Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

anyone ideas on how to transform a flat tank or bucket bottom to a conical one?

frank

Eat lots of ice cream cones.....

need some parameters hygcell...diameter, amount of conicality (I just made a word!), material, type of fitting/drain at the the bottom...think about what you want to acheive or the problem you're trying to solve and the ideas should flow a little better for you.

I would have hoped to get some replies that would cover all of these subjects
but let's limit the materials to (thermo)plastics, as buckets and small tanks in these materials are readily available and cheap.

maybe I have found a solution that I can test in the kitchen:
put the bucket on a round support (like one for a wok) at reasonable height over the gas stove,
place a more or less heavy weight in the center of the bucket
turn on the gas (and ignite it lest you want to suffocate !)
wait
and let gravity do it's work

carefully watch the plastic lest it should completely melt down and/or start burning
adjust flame intensity

If nothing happens (or "coning" -see, I can do it too - happens too slowly), lower the bucket a bit closer to the flame or heighten if too fast

repeat procedure

turn off the gas if the cone suits you.

will try this out and post pictures,
unless it is a disaster and kills me
in that case read the obituaries

frank

My tank sits on a ring of wooden wedges that get small toward the center of the tank. When you start to fill it the weight forces the bottom of the tank into a cone shape. There is a drain in the middle. I'll try and get a photo later.

Wouldn't have thought that you'd get any marked degree of "conicality" out of a flat bottom....

Plastic bends. The cone is only 70ish mm. But you could make it larger if you wanted. Smaller tank won't be as flexible.

now let's find out how far we can stress a bottom...

frank

try putting boiling water in the bucket when you put it in the wok over the flame and see it that helps

Second thought Frank, just get a deeper bucket and concrete the cone into it.

good idea...
but I think most plastics need more than 100c...
thinking the water would (may) keep the temp down.
How much

Like the other dude did, with the ring. You could do a similar thing with plywood, cut a sheet (or two) into rings based on the diameter of your tank. I dont think you would need a huge cone shape.. possible a fall from outer to inner of only 20-30mm should see things make their way to the middle. You can buy round tanks with conical bases from some tank manufacturers. I know a bunch of people that mould tanks up in the country, if it was something you would be interested in, let me know.

otherwise +1 on the concrete and sealer.

Small diameter - heat or inserts inside the bucket.
Large diameter - use a conical support (if its on the ground, dig out the center a little more.

Why bother with a conical bucket? Swirl filter?
If you really need one, start with a deeper bucket, then put a cone of plastic inside with crenellations in the peak of the cone. Then you can use a simple side penetration to pull the water out from under the cone.

Another thought (wow - two in a row!) start with a bucket, run a pipe through the side and to the center of the bucket - put in an L, set up a plastic cone leading to the L. Then layer sand, charcoal, etc. to make an RSG filter in that wasted part of the bucket.

That way you have a swirl filter and an RSG filter all in one.

Gee, I hate these acronyms:
sometimes I feel like I have landed in a conglomeration of solicitors or doctors who discuss a client or patient's problems or disease, doing their best to impress and make sure that only the inner circle understands.
Isn't the purpose of language to communicate?
I am a foreigner with mother language Dutch, so English is already a challenge

... please excuse this hiccup

please, please what is RSG?

the search page doesn't help on four letter words (which might be good), but this one only counts three

is what I get when I write RSG

frank

RSG filter was from a thread by Janet something like "conversations with a really smart guy" thus the RSG that was started about a year and a half ago.

The premise is that one of the things that is lacking in a highly aerobic system (such as we usually try to achieve with AP), is iron. Many people supplement iron. The RSG pointed out that what can be lacking is the anaerobic microenvironments that allow rust to be converted into soluble iron fit for uptake by the plants. The method used by Janet and others was to get a pvc pipe and fill it with sand and charcoal with some iron in there. the bottom of the pipe was flush with the bottom of the GB, and the flow into the GB was over the top of the RSG filter. This would have extremely slow flow through the sand and charcoal allowing oxygen to offgas and having a small anaerobic environment that would permit some of these conversions that only happen anaerobically.