has anyone extended a slatted tank

vanderbadger

has anyone cut the end wall of their tank and added in a few more bays? I would be skeptical about it but i hear its been done successfully to plenty of tanks. would just be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of it

Mulumpy

vanderbadger wrote: »

has anyone cut the end wall of their tank and added in a few more bays? I would be skeptical about it but i hear its been done successfully to plenty of tanks. would just be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of it

Advisor was at me to do it years ago but went and put up a slurry store instead. Delighted with all the capacity I have now. If I need more shed space down the line. I'll just put up a shed with channel at end flowing into existing tank.

lefthooker

Had it done last year to two tanks when I was updating the slatted house and feed passage. About two hours to do each tank. It suited our setup to do it that way

Sam Kade

lefthooker wrote: »

Had it done last year to two tanks when I was updating the slatted house and feed passage. About two hours to do each tank. It suited our setup to do it that way

How did they join up the old walls to the new?

lefthooker

Sam Kade wrote: »

How did they join up the old walls to the new?

I was kinda hands off at the time with the harvesting but how I think it as done was the shutters were let run up the sides of the old tank and there were spikes of rebar placed into the old walls. After the concrete had set the space between the walls and the earth at the joint was poured to reinforce it and to seal the tank.

bob charles

Sam Kade wrote: »

How did they join up the old walls to the new?

I presume you glue in the rebar with something like hilti hit and then there is a expanding strip water sealer that you use, cant think of the name of it http://suppliers.jimtrade.com/27/26721/waterbar_with_flexible_adhesive_strip.htm

just do it

Is there not a potential issue of the new section settling a bit and the join cracking? An ever so slight movement at the joint and now you've a pollution issue.

bob charles

just do it wrote: »

Is there not a potential issue of the new section settling a bit and the join cracking? An ever so slight movement at the joint and now you've a pollution issue.

Thats what I was thinking, but I suppose that could happen to a 60ft long new tank aswell. glued in rebar and the water bar im talking about would allow for a bit of movement. Cattle slurry usually doesnt shift :rolleyes:

moy83

just do it wrote: »

Is there not a potential issue of the new section settling a bit and the join cracking? An ever so slight movement at the joint and now you've a pollution issue.

I think the water bar is meant to expand with the movement . It might be a crazy idea but a pillar outside the tank covering the joint might help cracking and leakage . Say 3' wide and 10" thick and all tied together either side of the joint

just do it

Is all the effort worth it for the sake of saving on one side wall? From my experience I'd be slow to have any more than 2/3 bays per agitation point. Also it is a good thing to have cattle in different air spaces, particularly groups of stock of different ages.

lefthooker

just do it wrote: »

Is there not a potential issue of the new section settling a bit and the join cracking? An ever so slight movement at the joint and now you've a pollution issue.

There's the potential for any concrete to crack. But we must of caught the side of a mountain digging out the tanks so have a sound base and the space between joint and earth was poured too. And the tanks didn't empty themselves this January;)

just do it wrote:

Is all the effort worth it for the sake of saving on one side wall? From my experience I'd be slow to have any more than 2/3 bays per agitation point. Also it is a good thing to have cattle in different air spaces, particularly groups of stock of different ages.

In the case of our setup yes it was worth it. A new tank and shed wasn't needed. I needed to widen the feed passage so was breaking concrete over the tanks anyway. Stock numbers haven't increased significantly but they're all over a tank now and all under the one roof. Re age, one side houses finishing cattle, all the same age. The other side belongs to the cows. And theres plenty good ventilation too. The parlour is built off the cows tank so there's alot of dairy washings too, the tanks added another 90k litres capacity. And if you're worried about agitating, get a bigger agitator:pac:

Wigster

Mulumpy wrote: »

Advisor was at me to do it years ago but went and put up a slurry store instead. Delighted with all the capacity I have now. If I need more shed space down the line. I'll just put up a shed with channel at end flowing into existing tank.

Channels didn't work for me. Absolute disaster as slurry would cake inside in the channel. Adding water to the tank for agitating was a nightmare as it would just run over the slurry cake.