Question Rain barrels and water capture

[Kristy Gardener]

Hello! I’m really keen to start collecting rain water from our sheds and chicken house roof. We intend to install large water tanks one day for the house and garage but for now I’m focusing on smaller scale, possibly more DIY rain capture solutions to use as garden taps, garden watering, for animal care etc. I’d love to read some more about smaller scale solutions you’re using on your properties. I’ve seen there are some from Bunnings but I’m sure there will be other solutions around.

When I was a kid there were always blue plastic 44 gallon drums collecting water around the place. I am not sure where they came from but I’m sure they were being repurposed. Are there similar sized barrels around that anyone has seen?

We are based near Ipswich in South East Qld, a subtropical zone.

 

[stevo]

I have a couple of small 2000 and 3000 litre tanks, but! My gutters send the water to the tank then overflows in to a 1000 litre fish pond that is made from wood sleepers and a plastic pond liner.

Those 1000 litre ICB plastic cage thingys are pretty popular too for water and/or aquaponics.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I know some people would put the blue barrels up on (facebook) marketplace for sale! Ours came from molasses for the cows, so definitely repurposed. You can quite easily hook your gutters up to any form of container to use for gardening! I've even seen people put old pots, buckets and so on outside to catch as much as they can, haha. We've got old bathtubs sitting outside that I could use to catch water if I get really desperate.

 

[Kristy Gardener]

I have a couple of small 2000 and 3000 litre tanks, but! My gutters send the water to the tank then overflows in to a 1000 litre fish pond that is made from wood sleepers and a plastic pond liner.

Those 1000 litre ICB plastic cage thingys are pretty popular too for water and/or aquaponics.

Interesting!
The IBC systems might be the way to go here. There are plenty for sale, I’ll just have to find somebody who delivers. Thanks!

 

[Kristy Gardener]

I know some people would put the blue barrels up on (facebook) marketplace for sale! Ours came from molasses for the cows, so definitely repurposed. You can quite easily hook your gutters up to any form of container to use for gardening! I've even seen people put old pots, buckets and so on outside to catch as much as they can, haha. We've got old bathtubs sitting outside that I could use to catch water if I get really desperate.

Yes! Great ideas. I’ll keep looking for the blue barrels. Thanks

 

[spector]

I got mine from a business that advertised on Craigslist. They were used to store olives prior to me getting them.

 

[Gardenfuher]

We use icbs for overflow on our main tanks. We also run irrigation on our (very small) vinyard off icbs alone.

They gravity feed into the pipes really well until they get down to about 1/4 full.