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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #623
Hello Jim,
The old rule-of-thumb is to let a heavy rain fall for 30 minutes --
rinsing the atmosphere and all the surfaces -- and then start collecting
the rainwater for aquarium use.
A relatively young tar shingle roof is not a good collecting surface --
it leaches stuff into the rainwater, which then often has a yellowish
tinge. A polyehylene sheet collecting rainwater would be ideal.
Best,
George
>
> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 23:56:58 -0400
> From: James E Newville <jnewville at juno_com>
> Subject: rainwater
>
> On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 Dave Wilson wrote
>
> >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. <
>
> I have noticed this happening in my yard. In a dry spell, I can water my
> shrubs, trees, and lawn all I want, but not get a lot of growth. Then
> when we get a few days of heavy rain, I see some good growth, and better
> color in new leaves. I read some where recently that too much iron in an
> aquarium can block the uptake of other nutrients. My well water is loaded
> with calcium, iron and sulfur, and I believe the excess nutients are
> limiting growth. Maybe something like this is happening in your ponds.
> Your garden hose water may have more minerals in it than your plants
> like; rain water might dilute the concentrations to the point more to
> their liking.
>
> Depending on the size of your ponds, you might want to consider
> collecting rainwater. You can get a 33 gallon garbage can, and feed your
> rain gutters into it. You hook a garden hose to it to drain it. Somewhere
> I have plans from the county extension office for this. I've been
> wondering about using rainwater in the aquarium. My main worries are
> pollution and dirt/dust from the roof.
>
> Jim