How to Keep Your Rainwater Tank Clean and Safe

Collecting rainwater is a great way to save water and save money on your water bills. Collecting rainwater has a lot of great benefits but…

There are some potential dangers with storing and consuming rainwater:

  • Mosquitoes breeding in the water
  • Bird and animal droppings being washed into the the tank
  • Rotting leaves staining and polluting the water
  • Sediment  build up that can damage pumps, reticulation and appliances
  • Algae and Water Staining

Most of these problems occur when the pollution on the roof is washed into your tank when it first starts to rain. This intial flow of water washes all the dust, leaves and other pollution off the roof and into your tank. YUK!

We all know that prevention is better than cure, so it makes sense to stop pollution entering the tank,  rather than trying to treat it after it has been polluted. Once a tank is polluted it can be difficult to overcome a problem. It often requires harsh chemicals, vacuuming or draining the tank completely.

Australian Standards (HB 230- 2008: Rainwater Tank Design and Installation) recommends the use of pre- storage filters

There are several stages to effectively prevent pollution entering the rainwater tank

Leaf Screen: Large debris like leaves, moss, sticks and flowers need to be removed

First- Flush: The fine pollution that is very small or dissolved in the water needs to be discarded. Most of this fine pollution is washed off the roof when it first starts to rain. For this reason it is called ‘first- flush’ or ‘foul- flush’

Insect Screen: Ongoing filtration and protection is needed to stop additional particles entering the tank after the first- flush and stop insects entering the tank when it has stoppped raining

There are several devices available that will do some of these functions. A rain head can be purchased for around $50- $300. Some of these will catch leaves in a basket and need to be cleaned regularly or they will block up and stop working. A first- flush can cost $40- $600 that will help to remove the fine particles, but will not stop leaves or provide ongoing protection for your tank. A mosquito screen can cost anywhere from $15 up, but will become blocked quickly without the other 2 types of filtration.

You can see that can easily cost $100+ to buy these important functions seperately. To do so not only costs a lot of money but can also look unsightly and take a long time to install.

Fortunately there is another solution…

Superhead All- in- One Rainwater Filter

The Superhead combines these critical filtration functions into a very simple and economic device. The Superhead will automatically filter the rainwater before it enters your tank and keep your rainwater tank clean and safe.

Before you a buy a rainwater, compare these features of the Superhead

  • Adjustable First Flush: The amount of water you want to first flush will depend on the size of your roof, how polluted it is, how often it rains and what time of year it is. If it just rained yesterday then you don’t need to do another full flush. If it has not rained for many months then you will want to increase the amount of water you first- flush. Only the Superhead has an adjustable first flush volume so you can easily increase or decrease the amount of water you discard with your first flush.
  • Easy To Install: The Superhead combines all the important function into one unit so it can be installed by anyone in less than 30 minutes. It can be fitted to existing to tanks or installed on new systems
  • Low Maintenance: The Superhead will automatically clean leaves and debris from the leaf screen, The only maintenance required is to clean the filter screen and empty any build- up in the flush pipe occasionally. This will depend on how much debris and pollution your roof gets but most people do this once a year.
  • Looks Great: The compact size and sleek design looks great compared to some other devices which are large and bulky. The solid PVC construction can be painted to any colour, unlike other devices which are made from polyethylene and cannot be painted.
  • Economical: The RRP of Superhead is just $70
  • Suitable for All Systems- Large and Small:  One unit will handle around 120L per minute which is fine for most small urban systems or you can install Superheads on each downpipe for larger systems.

Here’s what people have said about the Superhead Filter

Thanks for getting me the Super heads in time for my job.

Also I thought you might like to know, I love the new design you have successfully taken an already fantastic product that I could see little room for improvement and improved it beyond any expectation, all that’s left to say is well done !

The Super Head will be even easier to sell in with my rain water systems.

-Dave Stannard,
One Earth Outlet
Balcatta. WA

“I have been installing water tanks Toilet & or Laundry & garden systems for seven years, & I recommend this product to my clients”

-Johns Water Solutions
Melbourne West


To learn more about the Superhead please continue to view the Superhead Rainwater Filter and First Flush