Now that we are in the drought, my 10,000l water tank is almost empty, so after five years I have decided today is the day to clean up all the muck off the bottom?

 

I am curious to know if the muck would be useful as fertilizer and, if so, how to add to my preexisting compost piles.

 

The tank holds roof rainwater runoff, so I think the main source of muck is bird droppings, dust, some algae. I just use this water for a rainwater bath inside the house and the water quality is good year-round. We live in a relatively clean area air-pollution wise, between Thailand's largest lake and the sea, so not much toxic input from above (at least compared to other parts of Thailand).

 

Anyway, any inputs suggestions welcome.

Photos relating to this issue...

 

I would use it to just spread the slurry around the cultivated area. 

 

My rain water tanks end up with lots of decomposing leaves, snails, airborne dust. All good organic additives for your soil.

Thanks SoiDog2. I just got through with it. It took a good couple of hours of rinsing/sweeping to get all the muck out. I put it on some plants, and not others of the same variety, to try and see what difference it makes, if any.

 

One of the things I was worried about was slipping on the muck-covered concrete inside the tank, but fortunately the almost complete lack of sunlight in there keeps out sunlight and there wasn't much algae at all . ????

 

58 minutes ago, soidog2 said:

I would use it to just spread the slurry around the cultivated area. 

 

My rain water tanks end up with lots of decomposing leaves, snails, airborne dust. All good organic additives for your soil.