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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Dudley's Avatar
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    Rain water or tap water?

    I have just completed a pond build, all in ground, natural type construction with clay filled marginal beds but pumped and filtered, skimmer etc.

    But having just experienced the most rain fall since its construction and seeing my overflow looking like water is being pumped out, it got me wondering about water changes.

    So far water changes have been sporadic as I have continually dropped the water level on and off to finish/fine tune construction etc. I have a mains water supply, with in line de-chlorination to top up.

    With this weeks really heavy rain the pond has filled to the overflow point and it has been virtually running all the time.

    My land is heavy clay, and you cannot dig soakaways, put a spade in the ground and remove a sod of soil and its full of water in the morning. 20 years ago when I installed roof guttering I needed to pipe gutter water somewhere. So I dug a well with an overflow out to a field pond. Not a deep well, only about 6m down but that is still below my water table so it filled naturally and its never dried out. .

    To try and relieve my soggy grass and water laying problem in the winter I installed land drain pipes all around the house and ran them into the well head, so a fair bit of surface water drops into the well.

    We NEVER use pesticides or weed killers or any chemicals on our land so I can be pretty certain any ground water that runs off that's goes in the well is good water.

    So is this well water a better option than my de-chlorinating tap water? Which of course is on a water meter as well.

    I could easily pump it from the well to the pond.

    Thanks Steve.



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  3. #2

    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by Dudley View Post
    I have just completed a pond build, all in ground, natural type construction with clay filled marginal beds but pumped and filtered, skimmer etc.

    But having just experienced the most rain fall since its construction and seeing my overflow looking like water is being pumped out, it got me wondering about water changes.

    So far water changes have been sporadic as I have continually dropped the water level on and off to finish/fine tune construction etc. I have a mains water supply, with in line de-chlorination to top up.

    With this weeks really heavy rain the pond has filled to the overflow point and it has been virtually running all the time.

    My land is heavy clay, and you cannot dig soakaways, put a spade in the ground and remove a sod of soil and its full of water in the morning. 20 years ago when I installed roof guttering I needed to pipe gutter water somewhere. So I dug a well with an overflow out to a field pond. Not a deep well, only about 6m down but that is still below my water table so it filled naturally and its never dried out. .

    To try and relieve my soggy grass and water laying problem in the winter I installed land drain pipes all around the house and ran them into the well head, so a fair bit of surface water drops into the well.

    We NEVER use pesticides or weed killers or any chemicals on our land so I can be pretty certain any ground water that runs off that's goes in the well is good water.

    So is this well water a better option than my de-chlorinating tap water? Which of course is on a water meter as well.

    I could easily pump it from the well to the pond.

    Thanks Steve.
    Steve,

    My opinion rain water is the most ecological water we can use - contrary to high energy / treatment / costly drinking water - provided you are sure your rain water is not contaminated.

    In my case I collect rain water from about 250 sqr.m. roofs into 7.6 cub.m. underground tank - from where I filter it with 30 microns mechanical filter cartrige and use for RDFcleaning, , pond topping / water trickle in, garden watering and toilets flushing in the house. In dry period it is topped up from mains water supply.

    To start with, ask nearest water treatment facility if they can test your water and let you know whats in it. Even if you do not use anything harmful in your garden, the ground water soaking into your well might carry nitrates and phosphates from nearby fields - even drinking water may have higher content of these two pollutants - promoting vigorous growth of algae in your pond.

    If tested OK feel free to use it - just watch out for KH level - with predominantly rain water it can be really low - but regular sodium bicarbonate dosing takes care of this.

    Good luck!
    Last edited by milaz; 12-06-2019 at 07:49 PM.
    You get what you pay for - or better - what you make yourself.

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Dudley's Avatar
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    Thank you.
    I don’t have any worries about nitrates from fields, I own 12 acres surrounding my house and we’re perched on the top of a hill. It drops off on all sides. I wished we had a spring but that’s probably because it’s heavy clay not sand or chalk. It’s always puzzled me why my water table is so high as we’re up a hill, but I think it’s just the clay holding it. So I doubt any water comes from neighbours fields, and they are some distance as well.
    But I may get it tested just to see what quality it is.
    Thanks
    Steve

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  7. #4
    The water test is just for your peace of mind - normallh you do not need to worry to use collected rain water - unsless located next to heavy industry plant / charcoal powerplant......which obviously is not your case.....
    You get what you pay for - or better - what you make yourself.

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  9. #5
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Gosai Andymadd's Avatar
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    The only issue I can see with rain water and this happened to me is a filter crash due to low KH. I live in a hard water area and have never had issues with KH until I introduced rain water.

    Then it all went horribly wrong....

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  11. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Koi & Water Gardens use rain/well water.

    PH of 6.5 and very low KH.

    Their fish look stunning for it with vibrant colours, but as Andymadd points out, a PH crash is always just hours away.

    You could look at pumping rain / well water through a purifier to clean it up.

    If you have very high KH out of the tap you could look at doing 50% tap water and 50% well water for water changes.

    Or if only doing 10% water changes each time you could alternate - One change from tap, next from well etc etc. At this percentage I doubt the changes in PH will be enough to cause any problems. My PH seems to stick at 8.2 regardless of the supply PH, you just need some KH for buffering capacity.

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Dudley's Avatar
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    Thanks guys.
    I did have an issue with pH being very high, over 9, but Manky sorted that for me, (No fish in the pond then) we think it was lime in my cement I used in the waterfall construction, I was a bit careless in places and put some below what was going to be below water line, But once the pond was flushed a few times and I sealed what I could see, it settled and has been 8.5 for a month now which is the same as my farm pond and as was my grow tank always was.
    I tested again today and pH is 8.5
    Did KH test and that is 7 but it’s usually 9 so dropped a bit. Although I’ve not tested it for a couple of weeks, so 7 may be stable.
    We’re forecast more rain, so I will have to see how it affects the KH in the next few days.

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