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Comment by Jeff S on June 3, 2015 at 10:18am

Sounds like all is going to go well since they made it 3 weeks. Congrats.

Comment by Michael Osman on June 2, 2015 at 12:14pm

I've finally got fish!!! 30 rainbow trout! Yay! Had them about 3 weeks now, so far they seem quite happy.

Comment by John Pink on December 15, 2014 at 2:18pm

Grow lights T 5s  give about five degrees of heat when outside temperature is 0 c the gas heater I have set at ten degrees ,finding when weather warm up the lights knock out the gas heater 

Comment by Jeff S on October 22, 2014 at 9:45am

I've seen a large boat (small ship) with a concrete bottom so I know concrete will float..... at least until it was rammed by the USS North Carolina LOL

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on October 22, 2014 at 9:42am

Hi Jeremiah, I'm not saying that Jeff's sump will float, but neither am I saying that it will not. Only that if certain conditions conspire to align, it can. I've seen a buried IBC sump do that. Two of them actually. The one sump had the plumbing going through it's wall. There was a 2" PVC pipe that was 'clinched' by a 3/4" piece of steel tubing going over top of said pipe...about 3 feet away from where it entered the sump...putting much stress on the pipe...since the steel tube was not allowing the pipe to move upward. Luckily it was caught in time before the pipe was damaged (in which case a copious amount of water from the DWC trough it was connected to would have spilled out, adding to the mess).

I still bury my sumps when building out certain designs. And in no way am I saying for anyone NOT to do that. Just to think about some things ahead of time and see if they may apply to you, (to potentially help avoid those "Oh Shit"! moments). That's all.

Comment by Jeremiah Robinson on October 22, 2014 at 9:08am

Hey Vlad,  I'm still not sure that would be an issue for Jeff, assuming the water doesn't come up above the water level in his tanks.  Even if it did, would a little shifting break anything in a plastic tank with a submersible pump?

I could see this as a bigger issue with concrete tanks because concrete has so many little air pockets that wouldn't become saturated right away in a flood, and would create its own buoyancy.  

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on October 22, 2014 at 8:15am

Hi guys, remember Archimedes of Syracuse ...that guy who told us that when our 50 gallon grow bed is filled with media (rocks, LECA, whatever) that it will no longer hold 50 gallons of water?

That same Principle of his, so aptly laid out over 2,200 years ago, also lets us know that "Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object".

It would be wise to consider the implications of this buoyant force when burying any tanks in the ground where a rising water table is a factor.

The volume of water displaced by your sump tank multiplied times the unit weight of water is equal to the buoyant force...and you don't want your sump tank shifting (floating) around possibly wreaking havoc with your plumbing etc...

Big fat, heavy concrete tanks buried in the ground will float and shift and make a big mess of things if this buoyant force was not taken into consideration and dealt with beforehand, it would stand to reason that an IBC, buried in the ground might subject to the same forces as well.  Just something to think about...

 

Comment by Jeremiah Robinson on October 22, 2014 at 7:23am

Jeff, you probably didn't intend to, but you just blew my mind.

First the issue you asked about: yes, spray foam would push back against the walls of your IBC if it was empty. There's no reason not to fill it first though, is there?

The reason I suggested foam board and quality glue (I like Lexel) is that it's cheaper and easier to work with than spray foam.  On a flat surface it's about as good, too.  If you buried it in such a way that the walls wouldn't bow out it should stay glued. The corners would be the only place it wouldn't work.

Second, you may have just invented a heating/cooling system.  If your water table is high in summer and low in winter, then your insulation would try out in the fall to be ready to keep your tanks warm in winter.  However, the high water table in summer would prevent the insulation from insulating, thus giving you a natural subterranean cooling system.  Water won't hurt spray foam or foam board.

Comment by Jeff S on October 21, 2014 at 1:25pm

Jeremiah, That was my first thought. Just wanted to ask for any input just in case. I'm putting 2" foamboard on the bottom and all around the cage. Spray foam has a way of pushing it's way wherever it wants so I'd be afraid to use it unless I had water in the tank. I do need to figure a way to make it all waterproof so when the water table rises it won't cause a problem.

Comment by Phil Slaton on October 21, 2014 at 11:22am

Thanks Josh!

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