Thread: Trickle in trickle out rain water ?

My water supply is one end of the garden and the pond the other end, so would struggle to get a permanent supply nearer the pond. My pond is covered via pergola with a water butt that collects the rainwater which literally sits next to my pond and nexus.

Is it possible to set up a trickle in from the water butt using the rainwater ? I know people have set up direct from the water supply before but unsure if it’s possible using the rain water and if would have any benefit or just cause problems


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Originally Posted by Daz82

My water supply is one end of the garden and the pond the other end, so would struggle to get a permanent supply nearer the pond. My pond is covered via pergola with a water butt that collects the rainwater which literally sits next to my pond and nexus.

Is it possible to set up a trickle in from the water butt using the rainwater ? I know people have set up direct from the water supply before but unsure if it’s possible using the rain water and if would have any benefit or just cause problems


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Hi Daz I think rainwater is generally on the acidic side so people try to keep it out, also depending on where you are could be quite dirty, pollution etc. I have to keep rain out of my pond best as possible as my KH out of the tap is 0 and have to add bicarb weekly to keep it at a safe level to avoid a PH crash. Would you be filtering the rainwater at all? Iv just bought a big blue filter and the reduction in flashing after a water change is incredible


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Hi James apologies for the delay responding.

Yeah I get what you mean hence why I’ve not used it before it just generally runs off to the garden but was just thinking one day if I could make use of it, my pond is heated so does lose a tiny tiny bit on a weekly basis nothing drastic though, an inch if that.

Was just thinking if I could use the rainwater to top up, I suppose I could incorporate a filter some how, never heard of big blue but will give that a google now


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Originally Posted by Daz82

Hi James apologies for the delay responding.

Yeah I get what you mean hence why I’ve not used it before it just generally runs off to the garden but was just thinking one day if I could make use of it, my pond is heated so does lose a tiny tiny bit on a weekly basis nothing drastic though, an inch if that.

Was just thinking if I could use the rainwater to top up, I suppose I could incorporate a filter some how, never heard of big blue but will give that a google now


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No worries Daz, I had the same idea a while back. Then I saw people losing fish after heavy rainfall after crashes and thought probably best not if it drops the PH and potentially has pollution in it. Need to test the water butt and see what the water is like but then it probably varies on where and which direction rain has come I from. Goldfish don’t seem to care these koi are bloody sensitive


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I use rainwater for fish waterchange. The tank water level is higher than pond so gravity feed is easy.

I have coral rubble in mesh bags inside the rainwater tank to harden water which gets slowly dissolved away. Coral is getting harder to source so I'll have to switch to chicken grit or limestone gravel later.

Air pollution and roof contaminent is handled by a home made first flush diverter. A section of vertical 100mm pipe with 5mm bottom hole and floating ball captures and isolates the first 50 litres of rain before entering rain tank. This self drains through the 5mm hole (slowly).

I'm not sure how dirty your air is but the capture volume is easily adjusted.

Originally Posted by noo

I use rainwater for fish waterchange. The tank water level is higher than pond so gravity feed is easy.

I have coral rubble in mesh bags inside the rainwater tank to harden water which gets slowly dissolved away. Coral is getting harder to source so I'll have to switch to chicken grit or limestone gravel later.

Air pollution and roof contaminent is handled by a home made first flush diverter. A section of vertical 100mm pipe with 5mm bottom hole and floating ball captures and isolates the first 50 litres of rain before entering rain tank. This self drains through the 5mm hole (slowly).

I'm not sure how dirty your air is but the capture volume is easily adjusted.

That sounds like a great setup, thanks for sharing. With water getting more and more expensive this is certainly something I’ll look into in the future


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Some great ideas guys I’ll take some bits from everyone.

I have a pergola over mine too with guttering at the rear. Is there not a risk of the rainwater overflowing the pond ?


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