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Rotten rainwater

Myrtle

Myrtle

Member
Joined
21 Aug 2008
Messages
830
Location
Basingstoke
Hi, does anyone know whether the water from my water butt is still useable if it smells a bit rotten and has gone yellow (I seriously doubt it!). It was fine until the downpour we had last week so I thought something had fallen in and died, but after fishing around for ages I only came up with moss. I'm wondering if the low water + heat had cooked it somehow? Is there any way to prevent this happening again (even though I'm not really sure what has happened)? I have a lump of chicken wire stuffed into the top of the downpipe as I have sparrows nesting in the roof tiles and I didn't want them falling down the pipe, but is there some kind of filter that won't get totally clogged and need cleaning every hour?
 
If it’s any consolation one of mine smells like it has started fermenting…. Still works for watering the garden though!
 
Same here, went to grab some this afternoon to top up and it stinks. The heavy rain last week washed a lot of debris off the roof and I'm guessing that plus the hot weather is the culpret. I've emptied it on to the garden and given it a rinse. Was meant to rain this afternoon so was hoping it would top back up but it's been a bit half hearted.
 
Myrtle said:
Hi, does anyone know whether the water from my water butt is still useable if it smells a bit rotten and has gone yellow (I seriously doubt it!). It was fine until the downpour we had last week so I thought something had fallen in and died, but after fishing around for ages I only came up with moss. I'm wondering if the low water + heat had cooked it somehow? Is there any way to prevent this happening again (even though I'm not really sure what has happened)? I have a lump of chicken wire stuffed into the top of the downpipe as I have sparrows nesting in the roof tiles and I didn't want them falling down the pipe, but is there some kind of filter that won't get totally clogged and need cleaning every hour?
Click to expand...

Would love to hear @dw1305 / Darrel’s take on this as an avid rainwater collector. How to keep collected rainwater “fresh”…

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Ideally you want a first flush system in this situation. It helps prevents debris and pollution that builds up on a roof and in the air during a dry spell, from entering your waterbutt.
I'm not saying I did this but 'a friend' might have woke up at 3am heard the rain and rushed outside to disconnect their waterbutt to check the TDS. The TDS was over 300ppm (normally it's 30ppm) so, it was left disconnected for a while until it the TDS dropped. When it got down to 50ppm I reconnected it but by then most of the rain had passed.
So even if it didn't smell, after a lack of rain for such a prolonged period, I'd still not use it. There will be a lot of contaminants in it until the roof and air have been 'flushed'.
 
Mine is fed straight from the downpipe, with no diverter, as the configuration of the guttering is a bit odd. I think I'll just have to disconnect like your "friend" did and use spotless in the meantime... Meant to rain tomorrow so fingers crossed I can get some then!
 
I guess if you could continue your downpipe passed the waterbutt. Cap the end but allow water to drain slowly out of it. Then have a T piece at the level you want the water in the waterbutt and your float in the section between the T and the bottom drain. You could make it into a first flush system.
I've not built mine yet. Seems like a lot of faff but have gathered all the bits so just need to get on with it. Hopefully it'll be worth it.
Fingers crossed for rain too.
 
Inspired by @dw1305 I have a second butt connected to the one that comes straight off the (shed) guttering; the connecting pipe is at the top so it only tops up when butt #1 is full. It’s not perfect, but at the moment #2 is distinctly less horrible than #1.
 
Hi all,
MichaelJ said:
Would love to hear @dw1305 / Darrel’s take on this as an avid rainwater collector.
Click to expand...
I just use the <"Daphnia Bioassay">. No swimming Daphnia means that that water goes onto the pots in the garden, without accessing the fish tank.

If the butt water still has swimming Daphnia? I use it, even if it is a bit yellow. I have five water butts so I can always afford to empty one of two of them.

I also don't do <"large volume water changes">, so I'm less bothered than I would be if I did higher volume water changes.

When it doesn't rain (it hasn't rained for a month for us, which was / is really unusual for us) the roof tends to pick up a lot of pollen, dust, bird crap etc.
aec34 said:
I have a second butt connected to the one that comes straight off the (shed) guttering; the connecting pipe is at the top so it only tops up when butt #1 is full. It’s not perfect, but at the moment #2 is distinctly less horrible than #1.
Click to expand...
Two daisy-chained butts is a good idea, and allows you to empty one without losing all the water in both.

cheers Darrel
 
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Tim Harrison said:
Maybe a solar powered air pump with air stones would help keep the water sweet.
Click to expand...
I actually have one of these for my tubs, good call. I'll grab a second one and see if it helps.
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

I just use the <"Daphnia Bioassay">. No swimming Daphnia means that that water goes onto the pots in the garden, without accessing the fish tank.

If the butt water still has swimming Daphnia? I use it, even if it is a bit yellow. I have five water butts so I can always afford to empty one of two of them.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
This is what gave me the hint (along with the smell) not to use the water as I borrowed the idea from you and threw some daphnia in there at the beginning of spring. There were none visible, and had been replaced by mosquito larvae...
 
Hi all,
Myrtle said:
There were none visible, and had been replaced by mosquito larvae...
Click to expand...
Lots of mosquito larvae are often a good indication of some organic pollution <"Microorganism-Based Larval Diets Affect Mosquito Development, Size and Nutritional Reserves in the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)">. Because they are air breathing they aren't bothered by lower water quality. (Our mosquitoes don't carry Malaria, Yellow Fever, West Nile Disease, Dengue etc., but they will bite you)

They are a <"brilliant food"> for conditioning fish like Gouramis, Killifish, Tetras etc.

cheers Darrel
 
I have multiple tubs of various larvae, my fish barely get anything other than live food at the moment! Whilst it's been so dry I've been pouring the old aquarium water into them to keep them full. I've even figured out a way to collect the blackworms from the sludge in the bottom with capillary matting. The Betta are loving those!
The butt has now been emptied and washed out, there wasn't actually much moss and detritus in there so I guess the bird poo and heat tipped it over the edge.
 
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