How do you keep the rain catch containers from growing algea?  Besides bleach?

Any other suggestions?

Anywhere from bleach to ultraviolet light. What is the use of this storage? How long will it be stored? A bunch of variables depending on intended use mostly.

Just at hunting camp...not an issue in the fall as we use it every week.  Now it is sitting for weeks without use.  Starting to turn light green.

All we use for is washing dishes, maybe a quick shower, power washing 4 wheelers.

I painted mine, pretty dark inside, no light, no algea, don't think they'd ever be "algae free" but clean enough
to filter thru Berkey's.

Painted the inside?  How about just painting the outside black or brown

Opinion and demo of painting them


Opinion demo of covering them

Besides bleach?

Is pool chemicals too bleach like?

You can use some shock. Hot tub dosing should get you close to the right amount.

Painted outside..got close to a Tera Cotta color..look like big planters

Shock is usually the powder form of bleach...

Exactly, that’s why I asked if pool chemicals are too much like bleach.
I was trying to get more info out of the OP while trying to offer something substantial to the conversation.

For your use it’s been covered. Paint the tank, then have a cordless drill, can make your own stir stick with anything. Keep bleach at camp since you will use it for dishes and showers. Depends on how often camp gets used, but since I’m anal about certain things, I’d add an inline filter for human use. Doesn’t have to be high dollar, but something to keep the water filtered before what I’d assume is a propane on demand heater.

8' wide 6 mil black plastic is what you seek.

Take the totes out of the cage. Get some duct tape (black if you don't want it to look ghetto)

Measure the plastic double the length of the tote.

Center the piece on the tote and use the duct tape to tape it just beyond one of the bottom edges. Wrap it around to the other bottom edge and tape there. Wrap the other two sides like a Christmas present and tape it down. Slide it back into the cage.  Cut an x to get to the top cap. Look in and see if you see light anywhere. Use pieces of plastic and tape to seal any light leaks.

I have pics of when I did it if my explanation isn't clear. Shoot me a message and I'll send them to you.

Is there a specific reason for.no bleach? Chlorine (bleach) is used to treat city water. If you keep it around 1ppm it shouldn't grow algae and should be safe for consumption with no odor. It can be as high a 4ppm and safe for drinking.

I have an inline filter on the line to camp.

I can drain and clean and continue to add bleach, but was looking for other options.

I will try painting them on the outside.

The problem you're asking about happens with hydroponic reservoirs, worse though with them since the reservoir has nutrients in it that feeds the algae. The three ways I've seen to take care of it are to paint the tank, cover it with film or foil, or to cover with something like metal or wood siding. If you paint it, and you want a it to be a light color to keep the water cooler, you need to have a dark base coat, then paint it a light color over that, otherwise light will just go through the light colored paint. I've personally experimented with using a spray adhesive on a small reservoir, then covering it with foil, but it only worked ok, and I've only done it once so you might not want to try that particular method, though panda film mentioned above should prolly work fine. This vid has an example of a IBC tote surrounded with metal siding, it doesn't look like he shows how he built the siding around it, but he might in another vid.




But if you google something like "keeping algae (or light) out of a hydroponic reservoir" you should get more ideas and instructions.

Broke just put it in the shade and throw a tarp over it.