BajaNomad

Water Pilas

LaTijereta - 5-29-2008 at 11:43 AM

I have been looking at a new "larger"water pila, and wanted experiance with either the light blue or solid black models?
Any draw backs to these two designs, for a above ground installation?
I kind of like the light blue model, since they are slightly translucent and just look better for the location this is going to be placed.

Bob and Susan - 5-29-2008 at 12:11 PM

my "tanker" is translucent and will get mold in it if not clorinated once and a while

the sun is your enemy when storing water:light:

stick with the "blackest" black

rts551 - 5-29-2008 at 12:24 PM

I thought the pila was like a cistern. and the plasic tanks were tinako's . Doesn't matter. My 1100 litre black tank outside is 12 years old and does fine. Never had an algae problem

BajaWarrior - 5-29-2008 at 03:32 PM

On our front row beach house we have an elevated black tank that is about 400 gallons. The tank itself is over 20 years old but because of the hot days of summer and fall we have to add a cup of bleach to the load of water about every other fill-up.

Now on my new house on top of the garage behind the beach house, we put a 750 gallon tank inside one corner of the garage and have not had to bleach it except for the first load and that was to just to clean it up a bit. That tank is actually white and I am able to see through it plus I can easily remove the lid and lift it a bit to look inside, so far, so good.

[Edited on 5-30-2008 by BajaWarrior]

LaTijereta - 5-29-2008 at 04:13 PM

I was concerned about the same thing on the light blue tanks (translucent), but they allow for the light to pass in..
They are showing up here in Loreto and they look nice, but could be a maintance nightmare:o

BajaWarrior - 5-29-2008 at 06:19 PM

You can always build an enclosure for it to keep the sun from hitting it, and then paint the enclosure to match your house colors...

DENNIS - 5-29-2008 at 06:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaWarrior
On our front row beach house we have an elevated black tank that is about 400 gallons. The tank itself is over 20 years old but because of the hot days of summer and fall we have to add a cup of bleach to the load of water about every other fill-up.



It's hard to imagine that a cup for 800 gallons wouldn't be diluted to nothing. Is bleach that strong?

BajaWarrior - 5-29-2008 at 06:46 PM

Ya, actually we add a cup to 350 gallons (delivered amount) and you can definately smell it (slight) when showering, so a little more for 800 gallons would be good. Maybe more if your gone for a while.

Pescador - 6-4-2008 at 07:04 AM

Clorox or most other bleaches sold over the counter are 5.2 % solutions so a cup in 800 gallons is plenty for disinfection, or killing algae growth. Keeping the sun off of the tank goes a long way in suppressing this growth also as the chlorophyll needs light to grow. Liquid bleach does dissipate rather rapidly in the air and within a week most of it will be gone. Tanks that are buried or covered are much less susceptible to growth and keep a cooler temperature in the summer where a black tank can be very hot.

Bwana_John - 6-4-2008 at 07:16 AM

Add the full amount of bleach need to clorinate the whole tank, but add it when the tank is almost empty.

After a couple of hours add the rest of the water.

This effectively "bombs" the tank, but keeps the smell/taste of chlorine down.

Use dry bleach, liquid bleach is only good for 6 months, and goes bad VERY quicky when exposed to heat/air/light.

[Edited on 6-4-2008 by Bwana_John]