March 10, 2022 3:13 PM EST
Cleaning the Inside of the Water Tank
Make a cleaning mixture. While you may be able to remove a lot of the sediment and residue from your tank without using a cleaning mixture, using one can help make this job easier. Simply mix hot water with laundry detergent powder or liquid to make a cleaning solution.
Scrub the inside of the tank. Use a bristle brush or abrasive sponge to scrub the inside of the tank, with or without your cleaning solution. Move your arm horizontally from side to side while applying a good amount of pressure on the brush or sponge. Continue doing this around the entire inside of the tank, until you remove as much slime and sludge as possible.
Use baking soda on particularly dirty walls. If you’re having trouble getting all of the sediment and dirt off the interior walls of your tank, try sprinkling the walls with baking soda and scrubbing them with your brush or sponge
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Disinfecting the Water Tank
1
Fill your tank three quarters full with clean water. Once you’ve scrubbed out the inside of your tank, you can then perform the process of disinfecting it. To start, use a hose to fill your tank three quarters of the way full with clean water
Add chlorine bleach to the tank. Next, add chlorine bleach to the tank in the ratio of 50 ppm (parts per million) to the amount of water. Follow these guidelines to determine how much household chlorine bleach (5% bleach) to use in your tank:
For a 250 gallon tank, use 4 cups of bleach.
For a 500 gallon tank, use ½ gallon of bleach.
For a 750 gallon tank, use ¾ gallon of bleach.
For a 1,000 gallon tank, use 1 gallon of bleach.
3
Fill the rest of the tank with water. After adding the appropriate amount of bleach, fill the tank to volume with clean water. This will allow the bleach to mix with the rest of the water in the tank.
4
Leave the mixture in the tank for 24 hours. Once you have the tank filled with chlorine and water, leave this solution sit inside the tank for 24 hours. Be sure no one comes in contact with the solution during this time because it can be harmful to people and animals.
5
Check the amount of chlorine in your solution periodically. During the 24 hour period that you are letting the solution sit inside your tank, use chlorine strips to periodically check the solution to see the amount of chlorine. You want to maintain a measurable chlorine reading throughout the entire 24 hour process. To check this, dip one end of the chlorine strip in the solution and follow the instructions on the packaging to determine how much chlorine is present. If there is no detectable amount of chlorine, repeat steps two through four.
6
Drain the tank completely. Using a hose, drain all of the solution out of your water tank. Hook the hose up to the valve on the bottom of your tank and allow all of the solution to flow out toward your sewage system. Make sure you point the hose away from any vegetation, lakes, and any other areas that may be damaged by the chlorine bleach in the mixture. Do not drain the tank directly into your water distribution system either.
Remove any remaining liquid by scooping it out with a bucket and then using towels, a clean mop head, or a wet/dry vacuum to pick up the rest.