Allotment Stuff > The Basics
Water Butts Revisited
Hugh_Jones:
My water storage system consists ot 2 x 300 gallon steel tanks (actually an old oil tank cut in halves) each on 4ft x 4ft area, as well as 4 x 45 gallon plastic butts (all fed from my garage roof). I`ve never covered any of them over, and no, Ive never got `yicky` green water full of green algae, but I do have 780 gallons of clean rain water on hand for whenever I want it. Admittedly I put a few pieces of oxygenating pond weed in each tank/butt, and as there are no minerals or chemicals in the water the algae can`t breed.
On the same basis a pond full of rainwater, with a small quantity of oxygenating weed, but no minerals or chemicals should also stay relatively clear. It`s all the junk that goes into garden ponds (tap water, plant pots full of soil, decaying leaves, fish, etc.) that provides the nutrients for the photosynthesis to take place and algae to form. You may get a few mosquito larvae, but the first colony of tadpoles will sort most of them out.
tim:
- talk about squeezing the lemon?? - Tim
Hugh_Jones:
Don`t you mean `sucking` :( :( :( the lemon Tim? - Hugh
gavin:
Aha - thank you Tim. I was wondering about this business of algae, cos I don't get in my uncovered barrels (not to see anyway). But then the water doesn't really stay long enough (I thought).
But - a question; is algae that bad? Unsightly and problematic in a (fish) pond, yes - but on a plot? Just some more green vegetable matter? I'm not drinking the stuff - does it do any harm to the plants or the soil?
All best - Gavin
Hugh_Jones:
Gavin, no use thanking Tim, he was only the bloke pulling the face. I wouldn`t want to use algae affected water under glass, but outdoors in dry weather I cannot imagine it doing much harm.
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