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But what other harmful chemicals can be in the water and what is the best method to find out?
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The only way I know of is to have samples sent to a lab.
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I read online that water captured from rooftops with shingles such as mine is only suitable for irrigation not drinking. I feel somewhat that if I can’t drink it then it is not good enough for my hydro plants. But then plants on farms grow under rain water so I am confused.
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Well plants can and do grow using all sorts of water, they will even grow using sewer water, that doesn't mean just because they are growing, they are healthy. And plants have been growing with rain water all over the world for millions of years. Although rainwater quality will vary from place to place, it's generally a good source of water.
Rain water is just fine to drink as it falls out of the sky (except acid rain), the contaminants come from how it's collected and stored, even if it's dripping down through the trees. Everyone has there own ways and beliefs, that where the biggest difference in rainwater quality is. But even in a regularly cleaned system I would still filter it before I drink it myself. I would also filter it before use in my hydroponic systems. It would be real impractical to filter thousands of gallons to water to your yard, but it's not so impractical to filter 20-30 gallons for your
hydroponic system. It really depends on how you feel about water quality for your hydroponic plants.