Melted snow for top off?

Just curious if anyone has used melted snow for top off water?

 

no you don't want to use that.

 

Im pretty sure that rainwater is still used in some freshwater set ups
and a lot of it goes into outdoor cold water ponds

but what with all the factories, etc acid rain etc
Im 100% certain I would not want to take my chances in my reef set up

Steve

 

Ah well, it was worth investigating. Maybe if I lived in the arctic I would try it, but I live in a populated city with quite a bit of industry.

 

Snow looks pristine, but who knows what small amount of chemicals it could pick up on the way down. I would vote against it.

Ivan

 

yes I have. I lived in Tahoe for my first year of reefkeeping and I used some snow for top of because I was NOT going to the store. I did it a few times after that, but it was not as easy as I hoped it would be, so I gave it up. The snow I used was from big storms (at least 5ft of snow) and was fresh falling right then, but you need a lot of snow to make a little water. It's really not worth it.

 

And as damon said, it wouldn't be very efficient. A five gallon bucket of snow would probably give you around 2 gallons of water.

 

maybe 2g if it's wet snow, but dry powder will not make much!

 

I wouldn't. Snow is inherently contaminated. The reason snow forms into crystals and rain forms into droplets is the same: it latches onto contaminants in the air, and precipitates with them.