[hondo434]

Have been reading peoples rain barrel experiences. They say to get dark barrels to help limit growth of algae. Light helps it grow.
All I did was to go to lowes and get a 32 gallon trash can and set on flat area next to gardening area. I bought a plastic gutter section about 7 inches long with builtin downspout and snap in endcaps and screwed it into my regular gutter in tandom. I took a piece of flashing and shaped it to go from width of two feet channeling into the 7 inch downspout bending both ends in a "v"and covering the regular gutter and dropping down downspout. I ran a plastic downspout to the top of overturned cover. I drilled many small holes in lid to act as a filter. If I have odor problems I have easy access and easy disassembly for winter. Good luck!