The first rain barrel collection system worked so well we decided to expand.

Step 1 was moving the existing barrels from where they were to their new home. I put them up on cinder blocks so they now sit 16 inches high and we can easily get our watering cans and a 5 gallon bucket under the spigots. When Winter comes all we have to do is drain the barrels and reattach the downspout back to the bottom piece.

Step 2 was getting a 275 gallon IBC tote. This one had blueberry dye/flavoring in it. After a good power wash it was good to go.

Once it was cleaned I placed it on cinder blocks as well. Plenty of room to fill our buckets and watering cans.

I added a spigot to the existed outlet cap and an 8″ piece of garden hose to the spigot and that makes filling the watering cans easier.

I added an overflow fitting to the side.

Without an overflow the tank would start bubbling out of the top and that would probably be messy. 🙂

To capture the FREE rain water I removed the cap on top and replaced it with some screen. This will capture the leaves and other debris and keep mosquitoes and bugs out of the water. Then I added an adjustable downspout and now we can capture the water when it rains.

The blue tarp covers the whole tank and protects it so the sun doesn’t cause algae to grow in the water.

And now we have around 400 gallons of rain water to use to water the plants. Other than the initial setup costs (around $200.00), all of the water is now free forever.