Question about the waste ink tank in Canon IP5000 (and other Canon printers)

[Hg]

I've read this 'tank' contains ink from the cleaning cycles of the printer,
and a cleaning happens automatically every time ink cartridges are replaced.
So my question is how many times do I have to replace the cartridges with
new ones before an error message appears saying the tank is full? Anyone
taken a printer to Canon to have the tank emptied? How much did they charge?

 

[drc023]

The amount of ink consumed in the cleaning cycles when replacing tanks is
minimal, but cleaning cycles also occur based upon printer usage, time
intervals and when requested by the user. The deep cleaning routines use the
most ink. There have been many discussions on this newsgroup and in other
forums about the 'waste ink tank is full' messages and how to reset the
printer. Taking the printer to a repair facility may end up costing nearly
as much as a new printer. The tank isn't a bottle or container as the name
implies. It is an absorbent pad. If you don't go overboard with deep
cleaning cycles the chances are good that you'll not ever see this message
for your printer.