-
ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Rain water and tap water discussion
- Thread starter blondie
- Start date
Alkalinity depends on the total ability of the water to buffer/ neutralise acid. a pH of 8 is alkaline... but doesn't tell you the alkalinity.... which is the total ability of the solution to neutralise acid. read the link a few posts above. It is simple but confusing because alkaline and alkalinity mean different things.
Three Berries
Active member
The point I was trying to make is if the pH is below 7 there is no alkalinity as the acid has reacted with the carbonate and released the Ca+ and Mg+ along with CO2. The buffering has been exhausted. This is especially true with well water.
City tap I'm lucky to not have.
I just got fresh rain and filled all my containers. This water is only 11 ppm and is electrically charged waiting for any kind of conversion. When I use this super clean water without a lot of unknown stuff in it, the conversion is as pure as the fertilizer used. Only takes a little fertilizer with pure water to get the best results in my experience. 
revegeta666
Not ICMag Donor
Hi!
I recently moved to a new place in a rural area. In the warehouse there is a big deposit that collects rain water from the roof.
I was wondering how long will the water maintain its quality. It doesn't rain that much where I live, if I could use the water from the spring rain and use it in the summer that would be great. Should it be treated if I was to wait that long?
It is a 2000L deposit, and it sits inside the warehouse, protected from the sun.
Other than that I have well water but the EC is outrageous.
I recently moved to a new place in a rural area. In the warehouse there is a big deposit that collects rain water from the roof.
I was wondering how long will the water maintain its quality. It doesn't rain that much where I live, if I could use the water from the spring rain and use it in the summer that would be great. Should it be treated if I was to wait that long?
It is a 2000L deposit, and it sits inside the warehouse, protected from the sun.
Other than that I have well water but the EC is outrageous.
So far mine has lasted several weeks without a sign of algae. Mine are inside semi sealed in plastic containers. No bleach added yet and looking good. Someone else with more experience will jump on. Also I think this was answered earlier in the thread. Ignore the bullshit in the beginning. It’s worth it for someone in your situation.
On another note.
Just took a reading of rain I got about two hour drive away, so mine locally might be different. Any rate, what I’m using read 24 ppm tonight so this is looking like it’s keeping my plant on track. I misread my leaves and added some dissolvable nutes to one bucket of water. After using it, I got nute burn. Last time I’ll make this mistake. After all this plant has been through, it’s been liking this water/soil combo. I’m not gonna screw with it.
Edit... I’m sitting here in front of the tent like I do most nights so snapped a picture of her. A bit more background on this thread and maybe others from me. My last indoor grow was three years ago. It got off to a rough start, like this one. Most things finished very well, except the Malawi’s. Never got them to the point I read about. So this grow I wanted to make big changes to improve things. One I wanted to look into was rainwater.
Man this edible is really making me feel odd. I been cooking in an instapot for an hour and then adding 1/4 cup of olive oil and cooking again another hour. Tonight I dropped a tablespoon of oil into some salad for dinner. Definitely in orbit tonight... have a good night everyone. I’m not a bale to type well any longer.
Attachments
Last edited:
When fresh rainwater comes in contact with any type of soil, the rainwater turns into that soil. The term conversion is when fresh rain converts into the same substance it comes in contact with. That's why only pure water works best with super soils. With every exposure of water to the soil, the nutrients are released because of this law. More water, more release of nutrients. Roots Organic, and Fox Farms Ocean Forest are considered super soils.
revegeta666
Not ICMag Donor
If you don't mind me asking, how long do you think rain water stays "fresh" inside your deposits?When fresh rainwater comes in contact with any type of soil, the rainwater turns into that soil. The term conversion is when fresh rain converts into the same substance it comes in contact with. That's why only pure water works best with super soils. With every exposure of water to the soil, the nutrients are released because of this law. More water, more release of nutrients. Roots Organic, and Fox Farms Ocean Forest are considered super soils.
I suck at chemistry but I read the thread thoroughly and I get bleach would be the solution to algae buildup but I was wondering if any amount of bleach would be harmful to the soil life. As you say in your last post. Especially now that I recently started using slow release organic nutes, and micro life, instead of bottled nutes like I used to.
The reason I say this is because indoors I have used dehumidifier water for a long time. Pink colored algae do appear in the deposit but maybe 3-4 months after the last cleanup. To the point I haven't ever worried about them.
Wouldn't the soil life be better off dealing with small amounts of algae than small amounts of bleach? What would be the possible problems if any, when watering with water that has been sitting for a couple months?
Algae needs light so so easy to avoid algae build up by excluding light. if rainwater is clean then ime it 'keeps' indefinitely.
VG
VG
revegeta666
Not ICMag Donor
That's very good news, thank you.
There are ways to extend the life of rainwater. Keep anything organic from coming in contact with the rainwater. Just putting a lid on the can would give me an extra 3 or 4 months. Sometimes I will dump old water for new when I am sure I'm getting rain. You have to be careful because if you dump old water and you miss the rain you get screwed out of water. New rainwater less than a week old is always super water. Here are some rainwater buds today almost finished.
Heres a way to look at it. Say you have 250 steel bee bees that have a magnetic pull which represents the nutrient ppm in water. Now if you add another 250 copper b bs which are not magnetic you get 500 ppm. The impurities content went up 50% but the plant can only use the 250 steel bbs but the copper gets in the way and blocks the pull of the steel. The steel has to move around the copper or miss the link completely. Using Big City tap water is like having to work with the copper that blocks the steel links. Pure water only has the 250 steel bbs and ready for use. Now, how many times do you water your plants? Every time you water you leave 250 copper bbs that do nothing just setting there.
Last edited:
Already answered, but I'll add that I saved a couple of gallons from last for my seedlings this spring.
I now have a full 45 gallon barrel, running over, as it's raining now.
No rain gutters, the barn has two valleys, I position my barrels under the run off point.
This year I plan to put a cover of curtain sheer over them to keep out dirt, but mostly mosquitoes, save me a lot of time using an aquarium net gathering the mosquito larva.
Basically I don't think age is a factor, of course clean is.
I'm no "scientist" either, but I can assure you that a little algae won't hurt a thing, at least in soil / outdoor grows (I don't do much indoor, except for starting plants in spring) I had a patch one time in an old gravel pit, in which there was a very "scummy green frog pond" and that is where I got the water for them...although they were outdoor plants, and only got watered a few times, they grew great.
That said I don't think a little bleach (soap too, food scraps etc.) won't hurt either. I remember back when I was a kid (over 50 years ago) My uncle had a "sink drain", basically a plastic pipe went out through the wall into a ditch behind his house, the vegetation in and around it were HUGE, and appeared healthy, and it was a good place to dig worms for fishing. So that's all the proof I need.
"Problems if any", None. Bottom line is, don't worry about saving your "spring" water till summer. If you are concerned with the algae, use dark containers for the rain water. My green barrel NEVER gets algae, but a white one gets it in VERY short time.
Last edited:
It can last a long time if you put a lid on it, and if you don't put a lid on it you can still use it. Also, I use a small piece of mosquito dunk in my water cans. I break a round mosquito into 4 pieces for 4 big cans.
I added the last three lines.Heres a way to look at it. Say you have 250 steel bee bees that have a magnetic pull which represents the nutrient ppm in water. Now if you add another 250 copper b bs which are not magnetic you get 500 ppm. The impurities content went up 50% but the plant can only use the 250 steel bbs but the copper gets in the way and blocks the pull of the steel. The steel has to move around the copper or miss the link completely. Using Big City tap water is like having to work with the copper that blocks the steel links. Pure water only has the 250 steel bbs and ready for use and those will leave. Now, how many times do you water your plants? Every time you water you leave 250 copper bbs that do nothing just setting there.
"bbs represent nutirents in water".
Last edited:
St. Phatty
Active member
Less Nutes is probably one of the better General Remedies for what is ailing plants.
We Canna growers tend to OD our plants with what we think is TLC.
But for them it's like adding sugar to Coca Cola. Too Much.
revegeta666
Not ICMag Donor
You are talking about outdoors growing though right? Because the new LEDs are very taxing on the plants indoor. Since I have these new lights, plants are asking for such high an EC compared to what they used to with sodium lights. Going as high as 2.7-2.8 in every watering, in weeks 3-5. If I went any lower the plants were clearly suffering and asking for more.
On the other hand, last summer was only my first outdoor grow because I recently moved from a city appartment to the middle of nowhere. I was recommended to follow a lunar calendar, feeding the plants once every 7-10 days, at half the dosage recommended by biobizz. I was shocked by how well they yielded, using minimal amounts of nutes. As an inexperienced outdoors grower, my conclusion for this is that the sun just "feeds" the plants with whatever we can't give them in an indoor environment with artificial lights. Would you agree?
Three Berries
Active member
With my high CO2 and LEDs if I don't almost force feed them they start to suffer. I've cut back to half nutes before, and done flushings. Each time if I didn't bring back the full outdoor strength nute mix they will start to show pale leaves.
And the Ca needs boosted almost every day with a lot though the veg and stretch period.
And the Ca needs boosted almost every day with a lot though the veg and stretch period.
