Rainwater Tanks: Preventing Algae Formation in Mauser 1000L Tanks with Proven Preparations

Question

I have two tanks for catching rainwater. I would like to prevent algae from forming in them. Do you have any proven preparations that should be added systematically so that the water is relatively clean and, of course, the walls of the tanks (Mauser 1000l)?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Just you know, chemistry is chemistry, and you'll have to keep buying it and refilling it when it's still diluted. In your place, I would buy a few pieces of NRC foil, which will cost about 2 nozzles, the coolest thing would be to empty the tanks, remove them from the metal housing, wrap the NRC foil so that there are no gaps, it would be nice to wrap it with some stretch to immobilize it, put it back in the housing and you can forget about the case.
Another option (worse, but it is) is to install a decent UV lamp in the tank. But do not play with these pond toys, just put a mercury lamp with a broken bulb there, 400 W in UV will effectively kill the entire contents of the tank in a dozen or so minutes. It's just costs, fun, a little electricity. But foil is better.

mychaj · Accepted Answer

Maybe not very useful, but I saw a patent made: behind the Mauser valve, a tee and a plastic pipe, yes, fi 16-24 and a second valve. The pipe was at the height of the Mauser and a plastic ball - a simple water gauge. You could get this patent on this tee...

Anonymous · Answer

Take something that completely blocks the light, preferably some aluminum foil, plastic with a layer of metal sprayed on it. NRC foil would be great and inexpensive. Completely cut off the light access to the tank, then the algae that feed on photosynthesis will die out, they will not develop. Simple, no chemistry.

klm787 · Answer

I also have a similar problem, but only in one tank, here I present photos of the tank. The tank was presented in another topic regarding the cleaning of such a tank.

But to the point. I don't care that the tank is getting slightly green from the inside. After all, the water from it will only be used to water the plants.
As for the preparations. I'm skeptical there.
The only effective solution would be to darken such a tank. So that the light does not get inside, and thus prevents the development of algae

pla20 · Answer

Sometimes a shady spot is enough. Added after 2 [minutes]: I advise against chemistry, in the end you will be watering the plants that you will eat yourself.

zybex · Answer

I was just thinking about the chemistry that allegedly clarifies water so that you can even give it to dogs to drink. At the moment, I don't have a problem yet, because the tanks are only being filled for the first time. I currently have 800 liters of water in them. To illustrate, I went to take pictures, even though it is already gray outside.

jaspi85 · Answer

There is nothing better than a darkened place and cool. In general, the ventilation space should be as cool as possible. Board all four sides of the wall as crates, cover how it stands here against the wall, and if it's loose, cover five sides and give ventilation, because temperatures also spoil water. Mosquitoes like warm, still water. The tank must be tight... Because impurities also spoil the water. Give some sponge or cloths, felts and others as filters, apply to the gutter for the Mauser above the inlet to the tank. Then the water should stay clean for a long time. Something like a well. Deep in the ground it's cold and dark... A leaky cesspool going through the moat is different... And cola bacteria in the well, and the distance is about 50 m...

zybex · Answer

My place is exposed to the sun from noon to west. Any "sucks" from the gutters have already fallen into the right tank. I realized too late. Only then did I install a pot with holes as a catcher for grasses and leaves, which are always found in the gutters. Also, sparrow droppings. I connected these Mausers at the bottom, so I can't close them tightly. The left one is cleaner because I connected it a bit later. At the bottom in the middle, a 3/4 inch faucet, because that's the hose I have. 32 mm pipe connector.
I wonder if enclosing the whole thing with, for example, some panels (as for a soffit) would not be a good solution.

Anonymous · Answer

If you manage to do it tightly, you will get the effect. It will probably look more aesthetic, but more work and costs. Your choice. But it's still better than chemistry.

zybex · Answer

It's good that I started this topic, because I was about to order these chemicals for clarifying rainwater. I just had a dilemma, cheap or expensive. Rainwater with algae is probably not particularly harmful, i.e. it does not introduce any pest on tomatoes in a polytunnel. Regarding the housing, it's also about aesthetics. If I make it not very tight, it's probably better than not at all? On one of the forums I saw someone wrapping the tanks with black foil (directly on the baniaku). By the way, I was supposed to have black tanks, but in the end I bought white ones as in the picture. Who knows what it was like with black people? Perhaps there would be no algae, or at least not visible.

Anonymous · Answer

Depends how much. The more light, the more algae and the faster they develop. For some time now, when it comes to blocking light, I stopped playing with various black foils, paints or glues. Just because something is opaque to us doesn't mean it is, and I've had problems with it a few times. Hence the advice about the NRC foil - here I am sure that it does not let anything through.

zybex · Answer

My wife tells me that such foil is not durable. I think so too, especially since it's thin. What will happen after winter? Writing that I will cover even not very tightly, I meant the housing, where I can see how much water is in the tanks. Another option I read about here on the forum is to bury the tanks in the ground. Only then is it necessary to use a pump, and it will no longer be free water. As you can see in my photos, I collect water for these two Mausers from one spout. I have two more in the building. Under one of them I put two large bathtubs (like bath tubs) and they are full all the time. A lot of water escapes and is wasted. The third gutter throws water directly into the yard (grass) and it is in a visible place (from the street). No one can see my Mausers because they are behind the house (opposite side from the street).

andrzej20001 · Answer

Paint the tanks black with Cobra.

Anonymous · Answer

Well, it's not permanent. That's why you have a metal casing and I suggested wrapping the Mauser with stretch foil. The advantage was supposed to be that, apart from being effective, it was cheap.
Enclosing the tanks in a chest is also a good idea, more expensive, but nice looking.
In general, the advice is simple. No chemistry, pure physics and biology.

andrzej20001 wrote:
Paint the tanks black with Cobra.

Oh, it will be rather expensive and permanent, it's a pity to modify the Mauser so much. But the effect will.
In general, you have to be careful with what you paint, I've already written it, but probably not clearly enough - just because the human eye thinks that something blocks the light does not mean that it actually is. For example, recently I found out that black silicone transmits UV, so I had a lot of problems with fixing it, because it is not so easy to scratch off the silicone.
Instead of NRC foil, there is an option to use self-adhesive aluminum tape, which I warn you is also cosmically expensive for some reason.
Or maybe instead of lining the tanks with wood, use something faster? A frame made of scantlings and covered with metal tiles?
You can immediately think about picking up the tanks. It's always a higher pressure on the hose, and it's free.

zybex · Answer

That's what I wanted to do right away. Even a neighbor offered me some pallets for free. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't like the elevation of the tanks. I can't convince her. He says it now looks good against the plinth of the building. The bucket cannot be put under, and yet he insists that it is good.

andrzej20001 · Answer

Two cans of Cobra cost PLN 200. I painted three cars. You'll get one out of poverty. Without exaggeration. Eternal theme, resin.

Anonymous · Answer

You don't have to. Do it when she's not home. Good luck to her if she tries to get the two-ton tanks off the platform. This is how everything goes for me.

palmus · Answer

Foil won't prevent everything. You have to remember about bird shit, leaves and everything that goes on the roof and then into the tanks. I have a small roof and used a simple washbasin siphon for the supply. I clean it quite often, because I keep getting pebbles from the tar topping. But it's not in the tanks anymore.
A friend buried the Mausers in the ground and he's getting out of them after some time after all the crap has been decomposed. I use pool chemicals, the tablet in the siphon is washed with rainwater, and chlorine disappears over time. It doesn't hurt the grass. For skeptics, there are also preparations for ponds that are harmless even for fish. I only water the grass, which I don't eat, so I'm not afraid of chemistry.

matti66 · Answer

I wrapped the tank with black agrotextile. Cheap and UV resistant third year I have peace with algae.

andrzej20001 · Answer

Patent with a siphon worthy of attention.

zybex · Answer

I guess that the tank itself, i.e. removed from the openwork housing and reinserted. How do you check the water level then, if that's important to you? In the photo, an example of a dirty tank at a neighbor's. Below are my tanks, in which the water is slightly green on a good morning.

klm787 · Answer

When I saw this photo, I thought we were neighbors. But not. As for the topic: I agree with it. And here is an example. The stretch foil that I wrapped it connecting the very old (heavily rusted) tubes of the polytunnel construction, it just falls apart like sand. And ecologists trumpet how many thousands of years such foil will decompose. The foil was not exposed to UV rays because it was in the middle of the foil tunnel. Wrapping with stretch foil was intended to soften the rubbing of the foil against the rusty tubes of the structure. Stretch like stretch bought three years ago in a DIY store.

mychaj · Answer

It doesn't decompose - it just changes state of matter... Back to granules. ? Your stretch is strange - some poor quality...

zybex · Answer

Too bad I didn't know that before. A vertical tube open at the top is enough. The height of the Mauser housing. If the tube would be transparent, no ball is needed. You can even apply a scale to keep track of the level in the tanks. Of course, such a tube only if I built these Mausers.

wojtek1234321 · Answer

But environmentalists are right, this foil has not decomposed into prime factors. She just crumbled and crumbled. And these particles can constantly circulate in the environment, they can settle on your lungs and other internal organs, they can be in your bloodstream and cause clots and blockages, they can be in your entire digestive system and in many, many other places in nature.. . Regards.

Covul · Answer

When it comes to the patent for muck from the gutter, I saw the following solution on YouTube, so a tee or several is put on the outlet, from which vertical pipes are led downwards, plugged at the ends with not entirely tight plugs. When it rains, the first water with sour rye fills these pipes and only when it reaches the level of the tees does it enter the tank, and a stocking/tights are pulled up to the tank outlet to filter out finer impurities. After the rainfall stops, the vertical sections of the pipes empty automatically through the leak and are ready to receive the next portion of dirt from the gutter when it rains again.

wojtek1234321 · Answer

Well, yes, but only finer pollutants will fly out through the leak (until they silt up the leaks, and the thicker ones will stay in the pipe anyway. After several such actions, these pipes will be filled / silted with dirt to the full. and threads from filtering The idea may be good, but not very effective. I would prefer to connect two or three Mausers, but not at the bottom, but at the top. Before the first Mauser is filled, all sediments / impurities will settle on the bottom, once it is full, clear water from the of the upper layer of the tank will start to overflow into the second one and there will be only clean water without sediments.And such a tank is certainly easier to clean of sediments than pipes, apart from their small capacity, which has an adverse effect on the operation time of such a filter.

Covul · Answer

The plugs can be removed, the pipes can be rinsed from the top, anyway, there is probably not so much muck from the gutters, it is probably enough to clean once after the season. I don't know, I didn't do it, I just dropped what I saw on the internet (: if they weren't happy with the effects, they probably wouldn't publish videos of it.

zybex · Answer

I connected the Mausers at the bottom, because such connectors substituted for me in the search engine. Now, seeing what's going on, I'd connect them upside down. If this was a popular option, I'd definitely go for it. I'll see what happens after one season and make the necessary changes if necessary. I am most afraid of clogging the 3.4 inch tap.

Rainwater Tanks: Preventing Algae Formation in Mauser 1000L Tanks with Proven Preparations

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