Low ph in rain water?

[Justinsane]

Hiya all.

I use rain water for my girls.

Yesterday i did a ph-test on my rain water and i get an 4.9 reading...
did a reading on my tap water... 8.1 as always... nothing wrong with my ph meter then.
Another test on the rain water...another 4.9. Sounds very low to me. Or?

The water was pretty cold at the time i did the test, so i took a bottle and warmed it up a few degrees. Did another test and got a 6.2 reading.

So what is up with this?

Can i use the water?

Peace and Love Justin

 

[purple_man]

should be no problem using the rain water... also the acidity level of water is temperature dependant, to be sure, put some rain water in a bottle/cup/... and bring in for a couple of hours, till it reaches room temperature, and test again, ...

blessss

 

[SeaMaiden]

You can use the water, but you might need to mix it with tap water in order to keep pH stabilized. Rain water has pretty much zero alkalinity.

 

[Rougarou]

Are you downwind from a city or any industrial plants? Could be a touch of acid rain. Coal power plants are real bad for that, expecially the older ones.

 

[Andyo]

no buffers

no buffers

There are no buffers in rain water.
temp compensated ph meters would read it normal .

I noticed 6.3 in wales at 20 deg c
6.5 in thailand at 25 deg c

but both read same with ph indicator drops

Not a bad idea to have some decent ph fluid drops to double check
The lying ph meter .A

 

[serpent]

it's possible that is acidic due to pollution but more likely a read error due to the temp