[Novice but totally hooked]

I'm sure some of you must already IBCs for water storage so I hope I can tap (sorry no pun intended!) into your knowledge.

I want to use two (one for the veggie patch and one for water for my horses - both will be filled by rainwater from the roof of my stables) and have found plenty for sale on e-bay.  Most of them however are white - the black ones are harder to come by and more expensive.  Using the white ones means that it won't be long before green algae has built up on the inside.

So here are my two questions.

1.  I've read somewhere that it's possible to paint the white ones black to avoid the algae building up.  Has anyone tried this?  How succesful was it and what paint did you use? 

2.  Some of the IBCs have had detergent in.  How easy are they to clean and does anyone have tips for cleaning them?  I know its preferable to get ones that are "food grade" but because of the size it's goinng to be difficult to collect from the seller so if the closest are ones that have had soaps etc in I may need to consider going for these.

Any other tips and comments would also be gratefully received.

[arugula]

One thing to consider if you're concerned about cleaning detergent from a container, why not buy new/unused? I thought they weren't that outrageous and I've just had a look around eBay again - from £40....

[Novice but totally hooked]

I think you'll find that even though they're listed as 'new' they're not.  They're 'reconditioned'.  New ones direct from the manufacturers are about £150 so I don't see how anyone can sell them on ebay for as little as £30 or £40.  The reason most of them are so cheap is because they've been used once and it's not economical to return them to the original supplier for reuse. 

Most of the sellers won't give any guarantees that they'd be suitable for the purpose the buyer wants to use them for.  If they were brand new then they wouldn't have a porblem saying they were suitable for water storage for gardens, animals etc.

Believe me, I've looked at great lenght into this and it's a minefield!

[arugula]

Oh well, I've studied the subject extensively before now, but if you don't want my help then never mind. I do know the difference between new and reconditioned when I read it. If sellers are advertising recon goods as new then they need to be reported for misrepresentation. 

[Novice but totally hooked]

I'm sorry if you feel that I didn't want your help.  If I didn't I wouldn't have posted a query.  I'm always open to suggestions and I did look on ebay after reading your post but could only find ones that the listing actually said been cleaned or what the original contents were, indicting that they'd been used before.  Even if I do find any that are 'new' they'll need to be within collecting distance - that's the real problem so I'll probably end up with used ones which is really why I posed the question about painting white ones black.

I've always found this forum really helpful and friendly but after your comments I don't think I'll bother with it anymore.

[arugula]

I've always found this forum really helpful and friendly but after your comments I don't think I'll bother with it anymore.

I am sorry that you feel that way. Perhaps I should stop trying to be helpful.

[Yorkie]

I do recall previous threads about trying to block the light from IBCs - can't remember how / whether they achieved it, but if you try a search you should be successful 

[GrannieAnnie]

Please don't be so touchy Novice, Arugula was only trying to be helpful.

I have a white IBC tank that we bought new, admittedly it was about 7 years ago, but it was £55 including delivery, and it was NEW.  But looking at them now, yes new ones are more expensive, probably because so many gardeners and allotmenteers have been buying them recently!

I do find they go green quite quickly and because I didn't want to chance melting the plastic by using the wrong paint, I bought some stuff to add to the water, that is okay for plants, but probably not for your horses.

Someone else said on here once that they used one of those 1tonne builders bags, put over the top, with a hole cut in for the downpipe.

They are a b****r to clean, especially when they are green and got bits of rotting leaves in from the roof.

Something else I've seen for animals, is an old water tank with a ball cock in it, leading into a water trough for the animals to drink from.  Another idea maybe?

[wasthiswise]

re  algae. Why not 'wrap' the tank with thick black polythene, tied on etc. Might look a bit naff but it would cut out most of the light. I got an ibc 3 months ago and what with the vast amount of rain its now full and I have noticed its going ever so slightly green already.

[Madame Cholet]

a friend painted his 3 years ago with success i try and find out the type paint for you.

[Yorkie]

re  algae. Why not 'wrap' the tank with thick black polythene, tied on etc. Might look a bit naff but it would cut out most of the light. I got an ibc 3 months ago and what with the vast amount of rain its now full and I have noticed its going ever so slightly green already.

The polythene is unlikely to be UV stabilised, so will rot quite quickly - leaving you with brittle pieces of plastic all over the ground.

[GrannieAnnie]

a friend painted his 3 years ago with success i try and find out the type paint for you.

Oooh yes please Madame Cholet, that could be very helpful!   

[wasthiswise]

The polythene is unlikely to be UV stabilised, so will rot quite quickly - leaving you with brittle pieces of plastic all over the ground.

Perhaps use mylex fabric instead?

[savbo]

is it really such a problem anyway? OK so bits might clog up your watering can rose, it's not the end of the world

you could always put some pond snails in to eat the algae

[The Silver Surfer]

I'm not sure what an IBC is, but it sounds like what we call Cubos here in Spain.  1000L cubes for storing liquids.  We live completely off-grid and pump water from a well for our cave house and our veg garden. 

For the house we have four cubos on the roof (top of a hill really) and two for the veg.  The 4 for the house have been protected from the elements by using 4cm thick polystyrene sheets to all sides and the tops.  Holding the poly in place, and to blend in a bit to the hillside, I've put green woven nylon meshing/sheeting/covering.  I don't know it's correct name but it comes on a roll or by the metre.  This has worked perfectly in preventing the water getting too hot in summer or frozen in winter, or indeed algaed.

Down in the veg patch I have one clear and one white cubo, both unprotected.  The clear one has been there for 2 years now and shows no sign of deterioration, and it's been pounded by extreme sun - 50C+.  I have never had an algae situation, however, that could be due to the constant rotation of discharge recharge.

So I guess that if you work out how much water you're going to need and how quickly you're going to use it you should be able to determine as to whether to bother protecting it or not.  If you'll use 1000L in a few days or so then as long as you fully empty each time you should be fine.

If you decide to go down the painting it route you'll need a plastic or latex paint, but what about just tying a tarp over it?  A cheap plastic type one should do the job.