Question: Down Spouts and Ponds

[NoOption5L]

Anyone into ponds? I'm thinking about building one about 6'x 8',

2-feet deep, with a few water plants and maybe a couple fish. However, I have some questions. Since my State of Florida receives so much rain, I was thinking about tapping into a down spout from my house to help resupply/refresh my [future] pond's water. This would beat trying to age water to refill it. But would the limestone from my roof's shingles alter the PH of the pond's water? Would other chemicals that make up shingles cause the pond any harm? Anyone have the answers, or any tips/advice on ponds they'd like to share?

Patrick

[howNEWS]

Hi, Rainwater has no salinity, alkalinity (pH buffering), or hardness, and typically has a pH of 4.5 to 5.5. Generally not considered good for fish and it is dirty, roofs are dusty. You do not need to age water to use in your pond and refilling a pond is not usually needed. Just replace what evaporates (or removed during cleaning) and if this is less than 10% of the pond's volume then tap water will do. Just don't put the hose in the pond, splash the water on the surface. Over 10% replaced at one time, use a de-chlorinator like Amquel. news:rec.ponds is a place to take this, at present it is under attack by trolls but there are still people with all kinds of help for ponders. HTH -_- how no NEWS is good

[bamboo]

It would work, but it would work even better if you devised a way to let the rain rinse the roof first before directing the water to the pond. Clear the dust and dirt.

[Vox Humana]

Since it rains nearly every afternoon in Florida during the rainy season, how much dust and dirt would collect? I might consider devising a system to divert the water if it isn't needed for the pond. But that said, the pond will be refilled by the rain, so I wouldn't think the water from the roof would be needed very often