Rainwater good for what?

[deranged chipmunk]

You can get ro units relatively inexpensively now. About $100 on ebay. But unless you get an ro/di unit, it won't remove minerals.

[deeishealthy]

You can get ro units relatively inexpensively now. About $100 on ebay. But unless you get an ro/di unit, it won't remove minerals.

Was that English?

[deeishealthy]

And HOLY BANANA FEATHER, Batman. Acid rain exists! I'm not taking Google's word for it, though. I'll get a liquid kit. Thanks for the info, I really didn't find much information online.

[deranged chipmunk]

sorry Dee. ro=reverse osmosis. and ro/di is reverse osmosis/deionization. water purification at it's finest it basically, for lack of a better word, sterilizes the water. you can actually buy ro water at most well stocked reef shops.

[deranged chipmunk]

You can get ro units relatively inexpensively now. About $100 on ebay. But unless you get an ro/di unit, it won't remove minerals.

sorry, i need to correct myself, won't remove all the minerals.

[deeishealthy]

Wow, my head is spinning but I think I gotcha. A reverse osmosis machine is expensive ans would only remove some of the minerals... so distilled is still better unless I can raise the ph in the rainwater? Can I do that? I've never had a fish tank so please excuse my ignorance. I've Googled this question as well and cannot get an answer. And I'm the Google Master!

[fish4all]

There are a few ways I know of to raise the pH. The first is to aerate it. Part of the acidic nature of rainwater is CO2 concentration. Collect your rain water, place it in a bucket overnight with an aquarium aerator running and test it again in the morning.
Another way is adding baking soda, might not be the best way because it will likely cause white water spots on the glass fairly quickly.
Anything else takes a long time that I have used for aquariums and would add minerals anyway.

You could always distill your own water. I have a cousin that does it for making beer. I don't know how much the initial investment would be. I would have to research it myself.

[deeishealthy]

I threw up a request on freecycle for a water distiller. Cross your fingers!

[deeishealthy]

From what I can see a countertop distiller is a $200ish investment. Considering I'm spending $20 a month on bottled distilled water, I'm seeing this as cheap as all get out!! If I cannot find one for stupid cheap on CraigsList or FreeCycle I will definitely invest.

[tylototriton]

So, I don't know if this is a national deal, but my local big name pet store (the one that doesn't have the dollar a gallon sale) had RO systems on sale for $100.
Also, you should be able to use just RO water for your mister. RO should remove most of the salts and whatnot that would likely clog the misting system.
As for rainwater, the pH is questionable. 4 is probably an average, it is definitely worth checking your own. Personally, I use tap water for everything, but I also have a well and live in the boonies. However, it definitely wouldn't work in a misting system.
~Alex