The Bushman 5000 Gallon Black Rainwater Collection Tank is a 5,000-gallon above-ground polyethylene cistern built for serious rainwater harvesting and bulk water storage. It stands 161 inches tall on a 102 x 102 inch footprint, so before you order, mark out an 8.5-foot square pad and confirm you have overhead clearance for a tank just over 13 feet tall. The black exterior blocks light to discourage algae growth in stored rainwater, and the 1.0 specific gravity rating is matched to water and other contents at or below the weight of water.
Will it work for your site?
This is a dedicated water tank, not a chemical vessel - it carries a 1.0 specific gravity rating, which is the right call for collected rainwater, fire-protection reserve, and general bulk water. Filled to capacity, the tank and water together reach roughly 41,700 pounds, so the ground under it has to carry that load without settling. On a 102 x 102 inch footprint that works out to a heavy point load, and a properly designed pad is not optional - our guide to concrete pad sizing for above-ground polyethylene tanks walks through the ACI framework so the foundation matches the rated 41,700-pound contents weight. Also plan your access: at 13.4 feet tall this tank needs top-fill or pumped-fill planning and a stable ladder or platform for inspecting the lid-area pads, so sort that out before the LTL truck arrives.
Fittings and connections
The tank comes configured for harvesting and overflow management. Per the technical drawing on this page, it includes three flat fitting pads - a 15" x 15", a 12" x 15", and a 13" x 25" - that give you room to add inlet, screened intake, and access hardware. The 13" x 25" pad is the natural home for a screened leaf-and-debris intake basket sized to that opening. It also ships with a 4-inch outlet and overflow kit and a 1-inch bulkhead fitting with PP/EPDM hardware - that 1" bulkhead is the candidate for a pump suction or gravity feed line, and PP/EPDM is compatible with the potable and chlorinated rainwater service this 1.0 SG tank is rated for. Plumb the 4" outlet/overflow kit so overflow capacity meets or exceeds peak inflow; a clogged 4" overflow on a 5,000-gallon catchment backs water into the roof line. See the technical drawing on this page for the exact location of each fitting pad and outlet before you set the tank, since repositioning a 5,000-gallon tank after plumbing it in is a job nobody wants to repeat.
Sizing it to your catchment
Five thousand gallons is a meaningful reserve, but the right size depends on your roof area, local rainfall, and how you intend to draw the water down. Run your numbers through our Tank Sizing Calculator and read the Tank Sizing Guide before committing. If this is a Texas rainwater install, our guide to first-flush diverter sizing per the Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting covers the pre-tank filtration that keeps your stored water clean. For rural fire-protection use, the fire-water reservoir design guide covers NFPA 22 sizing. In freezing service, this above-ground black tank carries no insulation in its spec, so the tall water column and single black wall mean your 1" and 4" connections need heat-trace or buried, insulated supply lines - that same guide covers the freeze-protection engineering for cold-climate sites.
The mistake to avoid
The most common error on a tank this size is underbuilding the foundation. At a full weight near 41,700 pounds, any soft spot or slope under the pad will let the tank lean, stress the fittings, and eventually leak at a connection. Set it dead level on engineered support sized for the full contents weight, and confirm your overflow routes water away from that pad - an 8.5-foot-square base that erodes is as much a problem as one that settles.
This Bushman 5,000-gallon black water tank ships by LTL freight from the plant in Fairfield, Texas, with cost quoted live to your ZIP code. Get your number from our Freight Cost Estimator or call 866-418-1777 to lock in your order. For larger systems, the industrial water reuse tank topology guide shows how to band multiple tanks into a quality-staged storage train.
