Backfilling Slatted Tank

BeeDI

Poured new tank yesterday. I'm wondering what the minimum number of days I should leave it before backfilling. Hate the idea of having it sit there uncovered and potentially dangerous.

Figerty

28 days is reccomended to allow the tank concrete to achieve near full strength. Any sooner and the weight of the fill could crack the side of the tank.

Sort out any springs that appear and get your waste water, power and mains water ready before you back fill,, after last winter make sure they are down deep enough!

Be patient and use the month to get the rest of the place ready. Figure out how you are going to support the pilliars, I used barrells built on a block base. and the back pillars were supported on the wall of the shed that was made wider than the front of the shed.

BeeDI wrote: »

Poured new tank yesterday. I'm wondering what the minimum number of days I should leave it before backfilling. Hate the idea of having it sit there uncovered and potentially dangerous.

reilig

BeeDI wrote: »

Poured new tank yesterday. I'm wondering what the minimum number of days I should leave it before backfilling. Hate the idea of having it sit there uncovered and potentially dangerous.

Its recommended that you leave it for at least 4 weeks - 6 weeks if possible. If you has a contractor pour it for you, they should be able to tell you what they recommend (or more importantly guarantee). The contractor who did all my tanks would not offer a guarantee on his work if they were backfilled before 4 weeks.

cjpm

Concrete cures gradually over 28 days after which it will have achieved 95% of it's final strength. It is very important that the exposed concrete surfaces should be kept damp if possible to aid the curing process for this time. Do not backfill until after the 28 days.

pakalasa

cjpm wrote: »

Concrete cures gradually over 28 days after which it will have achieved 95& of it's final strength. It is very important that the exposed concrete surfaces should be kept damp if possible to aid the curing process for this time. Do not backfill until after the 28 days.

+1
Concrete takes a long time to cure!
It will continue to strengthen for decades.
They reckon the Hoover Dam is still curing.:eek:

John_F

as figerty said get the pillars built if rails will be standing on outside of tank, we put down concrete at the floor level of the tank and built blocks up, still standing, although know of people who done the barrels and yes it would be quicker!

We also put timber going from inside to inside to sort of jam the walls and act as a shock absorber to be safe. Make sure the tank is sealed now, look for any leaks outside while water is inside.

I have hard stories of tanks floating from springs and when the spring dried up it cracked after sinking back down so watch out for water levels on outside of tank also

red menace

Back when I was building tanks at home, we built a tank for a guy who back filled it after a week.
He didn't even backfill with stone, he used the clay from the dig and tracked it in well with a 12 tonne track machine
End result was the wall collapsed ands we spent a very unpleasant week trying to rectify.

reilig

John_F wrote: »

I have hard stories of tanks floating from springs and when the spring dried up it cracked after sinking back down so watch out for water levels on outside of tank also

Don't let it float at all costs. If water starts to build up around it then you should pump the water into it to take away the buoyancy. Water inside is will also act as a force to stop walls being pushed in during backfilling.

red menace

reilig wrote: »

Don't let it float at all costs. If water starts to build up around it then you should pump the water into it to take away the buoyancy. Water inside is will also act as a force to stop walls being pushed in during backfilling.

Good advice there that i forgot!
Tanks can float and will never settle back the same way


I have heard of guys drilling a hole in the wall bout quarter of the way up to let water equalize inside and out YMMV on that one though.

We always just sucked a few loads of water from around the tank with the slurry tank and then blow it inside

BeeDI

Figerty wrote: »

28 days is reccomended to allow the tank concrete to achieve near full strength. Any sooner and the weight of the fill could crack the side of the tank.

Sort out any springs that appear and get your waste water, power and mains water ready before you back fill,, after last winter make sure they are down deep enough!.

Speaking of water. I'm planning on small bowl type drinkers between pens mounted in cut out on dividing gates, as I dont want the bowls in the passage, getting hit with tractor etc,.
Good or bad idea from point of view of cattle dunging in the drinkers??

Also, anyone recommend best source for good quality dividing gates / calving gate etc,.

reilig

Where in the country are you? You will probably get the best deal if you buy gates and barriers from the supplier of the shed. If you're in the North West or Midlands then regans in strokestown are hard beaten on price or quality - they're crying out for work at them moment as they had a lot of crews on the road. Also their welding is automated which gives the best quality and strength.

I have bowl drinkers in the gates of one sheds and they're impossible to keep the dung out of even with the rail around them. The other sheds have the JFC drinkers with the lids. They're a comfort. I found them very tough and durable - even when they got abuse. You will never have to clean them out!!!!

BeeDI wrote: »

Speaking of water. I'm planning on small bowl type drinkers between pens mounted in cut out on dividing gates, as I dont want the bowls in the passage, getting hit with tractor etc,.
Good or bad idea from point of view of cattle dunging in the drinkers??

Also, anyone recommend best source for good quality dividing gates / calving gate etc,.

BeeDI

reilig wrote: »

Where in the country are you? You will probably get the best deal if you buy gates and barriers from the supplier of the shed. If you're in the North West or Midlands then regans in strokestown are hard beaten on price or quality - they're crying out for work at them moment as they had a lot of crews on the road. Also their welding is automated which gives the best quality and strength.

I have bowl drinkers in the gates of one sheds and they're impossible to keep the dung out of even with the rail around them. The other sheds have the JFC drinkers with the lids. They're a comfort. I found them very tough and durable - even when they got abuse. You will never have to clean them out!!!!

Is this the drinker you mean http://www.jfc.ie/DrinkingBowls.html#panel7

Seems designed to work between two pens. Am I right?

blue5000

Came across this thread in bff http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=2838&highlight=slatted+shed+water+trough

some good ideas for troughs.

Weld another bar 1 foot higher than normal on dividing gates to stop cattle jumping from pen to pen.

reilig

BeeDI wrote: »

Is this the drinker you mean http://www.jfc.ie/DrinkingBowls.html#panel7

Seems designed to work between two pens. Am I right?

That's the one exactly. It works between 2 pens. Its so worth the extra couple of euro to put it in. After 6 years, i have never once had to take dung out of mine, nor has any one of them leaked or overflowed.

Figerty

Try Gibney steel products.

I got some good gates from them. I was able to put the drinker between the two pens that way and haven't had to clean it out yet.

Second thing, if you are going to buy drinkers; buy at least one spare. If a cow breaks one you will need to be able to replace it straight away instead of waiting for the shop to open

Bitten & Hisses

Second thing, if you are going to buy drinkers; buy at least one spare. If a cow breaks one you will need to be able to replace it straight away instead of waiting for the shop to open

Good advice there. I've found with the Fisher drinkers that it's usually some non-standard mickey of a piece in the ballcock which gives trouble.