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

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.

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.

zybex wrote:

I wonder if enclosing the whole thing with, for example, some panels (as for a soffit) would not be a good solution

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 wrote:

If I make it not very tight, it's probably better than not at all?

Depends how much. The more light, the more algae and the faster they develop.

zybex wrote:

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.

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.

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 wrote:

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.

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.