Source of soft water

adriandilly

Hi i'm looking for a cheap (/free) source of soft water for an aquarium.. But i happen to live in a very hard water area... Also containing high nitrates. I would contemplate a water butt for collecting rainwater. Trouble is, we live in a second floor flat.
Is there a specialised contraption for collecting rainwater on your windowsill or something simliar?
Thanks in advance

fwor

Are you within reach of a downpipe from a gutter?

If so, you can get diverters that you insert in the pipe which will divert as much as you need until your container is full and then overflow any excess back into the downpipe.

Not sure about the legalities of chopping into downpipes on blocks of flats, though!

Davesnave

fwor wrote: »

Not sure about the legalities of chopping into downpipes on blocks of flats, though!

It's pretty straightforward. You can't interfere with items that are jointly owned without the permission of the others, and probably the leaseholders too.

You'd also need to be sure there were no contaminants in the roofing materials, and that would apply wherever you lived.

Haven't you any mates with gardens, or access to a flat roof at work or something?