rainwater??

[smokey420bandit]

i've read a few places that the best source of water is to collect rain water.
anyone know of any truth to this?

:hippy:

[tinytoon]

depends on what your regular water is like to start with. I use water right outa the tap and have basically no problems. Other peeps have horrible tap water and use RO or bottled water. If using RO, bottled or even rain water(I believe) your going to be missing alot of trace elements which are either not there or are removed during whatever process your doing (RO). If using alternative water you most likely will be needign Calmag as an additive along with your nutes

[Rubberbubbler]

tinytoons right definitely use cal mag plus. But it also depends on were you live. Do you live in a industrial city or were the air quality is not always the best. You could end up with rain water thats to acidic aka acid rain. check the Ph it should be 7 and under 10 ppm. I don't know what is in the 10 ppm? so I just use a hydro-logic RO 100 then start with pure 0 ppm 7.0 Ph water and bring the cal-mag plus up to 250 ppm. No more guessing

[Rusty Trichome]

Make sure to check the rainwater ph, and adjust prior to use.
Rainwater ph (http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/190acidrain.html)

Contaminates picked-up from industrial and natural pollutants are something to consider, too. Rain is not necessarily the best source of water. :(

[gr8misadventures]

i've read a few places that the best source of water is to collect rain water.
anyone know of any truth to this?

:hippy:

We use rainwater. We aim for an entirely "green" system...working towards all solar (fricken costly!!).

I don't know that I would say it is the best, as we only used RO for the first crop so not much comparison available. You have to be careful in your collection of the rainwater - barrels need protection from bacteria, bugs, etc.