Indoor Live in hard water area. Is rain water okay

[Shroom1986]

Hi,

I live in a very hard water area so I normally use rain water but always have problems. Does anyone here use hard tap water or do they filter it and add cal/mag?

edit: apologies I realise the title isn't clear. I understand rain water is fine but I think it causes problems for me with the amount of N in there. Can someone explain how I edit the title of this post?

 

[Corgy]

As long as it is not collected from a roof and used without sterilizing it. Bird droppings and all manner of detritus could polute the water with unwanted stuff.
I rig a tarpaulin before a good rain and collect in a 200 liter tank and even then I add a little hydrogen peroxide. I use this water for indoor plant, very hard water I have too..... And the pH of the rainwater is usually 6,7-6,8, it is definitely collecting something acidic while airborne.

 

[Dazed]

I use rainwater straight off the roof into a barrel. After bubbling for a few hrs with an air pump its pH is 7.0. I've never had any problems with it, works much better than my tap water - I have hard water too with chlorine and chloramine. I used to strain it through womens nylon tights but now I don't even bother with that. My indoor and outdoor garden have no probs with the rainwater here.

D.