Who has experience with cisterns?

I also have to let my rainwater infiltrate by myself, and I do that. That's why the idea came up to store it instead of letting it infiltrate directly. But I think the whole operation (large concrete cistern, earthworks, pump, and so on) would cost me about 5,000 EUR. And then I could only store 9,000 liters temporarily. They would be gone after three weeks. And here it hardly rained for three months. That wouldn't pay off in 20 years...

Especially since there is always a risk of uplift with a cistern when it is empty. Now one could say: If it rains a lot and the groundwater level rises, the cistern is full too, and when it is emptied, the groundwater level is low because it's dry, but who knows...

Matthias

Our groundwater is very deep, nothing floats there. Therefore, a cistern made of plastic is sufficient.

Well, and my house is sometimes standing in water. That’s why it is waterproof from the bottom. I will probably leave it at that...

Matthias

You are probably right

We have now received a good offer from the rain collectors (over 9000 liters with pump etc. for less than €2500 (without earthworks)). Now the question is whether we should pay the full amount and have a tranquilized inflow for that. Does anyone have experience with it or no tranquilized inflow and no problems? Allegedly, this stirs up less dirt and improves water quality because oxygen is introduced from below. Since we want to use the water not only for the garden but also for the animals, we are currently considering whether it "is worth it." A floating intake is planned anyway. – I believe you were the only one here who wrote about the inflow and said that it is not necessarily needed?

A calm inflow should cost around €100 excluding some KG pipes and is a recommended accessory. Alternatively, you can build it yourself entirely from KG standard parts. However, you should not do without it.

Besides the mentioned oxygen input, the main advantage is especially the reduced disturbance of the gradually forming sediment. This results in overall less biological activity and consequently less biomass and oxygen consumption.