Is water collected off my roof to a rainbarrel "fish safe"

[BrightEyes_n_BushyTails]

I understand some roof materials may introduce toxins into the rainwater, so says my environmentalist sister. I really have no knowledge about this. Is there something I should be wary off? I'd think saving on the water bill is pretty important. Besides, my city water is not so great anyhow. Thanks.
Peter

 

[adavisus]

Rainwater from a roof is fine. Better than who knows what the local utility supplies. For those of a nervous disposition, clouding the water with any smectite type clay and running the water which would rarely have any traces of pollution through a carbon filter would pay abundant lip service to the paranoia of aspiring local limnologists and tree huggers. What delicate wet pets are you fretting about?

Regards, andy
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[addy1]

I can just go by what I do, we use our rain water to do water changes in the pond. Every time it rains the pond gets a good water change. We are not on city water, so the cost is not the issue, but with the dry summers and dry winter we have had so far, we want to protect our well. In a different neighborhood a few had dry wells last year.

I have been using roof water since we built the pond, so far the fish, frogs, tads, bugs, snails (trapdoor and others) are doing great. I personally think if the roofing material was introducing toxins, it would be on the banned list. Think of what the trillions of roofs would be doing to the ground water.

 

[koiguy1969]

I cant say...thats a debate..some say yes, some say no....of coarse the type of roofing would have a roll in that. slate,tile, and metal roofs would most likely be the least likely to contrain toxins,.or atleast bleed them into the water as it runs over them. asphault shingles containing petroleum based products, would be the most likely to leech chemicals.. i dont know if even they would leech enough to be a real problem..the older the roof, the less worry there would be, as the toxins would have had time to bleed out with the sun and rain already. i would think that any harm to aquatic life would be due to accumulative damage.from long term exposure. i dont use roof run off myself in the pond. but for plants. i would be more likely to use it in a large pond over a small one. if toxins were present, 50 gallons of roof water dilluted into 10,000 gals would do alot less harm than into 100 gals.

 

[addy1]

We use part metal roof, (the shop) and part asphalt (the house). I do have a big pond, so it does get diluted. Also we are rural, not as much pollution out here.

 

[taherrmann4]

Mine used to drain into my pond but when I redid it I changed it. Sort of wish I hadn't because water is getting more and more expensive. I never had any problems and my house was only a year old when I built the pond so not much time for any toxin to leech out if there were any.

 

[addy1]

lol our roof steel and asphalt was only a year old when we built the pond. So far the pond is doing fine, I don't have koi.

 

[sissy]

I look at the bottom of my rain barrels and thats enough to convince me not to use it .There is at least 4 inches of grit in the bottom of them .I had to clean them out because the tap when i turned it on nothing came out .The grit and goo was clogging it and boy did it stink

 

[addy1]

I use the black drain pipes, there is really nothing collected in all of the ridges of the pipes, no roof debris.

 

[SE18]

my roof drain pipe connects to my extensive system of backyard canals. No fish to worry about, but tadpoles seem OK with roof water and the entire system gets fully flushed everytime it rains.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

When I built my pond last year, I ran some underground pipe from one of the gutters into the pond. I have very old shingles on my roof, so I figured they would be done leeching any oils. Boy was I wrong!!! The first rain we had left the surface of my pond with a thick oily film , and I ended up draining the whole thing. Fortunately I wasn't very far into the build at the time, so I only had to replace about 100 gallons of water, but I ripped up the pipes and dropped that part of the project.

I have been considering collecting the rainwater into barrels. Then the oils would float to the top, and I could drain clean water from the bottom. It would certainly be nice to be able to make use of that water.

 

[Philphine]

mine is all rain water. i built it without knowing it wasn't the ideal way to do it. it was after i built it and started looking on the 'net (and joining here) that i found out you shouldn't. two gutters off my house and one off my garage drain right in. the other side of my garage has rain barrels for dry periods.

all i have are feeder comets though. after i read about not using rain water i was in a couple of local pet places telling them what i had read, and both said just get some feeders and see how they do. i got a couple bucks worth, then got another 5 dollars worth later. that was last june. two died about a week later, don't know why, and i lost about 5-6 when we got a rain so hard it floated my liner really bad. some either got caught out of water or were easy pickin's for some predator (one was about a foot away from the pond).

i also had 4 algae eaters (forgot their real name) that seemed fine 'til winter. i couldnt find them in the pond to get them out for winter, so they died. but as far as know, it was cold that killed them .i only saw one of them once after i put them in, and only found two dead once it got cold. i heard someone say once theirs made it through winter, but i haven't seen the other two living or dead to know.

in any event, the rest are fine. they made it thought the winter with all the pumps and filters off. so now i'll either get a few more comets or look into whatever other fish are as hearty

 

[addy1]

I use rain water from our roofs, one is metal, one is new shingles. I have never seen an oil sheen on the water, no matter if it is a hard rain or soft rain. The pond has been fed with gutter water for the past two years. The fish, tads, bugs snails are all fine and making tons of babies. For me it is working out great.

I killed off a bunch of feeder fish with our well water, it was way to acidic, which I figured out after the poor things died within 24 hours of putting them in the pond. The water had been in the pond for over 2 months, never thought of checking the ph. We had filled it with the well water over a few weeks time, it was so dry we were not getting rain that summer. Now the only time I put well water into the pond is when we don't get rain and the pond gets low.