking the MSDS on Rv plumbing antifreeze I would not recommend using the barrels to hold rain water for your aquariums.


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## jessbullock (Apr 20, 2009)

Just a suggestion, if you need something safe to hold water, I buy 55g drums from a wine making supply store. They charge me $30 for the drums that held grape juice.


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