I'm looking for a large water storage container. 200-500 gallons. Any sugestions or ideas ? Thanks !

-- reed moore (reed_moore@postmaster.co.uk), May 19, 1999

Answers

Consider a used water truck such as you might find at Ritchie Bros Auctions. I have seen many trucks go for as little as $1500. These trucks will be on a Ford, Chevy, International chasis, have a capacity of at least 750 gallons (I've seen them as high as 3000 gallons), and will be in various states of condition. You will get the added benefits of a vehicle that is "driveable," with gasoling storage of 25 - 75 gallons, depending on the vehicle.

Check your local area papers for auctioneers. If you are lucky enough to be in attendence where a contractor has just completed a contract, (like a highway construction project) and he is selling off the equipment that he bought for the job, you may get lucky and not be bidding against another contractor that has just been awarded a contract to perform on a job, for which he is searching for equipment. If you are so fortunate you will likely get an outrageous bargain...

-- Dave Walden (wprop@concentric.net), May 19, 1999.

I was able to score on a plastic food grade 3/8ths inch thick 2,500 gallon water storage tank that has a screw off round lid at top with a smaller screw off lid inside that one with a 2" pipe reciever thiny at the top and bottom of the tank. It is about 8 ft. in diameter and about 7.5 ft. tall. It was delivered to me for about 735.00$

-- Feller (feller@wanna.help), May 19, 1999.

We bought 4/550 gal.tanks last October from a local company. The reason we got 4 is we can locate them where needed. They are low profile so they can't be seen over a fence. One will fit in the back of our stake bed truck so we can fill it from the river.

We have one for the chickens, one for the garden, and two for the house. In addition to the tanks we have a 15,000 gal. pool. If you have a pool don't forget to pick up a submersible pump to get the water out. Also, once the water drops below the filter line it will get pretty disgusting. Our filter froze this year. The pool was the worst green we've ever seen. Took 10 gals of bleach to clear it up. We used to go the chemical route. No more! Bleach is a lot cheaper.

Try looking in your phone book under Tanks-Fiber Glass, Plastic, Etc.

-- Grandma (no@email.com), May 19, 1999.

If you are near a rural area, check on used bulk tanks at auctions or with a local dealer. I picked up a 1,000 gal double walled stainless steel tank for $200. If it is good enough for milk, it's good enough for water.

-- Daryl (rushmore@dailypost.com), May 19, 1999.

www.watertanks.com has a 200-gallon food-grade soft plastic item called "The Bag" for about $89.00.

-- jhh (jhoskins1@juno.com), May 19, 1999.

Couple years ago we spent a week on Ocracoke Island (coast of North Carolina). Lots of vacation rentals there. No potable water supply so you buy your own drinking water at the store. Water for all other uses is collected underneath the houses (all on stilts) in huge heavy plastic tanks. There were two under the house we were in, about 2500 gallons each. All the downspouts drain into these tanks. Of course electricity powers the pumps that draw the water up to the gravity feed tank in the attic.

Somewhere on the NC and SC coast there must be sources for these tanks. Without power all it would take to draw water is an old fashioned barnyard pump installed above. Check Yellow Pages on the Net.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), May 20, 1999.

I bought a 500 gal. plastic tank for gravity-feed irrigation storage. Am hooking up a series of valves and drip irrigation systems for the garden, greenhouse and chicken coop. If power is intermittent, I can fill it when it's up or use the generator to run the pump.

Some local people have purchased new septic tanks cheaply and used them for water storage. Don't forget past excelent threads on using old water heaters for storage.

What are people doing for prevention of frozen tanks? I read somewhere to buy a large fish tank pump and the bubbles would keep it from freezing. (Guess you would have to hook it to a battery.) I know our local ranchers exploring alternatives to ditch watering of stock had problems with keeping watering troughs from freezing. They used old tires for insulation and it seemed to do the trick.

How are you shielding the tank from solar heating to prevent algae and bacterium from proliferating? My tank is white and heavy plastic. I read that blue tanks discourage algae formation. I was afraid to spray paint it because the chemicals in the paint might deteriorate the plastic. Don't want to build an insulated shed as the cost would be high. Thought perhaps a wood frame with a tarp?

On pool cleaning - my Dad used to be in the CO2 business. He'd throw in a few chunks of dry ice and it would kill all the algae.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), May 20, 1999.