Hi all,

I live in metro victoria, and I'm installing a water tank or two in my
back yard. I have lawn that I never water, and a moderately large
vegie garden. Any idea about what capacity I'd need to look at?

My current plan is for 2 tanks totalling around 9,000L. Is this
enough? Way too much? I'm new to all this

Future plans include hooking the rain tanks up to the toilet cisterns,
perhaps even the washing machine.

Thanks!

Tom.

On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:09:42 +1000, Tom wrote:

Hi all,

I live in metro victoria, and I'm installing a water tank or two in my
back yard. I have lawn that I never water, and a moderately large
vegie garden. Any idea about what capacity I'd need to look at?

My current plan is for 2 tanks totalling around 9,000L. Is this
enough? Way too much? I'm new to all this

Future plans include hooking the rain tanks up to the toilet cisterns,
perhaps even the washing machine.

Thanks!

Tom.

A quick google turned up this commercial page which may help you to
decide. The other constriction, of course, is how much of your yard
you want to give over to water tanks.

http://www.polyworld.com.au/calculations.htm

g'day tom,

we usually recommend nothing under 14,500 litre capacity, it will
generally cost you more to buyt 2 smaller tanks than one larger tank,
don't know about down your way but ring the rural tank makers you will
find out most if not all will dleiver and site in your area.

if you have some idea of rainfall where you are and you know the area
of roof that the water is going to be captured from a quick way to
calculate is '1mm of rain on 1 sq/mtr of roof = 1 litre of water'

most gardeners can sue between 1,000 & 1,500 litres of water a week or
fortnight, that is calculated on average town pressure and 1 hours
watering.

we just had a 24,500 litre tank delivered all connected to pump and
downpipes (diy) $3100, from one of our rural tank suppliers.

so go bigger than smaller if you want to use for drinking, and laundry
etc.,. not hard for you to work out your water consumption, you will
find most homes use around 1,000 litres of water a week at least. and
on naverage they will empty a 5,000 litre tank in a month at least.


On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:09:42 +1000, Tom wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I live in metro victoria, and I'm installing a water tank or two in my
back yard. I have lawn that I never water, and a moderately large
vegie garden. Any idea about what capacity I'd need to look at?

My current plan is for 2 tanks totalling around 9,000L. Is this
enough? Way too much? I'm new to all this

Future plans include hooking the rain tanks up to the toilet cisterns,
perhaps even the washing machine.

Thanks!

Tom.

I have a 10000L tank for the vege garden (about 10m square) and it lasts 4-6
weeks if there is no rain and I have to keep watering weekly. So 9000L is
not far too much. As others have said it also depends on your likely
rainfall and catchment area. Consider also that most houses have guttering
set up to run to several downpipes, unless you put a tank under each or go
to the expense of re-running the guttering to go to fewer places you may not
be able to harvest all the water off your roof.

David

yes david,

these modern macmansions got almost 2 downpipes per side plus 2 for
the garage so very very ahrd to get good catchment going for you, we
have managed to without huge expense reposition the flow of the
guttering block off one downpipe, put a dam into one section of
guttering to force the water to go our way, and get 2 downpipes into
the tank.

but it isn't realy enough but nought we can do new homes are not built
for conserving anything, and for some there is barely room to walk
around the house outside, so owners forced to buy very small and very
inadequate tanks.

we got 22mm of rain alst night and with an eco designed home we would
have had in excess of twice the amount of water we eventually got
saved.

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 01:54:58 GMT, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

these modern macmansions got almost 2 downpipes per side plus 2 for
the garage so very very ahrd to get good catchment going for you, we
have managed to without huge expense reposition the flow of the
guttering block off one downpipe, put a dam into one section of
guttering to force the water to go our way, and get 2 downpipes into
the tank.


Having many downpipes is good as it means that your gutters will not
overflow in a heavy downpour. This may save water getting into the house or
damaging gardens.

but it isn't realy enough but nought we can do new homes are not built
for conserving anything, and for some there is barely room to walk
around the house outside, so owners forced to buy very small and very
inadequate tanks.


The many downpipes is good for conserving water too as it also means you
will harvest all the water in a downpour BUT the system has to be designed
for them to flow into your tanks. The space issue is also difficult but
remember that your tank does not have to be right next to the house as long
as the feed pipes still run downhill to the tank inlet. Long runs of
plastic drain up in the air may be unsightly but you can always put them on
a trellis and grow something over the whole lot.

we got 22mm of rain alst night and with an eco designed home we would
have had in excess of twice the amount of water we eventually got
saved.


Yes designing with water saving in mind makes a big difference.

David

David Hare-Scott wrote:
The many downpipes is good for conserving water too as it also means you
will harvest all the water in a downpour BUT the system has to be designed
for them to flow into your tanks. The space issue is also difficult but
remember that your tank does not have to be right next to the house as long
as the feed pipes still run downhill to the tank inlet. Long runs of
plastic drain up in the air may be unsightly but you can always put them on
a trellis and grow something over the whole lot.

If you are prepared to pump from your tank then you can bury the tank
somewhere at the lowest end of the house and direct all downpipes to
the tank. If your garden is uphill and you have a single storey house
you might have to do this anyway.

I have considered doing this, maybe have two tanks - one for rainwater
and one for greywater, and share the pump between them.

g'day bruce,

good idea burying water tanks in smaller areas that means a larger
more usable tank can be accomodated.

myn advice but don't store grey water at all use it straight away, and
definately i wouldn't recommned you use the same pump for fresh water
as you do for grey water.



On 3 Oct 2006 18:01:51 -0700, wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

gardenlen wrote:
myn advice but don't store grey water at all use it straight away, and
definately i wouldn't recommned you use the same pump for fresh water
as you do for grey water.

It is usually not practical to use grey water immediately. Generally
considered okay to store for up to 24 hours, the Water Authority
are okay with this. So you only need a small holding tank for the
greywater. As far as the pump goes, I see no problem sharing it
between the two tanks, assuming you are only using the rainwater for
your garden.

If you are able to pump from your catchbasin again you can coffin the tank somewhere at the everyman end of the abode and absolute all downpipes to the tank. If your garden is acclivous and you accept a individual storey house you ability accept to do this anyway.