slatted tank design/cost

jayk1

hey, looking for sum numbers and costs for a slatted tank i'm hoping to get done over d next couple of years all going well. tank will be 100ft long 8ft deep and around 24ft wide with a spine wall in the middle.(slurry will be able to flow around both tanks) It will be replacing an old open tank which is 80ft long so digging out wont be as extensive, but saying that alot of the old walls will have to be dug out for the new walls to be shuttered. planning on putting slats for the cows to feed on at one side(slats to meet at spine wall) and the other side solid slats for the feeding passage to drive over, if yas get what i mean.

if anyone would have any ideas on the cost of this tank and slats included or other ideas would be great

bob charles

sounds to me like you will be wasting a 12 * 100 ft tank just to use as a feed passage. keep the feed passage to the outside of the tanks and will give you more animal accommodation. cost wise 20k for the tanks and 12k to cover with slats give our take a few grand

jayk1

thanks bob charles, I hear what your saying and ideally i would be doing what your sayin,
Origionaly I was thinking about an 18ft wide tank with feed passage outside that, but the thing is i am caught for space the tank will be between a shed and the boundary wall(main road on other side)so i have only around 40ft width to work with, less when you include the trees around the farm. the feeding passage over one side of the tank keeps it more workable for my situation and more capacity for expansion is d main thing i'm looking for.

do you know anywhere to source the slats, cheap, good quality?

cjpm

jayk1 wrote: »

do you know anywhere to source the slats, cheap, good quality?

You get exactly what you pay for when it comes to slats. They are not selling them to you at a loss.

keep going

if you are build 2 tanks beside each other,keep them separate except for a hole near the top,its handy to be able to only stir one tank and spread if you want and you wouldnt have to empty it all if you got below agitation level

blue5000

OP you could go deeper to increase storage, as already said the size of tank you suggest is a lot of slurry to agitate and spread in one go.

Do these spine walls and agitating around mid wall really work? The only time you might spread all the slurry in one go is after 1at cut.

In a normal:D summer you will lose all the N value of the slurry. If you had smaller tanks you could agitate and spread as fields are closed up in Spring.

jayk1

if i go deeper i will have to get a deeper agitator, sayn dat i might have to get a more powerful one anyway to mix 100ft tank, maybe not?

I like 'keep goings' idea of the spill over in d spine wall, would be alot handier agitating wise anyway!

thanks for d replies lads. any more ideas keep dem coming

Farmer Pudsey

blue5000 wrote: »

OP you could go deeper to increase storage, as already said the size of tank you suggest is a lot of slurry to agitate and spread in one go.

Do these spine walls and agitating around mid wall really work? The only time you might spread all the slurry in one go is after 1at cut.

In a normal:D summer you will lose all the N value of the slurry. If you had smaller tanks you could agitate and spread as fields are closed up in Spring.

I be inclined to agree with Blue even with your own agitator it is going to take a lot of time to agitate these tanks also as there is an opening each end between tanks it may make it harder find some one that has one and ask about pro's and cons, have heard that tanks with pillars are very hard to agitate so check out about this type of double tank.:mad:

The economic value of slurry will increase over time as diesel and carbon fuels get more expensive:rolleyes:

I do not know if I would be happy driving a tractor over slats that are 20 years old may seem a long way away but time creeps along.:eek:

On slats when I build one when the grant was available I got them fron Creagh Concerete in NI they were very compeditive at the time and are a grand slat under cattle they were rated as suitable as tractor slats in GB but not in Ireland.

I be inclined to go for the single biggest slat I could get and go deeper. Also did you say an 18' slat available going 9' deep you will only have 20-30 extra cubic metres of storage compared to 18 slat option, I know you are caught for space where you are can you move it elsewhere or start greenfield may seem expensive now but ten years down the line.

jayk1

hey, wondering has anyone anyone experience of slatted tanks being built to a depth of 10ft (3m) or is 9ft the mx depth people go? also do you get agitators that go down to a depth of 9 or 10 ft?

reilig

jayk1 wrote: »

hey, wondering has anyone anyone experience of slatted tanks being built to a depth of 10ft (3m) or is 9ft the mx depth people go? also do you get agitators that go down to a depth of 9 or 10 ft?

I could be wrong, but I think the depth of your tank will be dictated by the size of the shutters availabe. Do shuttering pans come in variable lengths?

Conor556

The fella doing ours had 8x9s. so could cover 9ft and 8ft high or 8ft and 9ft high

maxxuumman

I have a tank 10 ft deep. I only found out after putting it in that that the laws of physics makes it difficult to get slurry out after 8ft. Doesn't matter how new/big your slurry tanker is, it's hard going and slow to get slurry 10ft out of the ground.

Timmaay

I've been thinking about a solution to this problem Maxxuum, as I'm 1/2 looking at putting in another tank down the line and 10ft in terms of space to cost ratio would be the way to go.

If there was a 2nd emptying point on the slatted tank, where the vacuum tanker basically sat 3ft lower, this would surely solve the problem? You'd basically end up digging out part of the yard 3ft lower, beside the slurry tank, that you can back the tanker in so as it was lower. Even if the vacuum pipe ended up being raised over the wall of the tank, that shouldn't make any difference? (apart from probably needing a longer pipe). It might be too much hassle for you to say dig out a lower place in the yard now, but there is a large enough fall in my yard that I'd have no problems putting in an emptying point at a lower position.

Muckit

Timmaay wrote: »

I've been thinking about a solution to this problem Maxxuum, as I'm 1/2 looking at putting in another tank down the line and 10ft in terms of space to cost ratio would be the way to go.

If there was a 2nd emptying point on the slatted tank, where the vacuum tanker basically sat 3ft lower, this would surely solve the problem?

Now there's brains for you

case956tom

reilig wrote: »

I could be wrong, but I think the depth of your tank will be dictated by the size of the shutters availabe. Do shuttering pans come in variable lengths?

both big pans that use the whirly bolts and the smaller pans that use the wedges come different lengths and different withs they just clamp together walls or tank walls higher than 8 foot is no problem

severeoversteer

get a real shuttering contractor ! timber shutters ! how its done on the real deal building sites, then ule get ure ten foor deep tank, most lads have 8 by 9's 8 by 3 pans etc, 16'6'' wide tank 10 foot deep would be my choice

pakalasa

maxxuumman wrote: »

I have a tank 10 ft deep. I only found out after putting it in that that the laws of physics makes it difficult to get slurry out after 8ft. Doesn't matter how new/big your slurry tanker is, it's hard going and slow to get slurry 10ft out of the ground.

Of course, it's much easier pump it up than suck it up. A top fill pipe on the agitator? You need 2 tractors then, of course.

misnormer

dig 2 days =1400
, steel = 6000
, pour floor @24metres 2300
,do wall steel 2000


concrete at €72/cubic metre
expect to pay €15 euro per linear foot peri shuttering erect and fill by a contractor=1500
40 metres concrete walls= 3500
slats 25 at 320e each= 7000


ballpark figure €21,700

misnormer

maxxuumman wrote: »

I have a tank 10 ft deep. I only found out after putting it in that that the laws of physics makes it difficult to get slurry out after 8ft. Doesn't matter how new/big your slurry tanker is, it's hard going and slow to get slurry 10ft out of the ground.

Your sucking over 12 feet to the spreading tank,there is a limit to vertical vaccum resistance on a column of water when thats near its known as reduced flow /increased time to fill. the pump wont be big enough .tankers have a specification as to their limits of performance .


Using a reduced pipe size (-2") would overcome increasing the size of the vaccumn pump and reduce the pressure on the vaccumn pump seals.

bob charles

misnormer wrote: »

Using a reduced pipe size (-2") would overcome increasing the size of the vaccumn pump and reduce the pressure on the vaccumn pump seals.

And I have never taught of that, Presume it would result in faster filling but of course there would also be increased friction.

blue5000

misnormer wrote: »

Your sucking over 12 feet to the spreading tank,there is a limit to vertical vaccum resistance on a column of water when thats near its known as reduced flow /increased time to fill. the pump wont be big enough .tankers have a specification as to their limits of performance .


Using a reduced pipe size (-2") would overcome increasing the size of the vaccumn pump and reduce the pressure on the vaccumn pump seals.

I bought a 3'' pipe this year that is 10m long. I use it to empty a small(5 ft deep) slatted tank that is behind a new tank to save driving over the new tank with a slurry tanker. Anyway I was surprised how quickly it was able to fill the tanker, not much slower than a 6'' pipe.

But I have a 9 ft tank as well and it is slow filling from that. If you have ever tried lifting a 6'' hose that is blocked and full of sh1te you might appreciate more what your vac tank is trying to do when you're emptying a 9-10 ft tank.

At 9-10 ft deep no matter what size the pipe is it is going to be hard work getting the last few loads out with a vac tank.

larthehar

I have a tank which only has access from 1 end; approx 52ft long. Something which i wish i would hav thought of on the install would hav been to run a 6" pipe along side the tank and direct it back in at the oppisite end. With a top fill agitator it would hav been possible to pump the slurry through the pipe to force lumps down to the agitation point. Just a thought for a 100ft tank.. maybe do this to the mid point? Would easily pay for itself at €50/hr!