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Re: Rainwater



Hello Dave,

> >
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 22:37:22 +0930
> From: Dave Wilson <rwilson at octa4_net.au>
> Subject: Rainwater
>
> Hello
> I was wondering if someone would know why rain water makes plants grow
much
> better than any water that comes out of the garden hose.   I have aquarium
> plants growing in ponds out back and when it rains they grow much better,
> bigger and faster.   Is there some sort of plant beneficial chemical
> reaction that occurs while the water is falling through the air.

I do not believe that. My tank is about 2 1/2 years old. The first year I
used dest. water from a lab to blend it with my tapewater. The last 1 1/2
years up to now I substituted the dest. water by rainwater. I do not find a
difference in plants growing. Somtimes I have the feeling, that _my_
rainwater, which is collected from a glasroof and filtered by chargecoal
before using in the tank, contains organic traces which causes algae to
grow. I have this feeling, because I do not measure NO3 or PO4, do not have
a too high fishload and and feed the fish very economical. But I have no
chance for analyzing organic traces. In my country, bavaria in Germany,
rainwater seems to be not so dirty. I measured pH of rainwater to about 7.0.
The dissolved CO2 in rainwater you can forget, as you have written, that you
fertilize the plants with CO2. So, from my point of view, rainwater has no
nutrients for waterplants. The other point is, that in your case, rainwater
will decrease the hardness of your pondswater and will simulate a
waterchange. May be this helps growing plants better!
Regards Klaus.

   I add
> CO2 and fertilisers to the ponds but the rain water really gets the plants
> going much better that any other waterchange.
>
> Cheers
> Dave Wilson
> Darwin where it is really starting to get hot and humid.
>