flushing ponds with rain water????

[stonedavid]

Curious to know if anyone can see problems with me doing the following. Have currently got 2 1000 litre pond in the shed for growing out bubs and juvies, in the process of putting another in and recycling the rainwater off the roof of the shed. With the oncoming wet season approaching thought it wld be a good idea to put the run off to good use.

Am in Cairns so our annual average rainfall is 3 metres so plenty of it. Wld let the rain fall for the first couple of days and clean the roof of any debris and leaf litter have checked and all the gutters are clean and free of debris and dirt. Have had a couple small showers in the last caouple of days and tested the water and the lab has said it is at drinking standard.

Can anyone think of anything that cld be detrimental to the fish. Have had discus in ponds outside before but these were adults and the only thing i noticed different was they went a bit feral. Let me know if you can think of anything that i may have overlooked
Rgds
Pete

[taksan]

Depends on what your roof is made of.
If its steel its got Zinc in it ....which = poison for fishys

[stonedavid]

Yeah thought it may have been a problem, the tests came back showing more zinc in our drinking water than off the roof, all below standards and seeing our water is from environmental sources, its natural.
Have been flushing tanks with tap water for the last 15 years and fish have shown no ill effects to it.
Thxs for the heads up on that taksan.
Pete

[taksan]

Cairns water is generaly pretty good for fish
so I'd give it a go

[stonedavid]

Cairns tap water is excellent for breeding discus as i said i just connect the hose and flush the tanks and normally they are ready to spawn.

Live right at the bottom of the mountains so we are the first to get the rain, not in an industrial area, air pollutants are very few and far between, except when they are burning the cane and we sometimes get ash but its the wrong time of year for that.

May have to regulate the flow into the ponds as it may be too much of a water change over a 24 hour period. What wld you say is a safe water change per day? Let me know if anyone else can think of anything that may be detrimental to the fish.
Thxs
Pete

[Fisher]

What is the ph,gh,kg of the rain water?

[stonedavid]

PH is 5.5 and gh and kh soft. minimal in rainwater
Still mulling it over may try another collection system as have worked out i might end up with a torrent of water in the shed.

[Kingkat]

Pete, I would still like to come and have a look at your setup oneday and I may be able to give you some suggestions. On my old system I had a colorbond roof and gutter which is the best for water collection. I then had a diverter system which flushed to waste the first 60lt off the roof which cleaned out all the dust, birdshit etc. which can foul the water. From that, water was stored in a 20000 lt tank for use in the fishroom. I never had more success than when I had the rainwater system. I also used 500lt - 2500lt poly tubs for growout.
Cheers,
David.

[stonedavid]

Hey David, yeah that wld be great mate. Am always looking at new ideas to improve. Have just set up a system to recycle the used tank water onto the gardens, was tiring of mowing the lawn every week due to the enriched water. Am wanting to get rainwater tanks as well in the near future but will check out costings etc. Also in the process of converting plant ponds to grow out, its amazing what you find in the ponds after a couple of years. Have sent a PM re contact number etc.
pete