Rain Water?
- Thread starter onthaherb
- Start date
BasementBreeder
Member
I'm pretty sure you can buy large (50 gal?) rain barrels for exactly this purpose. I think its even meant to be drank, so it should be safe(unless your area has acid rain or something. No idea how long it would be safe to leave in the res though. H2O2 could always be used if you were real worried about it.
thcrefugee
Member
YES!
use rain water. it varies, but is usually cleaner than tap.
RAIN WATER IS NOT NEUTRAL have you measured it? right.
IT IS SLIGHTLY ACIDIC... NATURALLY!!!! why? CO2 in the atmosphere makes carbonic acid! h2co3 this drops its proton ( H ) which.... Increases the amount of [H+] which..... LOWERS THE pH... hmmm... science?
ALLLLL rain is ACIDIC! now,,, acid rain measure anything below pH 5 "normally"
my rain is 5.0-5.5 normally, and the TDS is 4-6 ppm Pretttty clean.
I collect off my roof. and it sits in a barrel for weeks sometimes.
in the summer, i can get mosquito larvae in there, and it sometimes goes funky.
So, keep it sealed.
And if you say youll need a large amount of water... you better get a large Surface area to collect it... the top of the bucket wont work.. use the roof.
dont use h202 if you plan to put in into anything with LIFE in the growing medium.
use rain water. it varies, but is usually cleaner than tap.
RAIN WATER IS NOT NEUTRAL have you measured it? right.
IT IS SLIGHTLY ACIDIC... NATURALLY!!!! why? CO2 in the atmosphere makes carbonic acid! h2co3 this drops its proton ( H ) which.... Increases the amount of [H+] which..... LOWERS THE pH... hmmm... science?
ALLLLL rain is ACIDIC! now,,, acid rain measure anything below pH 5 "normally"
my rain is 5.0-5.5 normally, and the TDS is 4-6 ppm Pretttty clean.
I collect off my roof. and it sits in a barrel for weeks sometimes.
in the summer, i can get mosquito larvae in there, and it sometimes goes funky.
So, keep it sealed.
And if you say youll need a large amount of water... you better get a large Surface area to collect it... the top of the bucket wont work.. use the roof.
dont use h202 if you plan to put in into anything with LIFE in the growing medium.
thcrefugee
Member
i forgot to add, i use rainwater for everything, no filtering or anything. i use it in the outside gardens, inside houseplants, hydroponics systems, all of it.
sometimes (like in the summer) as mention by DaPurps, you can see a slime or mold. this usually means no ill affects.
try to keep it covered, and out of sunlight, and youll be golden.
sometimes (like in the summer) as mention by DaPurps, you can see a slime or mold. this usually means no ill affects.
try to keep it covered, and out of sunlight, and youll be golden.
When it rains i catch 15-20 gls off the roof of the house.....no probs.Otherwise it comes out da well.I try to make sure i have rain water for my flushing instead of the well water.
in my opinion rainwater is much nicer then RO... (unless youre living in a industrial area, with a lot of air polution...), and don't worry bout the particles...
blessss
blessss
Get it while it's still free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tennesseetoker
Member
gets no more natural than that. How much rain is to much though?
mines ph 7.0 ppm ).)
mines ph 7.0 ppm ).)
Well odd the difference in our rain waters mines of my roof in thailand is ph 7.0 ppm zero both hanna meters checked n calibrated.
In a 300 ltr rez it takes 3ml of 62% nitric acid to ph down to 5.5
in the uk the rain was ph 6.5 ppm 2
Anyway use the rain stored in 1500 ltr tank i sterilise with ozone bubbled through it 1 hr a day in storage. its crystal clear when i fill the rez ,no root rot ever .
Obviously i use nutes with high calcium designed for soft water.
I also us a/c water which is ph 6.7 same hanna meter measured same time as rain water.
I do run the a/c water through a cloth filter then a carbon filter.
mines ph 7.0 ppm ).)
Well odd the difference in our rain waters mines of my roof in thailand is ph 7.0 ppm zero both hanna meters checked n calibrated.
In a 300 ltr rez it takes 3ml of 62% nitric acid to ph down to 5.5
in the uk the rain was ph 6.5 ppm 2
Anyway use the rain stored in 1500 ltr tank i sterilise with ozone bubbled through it 1 hr a day in storage. its crystal clear when i fill the rez ,no root rot ever .
Obviously i use nutes with high calcium designed for soft water.
I also us a/c water which is ph 6.7 same hanna meter measured same time as rain water.
I do run the a/c water through a cloth filter then a carbon filter.
tryn2getby
Member
I love using rain when i can catch enough...ph is nearly always in the low 6's & my plants love it.... i do often add 1 gal of my shitty tap water to 5gal of rain...just to help with the micros....right now as hiker mentioned ^^ i've got snow melting inside until it warms up outside...
t2
t2
masterwelder65
New member
Need to collect rain water its free.
rangergord
Active member
yaay for rain! I collect as much rain as possible in the spring, summer and fall but in winter I really hit the jackpot because all the rain hangs around frozen as snow and ice for 6 months a year. I bring as much as I need inside to melt and it makes my flood and drain hydro system take off like a rocket. No need for an expensive RO system that wastes water.
OrganicLuv
New member
pH & EC of your rain water
pH & EC of your rain water
Hi thcrefugee...
Did you measure your pH and EC of your rain water?
Since I got some problems with the tap water I give rain water a try but worried a little bit when I saw that EC=0.0
pH is about 7.7
Still I got the feel that rain water might be the very best solution.
I also will try some tap/rain water mix with EC=0.2
Time will tell...
Greez!
O.Luv
pH & EC of your rain water
Hi thcrefugee...
Did you measure your pH and EC of your rain water?
Since I got some problems with the tap water I give rain water a try but worried a little bit when I saw that EC=0.0
pH is about 7.7
Still I got the feel that rain water might be the very best solution.
I also will try some tap/rain water mix with EC=0.2
Time will tell...
Greez!
O.Luv
