So are the advantages of ibc tanks the fact that they’re readily available and if maintained properly food grade safe?
I worked for a vertical grower that would store their reverse osmosis H2O in one…it was a small operation and 275 gallons lasted a while.
I worked for a larger non vertical grower (we’re talking lettuce, greens and tomatoes here, not the other stuff) that had an underground rigid plastic tank that measured in the thousands of gallons…their whole line to the public was they recycled their nutrient solution…in that grower’s defense, they tried really hard…the place was in PA…you know what likes PA?..deer, trees, some humans…oh and fungal diseases like pythium which like to hide out in tanks that recycle water and nutrients…
I interned at Living with the with the Land in Epcot…they didn’t recycle their water or nutrient solution for a reason…
So I have 925 peach trees on close to 4 acres of land… I would need a series of 275 gallon ibc tanks to provide enough H2O to get my trees through a dry spell like we had from March through last week…I was thinking if I ever got my irrigation act together it would make more sense for me personally to have one H2O tank measuring in the thousands of gallons…
I agree i have an acre and a half pond which is where most of my water is caught. These tanks are for roof rainwater catchment. It will be used on the gardens etc… it is incredibly useful to have a few thousand gallons of water around for the garden, small trees etc… These will be just over 500 gallons for now. https://growingfruit.org/t/ponds-are-a-great-investment/7033
I did this last year. One mans junk can become something useful to another man.
That’s Junk!
No it’s not, it’s a water buffalo.
I routed my chicken coop tin roof rainbarrel water to a fountain auto fill for the chickens after filtering. I don’t know if that’s kosher, but it works for me.
It’s always a struggle to keep algae from growing in the summer although its not in the sunlight. I’m thinking of trying a little bit of barley straw inside but not sure. I read it’s not bad for the chickens but I need more info. It has worked well for the birdbath but can discolor the water just a bit. A girl who works at the local co-op told me they use it for all the animal’s water on their farm.
Has anyone used it?
BTW we looked everywhere for those ibc totes secondhand but never found one. Shout out to Mike at 39th Parallel for helping you!
I use my tote for watering all the time. We don’t collect rainwater; I just fill it from the well and water at the orchard or the big garden when planting out. It’s currently in the dump trailer serving bonfire duty as we burn the piles of slabs from the sawmill. Around here these totes are plentiful as the metal cages are used to store firewood; we have 20 of them for wood. They’re set up to be moved by pallet forks in a warehouse setting and that becomes handy for moving firewood or water if your tractor has a loader strong enough to lift the weight. These are light enough that I can roll the empty tote backwards into the truck bed, slide it back and then turn it upright again. Then I fill it with a garden hose and use it where I don’t have a water source. I think this is a 230 gal tote and I wouldn’t want this full in the bed of a 1/2 ton pickup, even our old 3/4 ton squats with it and on the side of a slope it feels worse than it really is.
I don’t think they will last more then 2 or 3 years without UV protection. They sell covers on amazon https://www.amazon.com/Barlic-IBC-Tote-Garden-Gallon/dp/B0B4W9TQK8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1KVFTQXK5IHH4&keywords=icb%2Btote%2Bcover&qid=1688223742&sprefix=icb%2Btot%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1