Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

All coming together Shelgeyr...

Looking good guys

Although we will be continuing to work with IBC Totes and barrels, and probably the 300, 500, and 1000 gallon tanks I have lent to the school, it has become obvious that we're not going to be able to use the 12,000 gallon tank there. It is just too big. This wouldn't be much of a problem except that the brand new ISD administration building is located next door, and the administrators are starting to complain and pressure the school staff to do something about all that "junk (ha!) that I have left in their parking lot.

Therefore, I have yet another whole 12,000 gallon tank available. I'm asking again if any reader has any suggestions for its use (lend or give to a school, charity, or lease/sell/barter to an individual or business).

Since I'd rather not have to haul this way across town to join the other two I have in storage, if you give me an interesting enough story I just might be persuaded to let you have it for free, and with my thanks for helping the school and I solve what has become a logistics problem.

Damn administration always messing everything up! If you do decide that you are going to get rid of it, let me know! I am about an hour 15 west of you and I am sure we could work something out!

Started tearing apart the broken 12,000 gallon tank at the school this afternoon, up until I lost the light. I'm still trying to save the base, and it will end up being 4 to 5 feet deep (I'm guessing), and obviously still 10 feet across. I'll take pictures tomorrow.

I was able to cut the top off of the tank, and now I'm thinking it might end up being useful as a pretty huge growbed, or even as an under-the-floor funnel into a sump tank, since it is vaguely conical.

I've realized that a skill saw (circular saw) is probably not the best tool to use for this, except hopefully towards the end tomorrow. All I had with me today though was that saw. Tomorrow, I'll bring it as well, but I'm also going to bring an axe and a chainsaw, and expect they'll be my main tools.

I finished up today's efforts about an hour and a half ago, and am desperate for a shower because no matter how often I shake my head, I'm still throwing off shredded plastic in every direction. I could play the FreezeMeister from that old stop-action kids Christmas show, except that he was the skinny one.

I started cutting the tank while it was lying on its side (since I had no other choice), but once the top was off the sides wanted to collapse, even after knocking off a lot of its weight.

I eventually got it back on its base by towing it across a curb, into the grass (this took a few attempts). I then used a combination of towing it with the straps and (gently) pushing it in reverse with my trailer to get it back into the correct part of the parking lot.

I finally got the broken 12,000 gallon tank cut down to roughly 2,350 gallons, i.e. an open-top tank that's 4 feet deep, 10 feet diameter.

Here's the cut-down in progress:



And here's the finished version (as I was losing the light):

Cut-down Complete - another view:



Just in case anyone is curious, here's the tank in Google Maps before I started cutting it down:

http://maps.google.com/?ll=33.127133,-9 ... 6&t=h&z=20

Enjoy!

It was a busy, busy afternoon and evening yesterday, loading up the tanks so they could head West to their new home (I'll let the new owners provide the details, if they wish), but nonetheless this was a happy sight after hours of struggling:



Including an IBC Tote and a big commercial filter (both not shown), we figure the total added up to about 28,275 gallons of pure capacity.

Good luck, gentlemen!

I'm posting these a bit out of order, since they're from Wednesday 1/30/2013 and earlier than the above picture.

The guys about to load up the ridiculously heavy filter (at the CTE Center):




Securing the second 12,000 gallon tank (at the Carrollton location):




Lastly, loading the 3,500 gallon tank on the front of the trailer (Carrollton):



It was beyond useful that the Carrollton site is fairly well lit from the light towers at the I-35E & President George Bush Turnpike exchange.

A great time was had by all!

Can't believe no one has commented. Great to finally see you making progress on this epic task. Well done.

Thanks, DrLuke - I'm thrilled that things are in motion as well!

First and foremost I would like to thank Shelgeyr for all his help. Not only did he cut us an amazing deal on the tanks, he let us borrow one free of charge. He was instrumental in loading all the tanks and his knowledge/ past experiences moving these tanks was the reason we were successfully able to transport and unload all tanks without any damage to the tanks/Semi truck/ or those loading them. We are very excited about the future use of these tanks, I will be creating a thread in a few weeks after we get the major construction steps started to keep everyone updated. Thanks again Shelgeyr, we have taken huge steps forward getting the farm off the ground because of all that you have done.

You're very welcome, Parker817!

Please let me know when you'd like to also grab the broken tank (for anyone reading this - we did not break a tank with this effort, I'm referring to the one from my old "Uncommon Newbie Mistakes" thread).

Also, I have inquired about the metal buildings but have not recieved definitive word on them yet. The property manager and I are planning on meeting at the site in the very near future to discuss those and other the other various items as well.

It's been a little over half a year since I posted on my thread - which I can hardly believe - but I don't have just all that much to report. The system I build down in Dallas is running, although not efficiently because I wasn't careful and haven't had much time to maintain it (and over-planted). The fish seem happy, but the vegetation is both bountiful and for my purposes largely useless since so far I've only gotten a couple of squash, a handful of strawberries, and a few bean pods.

If anyone in Dallas needs some starter sweet-potatoes, however, I've got you covered!

I had about 50 sweet-potato "slips", in three varieties, and since they were parched and distressed when I got them, I stuck them in the growbed thinking "I'll just transplant these in a few days", and then of course weeks pass.

Finally, I get to issue a "varmint alert" for Frisco, because *something* hauled one of my larger tilapia out of buried tank, dragged it to where I'm pretty certain it couldn't have flopped by itself, ate most of it, and left the rest to stink up my yard. Even with the breeze blowing a bit, at 92 degrees F, the wind isn't helping enough!

Also, this past week I've run into a physical problem that I'm pretty certain has nothing at all to do with Aquaponics, but thought I'd throw it out there just in case anyone recognizes the symptoms because we (doctors included) still don't know the cause.

Last Monday (June 3, 2013), I stopped by my Mom's place in Dallas, as usual, fed the fish, made sure the growbed was being watered properly-ish, then we & the family went out to dinner. Mom and I had the same thing - spinach quesadillas.

24 hours later I lost a layer of skin of the bottom of my feet, which also started filling up with sub-q blisters.

On Wednesday the blisters filled up my hands, and made a guest appearance in my throat, mouth, chest, both nostrils, and left ear.

On Friday I found out that my Mom had the same symptoms, albeit to a lesser degree (for which I'm thankful).

The doctors all say it is an allergic reaction to "something". But what? I've called the restaurant and they haven't had any other patrons reporting similar symptoms. We suspected "contaminated spinach" but we simply don't know.

There's nothing new in the only growbed my mom and I would have touched, and I don't even know if she touched it.

Right now, the blisters are fading, my skin is coming off in sheets from my hands and feet (with healthy bright new fresh pink skin underneath), and one big mystery left in what's left of my hands.