Yes it all depends on your geographic location and the time of year honestly…a first spring rain might be a bit more acidic, in some regions due to drought
Some places might have super alkaline rain, it’s all on timing and location brother 
I’d love to know some hard set facts about Rain water in the future. Right now I’m about to be offline for a while so I can’t post links and such 
Think Organic, Rainwater is Pure water, and contains some Nitrates , all good for plants, I have checked rainwater ppm and got a Zero reading, I"ve used Plenty of it and Mother Nature gave me more than enough of it my last outdoor grow.
Where are you at? I’m upstate NY, no drought conditions here, its raining now!
Due east. Massachusetts. Metro Boston area. Eastern Ma has been in a declared drought. We are almost back to normal now.
Between last summer’s heat and the drought my veggie garden was almost a complete failure. I have drip irrigation but the heat was too tough on most everything.
It’s snowing right now
Catch all the rainwater you can, check ph , ppm, I did it once and got zero ppm not quite sure if that was right , but I’m an outdoor grower and LOVE it when it rains !!! Plants do to. its as natural as it gets !!
PS my grandmother used to catch and use rainwater to use for ironing her clothes and Starting her tomato plants !!
I collect snow melt and or rain since it has little to no tds and is easily ph adjusted it saves me running my RO unit which wastes lots of water I don’t have water restrictions or metered water but it does save me a bit since my RO unit doesn’t get run as often
I have been rain collecting for years. My ladies love it!
@OldStealth @FyshhTrap @Donaldj thanks for your input. I’m looking to be as pure or close to organic as I possibly can and the tap water here is pretty decent but about 8.5 pH and heavily chlorinated. I looked at the document the water department puts out every year and I think I’d rather use rainwater / snow melt when possible. It’s really a no brainer.
@bob31 i have been using rainwater in my garden since my gparents showed me how to garden…to me it is the best! i have not used rainwater on my first indoor grow but i believe it would help. asap as i can get my barrels back out i will be using again in full force… that is my ten cents worth but sounds as if you’re already on the right track!
@BIGE Yeah, I’m convinced. I think I already was before I even posted the question. I’m going to order mine as soon as the weather starts to break. I can see 2 or even 4 of them, no problem. I have a side yard that gets really hot and lots of sun, The facets are on the opposite side of the house. Two rain barrels there would save me from dragging a hose all the way around the house to water the garden there. Just some lilies and such there but they get pretty dry.
Not to mention were we in a outside water ban since about July 1. Although they didn’t restrict it for vegetable garden watering it would be nice to have the rain barrels to supplement,
I don’t collect right now but have been considering this option for some time
My friend has barrels to collect rain water that a diverter goes inline on down spout and fills barrel once barrel is full it bypasses and flows down the downspout
He has hose connections on his barrels for gravity feed water ? Not bad and simple Home Depot sells all the bits and pieces
So yes I will be doing this as soon as it warms up a bit
I use rain water if I have it. It’s not often that I run out, but I only have so many catch barrels.
So the other day, somewhere on here… A place I can no longer locate we had a short discussion about lighting up my new little girl and I said 24/7 or 18/6 I hadn’t decided…
Anyway full credit to @Paranorman who posted this today on a different thread but I thought it mid=ght be worth at least considering this.
I have decided to leave my AK47 Auto on 24/7 under t5 after I read this.
I messed up the link so iff anyone jumped on the before I fixed it, my bad.
I think that @MacGyverStoner makes a strong argument for the 24/7
Soooo after making that decision, when do you guys think I should flip the switch on the 145 watt full spectrum? Only one switch so it is full on when on.
I have enough room to keep the t5 2 inches above the little girl for quite awhile. She’s only going on her second day in the world so I’ve got time to get this figured out properly.
As said on the link, if you’re not on a budget for electricity bills, a 24 / 24 light schedule is gone a give your girl more rapid growth 
Personnaly, i’m from start to finish whith mine with my LED lights, so, i’m not comfortable to suggest you any timing to switch from t5 to LED, sorry @bob31
You start right off the bat with the LED lights? Interesting!
It as to be at least 3 feet above the container, I learn it the hard way … I fried my sprouting by putting my led light too close the first time
I used my leds also right off the bat just had to keep them high in early stages
Also I didn’t run all of them added more as they grew and I needed more coverage
Started with only 1 ended up with 4 running so far
Also I saw the link you posted
I’m not in board with the 24 hr thing I don’t doubt that it works
In nature they get a rest period so in my tent they will get a rest period!
Just my thoughts on that bro
everyone has to rest every once and again!!
another point to think of… you’re giving the lights a break also! that’s my two cents worth!!!
@Countryboyjvd1971 @BIGE and did you guys start the LEDs at 3 feet as well?
Thanks for your input.