Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh no, no that's never good, especially when they are so young that they don't really understand what is going on. I hope your little one recovers quickly.

It's probably just teething but she can't have Panadol or Dymadon as they make her throw up.... Tricky tricky...

Oh no, that makes it that little bit harder. Can she tolerate SM-33? It's a bit stronger than Bonjela so it might help take the edge off if it is her teeth. I found frozen cooked carrots or frozen bread to be good for my girls to gnaw on during the day. But they were late teethers so if your little lady is too young it won't really be helpful. What am I saying, you've got older girls I'm sure you've heard it all, sorry!

I hope she gets better soon, poor little mite!

Thanks Azira! She's currently sleeping on my chest... Somehow have to extricate myself so I can put her in the cot. She's 8 months old so we are definitely overdue for teeth coming in! Fingers crossed the night improves. I may have picked the wrong day to tire myself out with digging!

Well not too much progress today - however I did put the seal on the big hole in FT#2. (FT#2 was previously the top half of a corrugated poly rainwater tank and the big hole was where the previous owners cut out for the rainwater inlet.)

The "patch" was made from a HDPE chopping board 400mm X 400mm cut to size with a jig saw.

It was put in place with stainless steel bolts and a ton of silicone.

How it looks from the outside:



How it looks from inside the tank:



I'm going to leave the tank alone for a day or two and let the silicone cure. Then it will be time to test water tightness by filling the tank a little way and checking for leaks.

The final step will be to build a little sandpit for this tank to sit on since the bottom of it is kind of conical with different levels.

It will, hopefully, last a few years, but in the long term I find silicone rubber doesn't stick all that well to HDPE. Being cool and in the dark may help though, the stuff I'm thinking about on poly tanks has been exposed to the heat and sun, no doubt contributing to its early demise.

Hmmm... Maybe I should try and fill the depression with epoxy resin to be on the safe side... Would that work?

I don't know if it is going to put anything toxic into the fish in the water- it would be quite a large exposed surface area. I suspect that it too wouldn't stick to the poly all that well.

Mechanical seals are best with HDPE, what happened to that gasket rubber you had?

Well. It's been raining and our sump pit hole has turned into a pond...

My friend who is a plumber helped me do this and I don't think he really felt confident using the gasket rubber...

I still have the big black barrel lid and the gasket rubber so I could do that as a secondary patch on the outside.... Would have to unscrew the stainless steelbolts my plumber friend used and get some longer ones...

I think given it's not going to be exposed to light and you have a combination of bolts and water pressure, it's probably not going to degrade any time soon. Did your friend use silicone that is fine to use under water?

If you really wanted to use an epoxy I'd be incline to send an email to Ardex and ask about their Hydrepoxy products. Hydrepoxy 300 is potable water safe but I'm not sure if it would bond to the tank, whereas most likely Hydrepoxy 501 would, but you'd want to ask if it leaches anything once cured. I have used the latter and it's really low VOC which is good, but it was for my floor and not a water tank.

Perfect for making it level! ... remove the bumps as they become exposed, if you don't mind muddy feet

I would rough up those edges and use epoxy. Once cured, they are pretty much inert- like fiberglass.

NOTHING but NOTHING really sticks to PE..

Something that sets hard, will likely be worst of all..

I think that I would be leaving it alone and plan on the bolt-clamping to provide the seal integrity..

The remaining depression will help collect the solids.. fill it with epoxy, and you lose the benefit.. IMHO
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and to emphasise - Epoxy and PE will be different hardnesses and have different thermal expansion rates and will hence quickly separate.
I was going to do the same as you but had planned to use a mastic, because it would always remain tacky and never set..
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