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water Rain water in hydro systems?

orrevs

orrevs

I want to use rainwater in my hydro systems.

I have 5 DWC systems and 2 ebbflood.

I want to use rainwater as the ph level is more correct then i got from the crain. My water in crain is over 7 and i need to use alot of PH down to get it where i want it.

Is there somthing special i need to think about when using rainwater? Less fertz?

Shold i use both tap water and rainwater in the begining so the plants will get used to it?

Also, i think i i will use rainwater for my dirt plants as well. But i guess same questions goes there ;)

/Oscar
 
Rainwater is an excellent choice for your plants both hydro and dirt, much better then tap water, I use rain water in my DWC setups and dont have to alter to the nutes at all, Im using General Hydroponics Flora Nova for my nutes.

-Rich
 
Rain water may or may not be a good idea. What is the PH of your rain water? Here in my part of Thailand, rain water is 4.5, which is fairly acidic. My tap water is 7.68.
I would say find out the PH and go from there.
Generally rain water is a good thing and I'm collecting it and will use it to adjust my PH accordingly.
 
GH PH Down. It is easy sure ;)

But, in the long way it will be expensive for me. Already used 0.7l just for my hydros systems. (1month) they been running.
If i gonna use it for soild as well (80 plants) am figuring i will use 1l per week ;)

So if i can use rainwater for most of my plants and then adjust the hydros a bit with PH down / ph up. It wuld be so good!

I made a test at our rain water and it was around 6.5 so it wuld just need a bit of ph down to be good. Insted of trying to get somthing thats 7.5 down to 5.8-6. ;)
 
Try Advanced Nutrients PH up and down. It's over 4x as concentrated and only requires 1/4 as much when compared to GH.

For example, the Advanced Nutrients PH up I use now is 45% potassium hydroxide, while the GH stuff is only 10% potassium hydroxide.

More bang for your buck. :)
 
Rainwater is great if you're getting a steady supply of it. I use sulfuric acid as a PH down. I mix 1 cup to a gallon of water and it will last for years. It takes a tiny splash to drop 40 gallons from 8-6
 
treemanjohn said:
Rainwater is great if you're getting a steady supply of it. I use sulfuric acid as a PH down. I mix 1 cup to a gallon of water and it will last for years. It takes a tiny splash to drop 40 gallons from 8-6
Click to expand...

What is the strength of the sulfuric acid before dilution?
 
I use rainwater exclusively in season (when my primitive catch system fills!) and I am very happy with it, though I've never considered checking the PH!
 
We have over 500 litres of rain water storage capacity. Ph varies from place to place depending on air pollution ect.

Chris
 
I wouldn't waste my time or money trying to adjust the soil pH during the season - it doesn't react as quickly as water and it should fluctuate but very little from the beginning to the end of the growing season.

FWIW, this winter I had a 35-gallon plastic garbage can in my GH. I would fill it about 2/3 full of rain water after a good downpour, add the nuits then adjust the pH. It was aerated and when I needed to add solution to a bucket, I used a water pitcher to fill it as much as needed. Saved a lot of time and effort and the plants did great - as long as the air delivery system worked!

Chris, I hit the jackpot and got nine 55-gallon plastic drums from a company for free.

Mike
 
I just set up a 40 gallon plastic garbage can to collect rain water off of the roof of my garage. I primed it with some tap water, so I can water with something that the chlorine has evaporated off first and was not so cold as well.
 
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