Rain Water for my res?

Mike2988

Member
Is it OK to use rain water for my Res. ? The ppm is.3 and the pH is 7.0
I would first adjust the temp as well as the proper PH and PPM just curious if this is good water to use?
 

bigv1976

Well-Known Member
Rain water is great as long as you dont live in an industrial zone which it deesnt appear that you do with that PH.
 
I'm very much a cannabis nubie, but in conventional gardening, rainwater has got to be the best water for plants. The lack of chlorine, for one thing, makes it a whole lot better than tap water. I have friends that insist even tap water that's been set out to let the chlorine vaporize off is still contaminated with trace elements that can interfere with all the microbes that let plants grow. Take note, though, there is a whole lot less dissolved minerals in rain water. That's actually a plus, because now you control what the plant gets.
 

Mike2988

Member
I made the change and already i see a big difference. My res temp is 68 and ppm is 230 as I have new seedlings and 1 clone. PH is 5.8 all is good thanks for your help.
 

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
Rain Water is the best to use..
R/O water is similar to rain water or as close as you can get to rain water.
 

Mike2988

Member
My current temp is 72 and I did move my air pump outside of the room thinking that would help lower the temps as the temp outside of the room is 55 to 60. The grow room is holding a temp at or around 74. My res is covered with reflective tape as others have done however the temp I cant get under low 70s any suggestions? The plants over the past few days are really looking good however and the temp reading I take is from the top of the res not deep in it. My res holds around 25 gallons. All other numbers such as PH ppm are all on the money its just the temp I cant get down to the preferred 68.

I just checked the plants and I now have multiple roots from all pots extending towards the water. This has happened since the water change approximately 3 days now. The temp in the res is holding at 72 is this an issue and if so what can I do on top of what i am doing to lower that or will it be ok providing it does not go up higher?
 

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
My current temp is 72 and I did move my air pump outside of the room thinking that would help lower the temps as the temp outside of the room is 55 to 60. The grow room is holding a temp at or around 74. My res is covered with reflective tape as others have done however the temp I cant get under low 70s any suggestions? The plants over the past few days are really looking good however and the temp reading I take is from the top of the res not deep in it. My res holds around 25 gallons. All other numbers such as PH ppm are all on the money its just the temp I cant get down to the preferred 68.


I just checked the plants and I now have multiple roots from all pots extending towards the water. This has happened since the water change approximately 3 days now. The temp in the res is holding at 72 is this an issue and if so what can I do on top of what i am doing to lower that or will it be ok providing it does not go up higher?
What are you doing DWC??? If you are doing DWC then yeah get that water cold but if you are doing Ebb and Flow than 72 is fine.

Frozen Water bottles dude.. Take your ass to the grocery store buy a 12 pack of the cheapest water bottles available and then freeze them. Get that shit low take it down to 60 degrees you will be fine and then just chill out for 24 hours and repeat. Thats a poor mans water chiller, only other option is to spend about 400 bucks and buy a aquarium chiller.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I'm very much a cannabis nubie, but in conventional gardening, rainwater has got to be the best water for plants. The lack of chlorine, for one thing, makes it a whole lot better than tap water. I have friends that insist even tap water that's been set out to let the chlorine vaporize off is still contaminated with trace elements that can interfere with all the microbes that let plants grow. Take note, though, there is a whole lot less dissolved minerals in rain water. That's actually a plus, because now you control what the plant gets.
A lot of city water purification plants use chloramine these days, because it takes much longer to dissipate, and doesn't break down as much as chlorine. That's why bubbling tap water, with chloramine, for 24 hours doesn't do much.

I'm in a small town, and my tap still exclusively uses chlorine. Out of the tap, my water is around 110ppm. After a day, my PPM drops to 70. If my utility company starts using chloramine, I'll get an inline RO filter and a reservoir.

It rains a ton in OR, and I'm hoping to have a couple rain barrels set up soon. Not sure how I'll route that into the room. Probably have to pass through the wall.
 

Niblixdark

Well-Known Member
A fan blowing at top of res into the res itself will drop temps, depending on allot of other factors, but in general it will drop temps. Try it out if possible it might help out considerably.

You may evap the res solution quicker and make it hot (high ppm) but try to keep on the water levels.
 
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JSB99

Well-Known Member
A fan blowing at top of res into the res itself will drop temps, depending on allot of other factors, but in general it will drop temps. Try it out if possible it might help out considerably.

You may evap the res solution quicker and make it hot (high ppm) but try to keep on the water levels.
That's what I've been doing, and it works great! My temps are always a 68 degrees with the fan on, and lid off. Without, I'm around 74 degrees.

I'm comfortable leaving the lid off, because my res is in a very dark corner. I haven't seen any algae at all! In the light, I suspect that might be an issue.
 
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