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Water collect?

Well, until now, I collect snow and " non-filtering Brita water filter" to water my CPs and often, my D. adelae dies because shortage of mineral-free water. My question is how I collect rainwater, in an ample amount? I don't like collecting from gutter, since I don't like seeing all kinds of stuff, in water.
Thanks.
 
Where do you live and does the local climate provide rain when you'll need it?  Run the gutter water through a screen and there won't be so much stuff in it.  Especially if you let it rain a while before collecting water.  My basement dehumdifier provides the 1 1/2 gallons per day I use in the summer and the sump provides enough the rest of the year.
 
Somewhere in the last couple of days, someone descibed a rain collector they created from a plastic drop cloth, a funnel, and a pvc frame to support the drop cloth.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Mar. 09 2006,3:51)]Somewhere in the last couple of days, someone descibed a rain collector they created from a plastic drop cloth, a funnel, and a pvc frame to support the drop cloth.
Here it is:

http://www.petflytrap.com/cgi-bin....=23328;

This is the post:

[b said:
Quote[/b] (Rubra @ Mar. 06 2006,4:29)]I just made a rainwater collector! Here's how:

Make a 2'x3'x4' frame out of 1/2" PVC pipe. Cover it on 5 sides with clear plastic sheeting, preferably 4 or 6 mil. At this stage in the process you have what is known as a cold frame/mini greenhouse. I like to put plants inside, to keep the frost off them. Be prepared whenever it rains with several clean milk jugs. Leave the frame out on a rainy day, and you'll end up with either a few gallons of water, or a flat plant collection.

The one downside I see with my plan is that plastic sheeting can't handle a lot of frost or a lot of sun. Perhaps greenhouse vinyl would be a better investment.

Peter

A better rain collector (IMO) would be to take that same PVC frame, put plastic on the top only, cut a round hole in the plastic slightly smaller than the opening of a large funnel.
bolt the plastic funnel to the underside of plastic sheet with 4-6 brass nuts, washers and bolts.
(use brass so it wont rust..they cost mere cents on Home Depot)
make the plastic sheet a little loose so the weight of the funnel pulls the plastic down at the center.
stick a 5 gallon bucket under the funnel.
(also cheap at H.D.)

you can easily get 5 gallons in an average rain storm!
smile.gif

thats how I used to collect my rain water..except I attached a tarp to 4 corners of my balcony, rather than use a PVC frame. the tarp had metal grommits in each corner, I used "mini bungee cords" to attach the corners of the tarp to the balcony..brass hooks were screwed into the balcony walls.

the tarp could be set up in seconds when rain was imminent, and taken down when not needed..
used it for 3 years!
(i dont think I ever took a photo!! too bad..I should have.)


Scot
 
AFAIK, the barrel and buckets have staged that collect rainwater and snowmelt from the roof, haven't had any deleterious effects upon my plants.
 
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