Mains water and tadpoles.

[Jennie]

As there has been no decent rainfall for some time, my small (four feet across) pond is in need of a top-up. Usually I run the garden hose into it off the mains, but this year I have some tadpoles in there.

Would mains water harm them? I have some rainwater butts, but the water level is too low to fill up the pond.

[Dutchess]

I often have to top up my three ponds with the hose as I could never collect enough rain water. Tads don't seem to mind

D.

[Back]

My brother-in-law fills a few buckets and leaves them outside until needed. When the algae starts growing in them we know that they are OK to be used (although he sometimes uses them before this, depending on the severity of the drought). I'd only add tap water sparingly.

[dampflippers]

I have a hose from my waterbutt, but when I don't have enough rainwater I use the hose with a gentle spray to try to aerate it first.
I use tap water conditioner available from pond shops and garden centres. Where I live I don't think it is really necessary, but in London where water is used several times and has a high chemical load, I would definitely use the conditioner.

[Dutchess]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

I have a hose from my waterbutt, but when I don't have enough rainwater I use the hose with a gentle spray to try to aerate it first.
I use tap water conditioner available from pond shops and garden centres. Where I live I don't think it is really necessary, but in London where water is used several times and has a high chemical load, I would definitely use the conditioner.

Good point there, df. The area in which you are in is very important to bear in mind

D.

[slimrbp]

I have a similar proble, I only dug the pond a couple of weeks ago and now there is no water in the water butt after filling it up. Now we haven't had any rain but loads of sun, I was thinking of putting some mains water in the butt so it can sit for a few days to help evaporate the chlorine etc out (and of course by doing so it is bound to rain )

One thing you can do is check you mains water quality with your supplier for example for Thames Water you can get a quality report Thames Water - Water quality in your area

Although I have to confess to not knowing what most of the numbers are telling me!

Water conditioner sounds a good idea though.

[Jennie]

Thanks for the ideas, folks!

I have now filled one waterbutt with tap water, plus a couple of tubtrugs.

Didn't think about water conditioner, although I regularly use it in the tropical fish tank!

[pressld2]

The main problem with tap water is chlorine, but if you leave it to stand the chlorine will evaporate off fairly quickly. The time taken will depend on the volume of water - a bucketful will only take a day but a large water butt will take longer.

Dave P.

[bigdave60dog]

Depends on your water supply. Chrine is usually fine if you leave water out for the night the chlorine will disperse into the atmosphere enough to be harmless by morning. But some suppliers us various other agents which WILL kill some waterlife. Most are removes by proprietry preparations butTaddies are pretty sensitive to some chemicals so best check with your water supplier to be on the safe side.
Dave

[Kayleigh]

I heard tap water or like bigdave said the chemicals in it can actually stop the tadpole developing further and don't turn into frogs..