liquid fertilizer holding tank.design question

[Chicken]

My whole drip line setup has been on hold..until I got a holding/mixing tank.well today I got a.white see thru 30 gallon plastic barrel...

My question is where would be the best places for the inlet and outlet lines?

I'm thinking the inlet line be on the bottom pushing fresh water in..

And the outlet line be on the top releasing the mixed fertilizer solution..

I've never been around these type of tanks..is my thinking correct?
Or would another way be more effeciant.?????

 

[Brown Thumb]

Is it liquid or granulated fertilizer?
Either way I would say top out. you would have to have a tight lid on it and a pressure reducer before the barrel.
You need to know the amount of drip per hour for the lines.
Then you are mixing water into it, so how much water is coming into the barrel will affect the concentration.
There is more to it than that.
I use my 15 Gallon sprayer, 4 cups of calcium nitrate fill tank let sit for a day to dissolve and hook it to one line.
Then when empty I fill the tank again with water and do it again without fertilizer.
1 line is About 100 plants. Repeat to next line.

 

[Knucklehead]

It depends. Are you planning to force feed with fresh water, gravity feed, or pump feed? What you are asking depends on other things.

Whatever you do, use a back flow preventer to keep fertilizer from running back into your source water and polluting your drinking water. If you put your feed line at the top, you can remove your water hose without draining the tank in the wrong direction. (For whatever reason) Use a faucet at the outlet side.

Drip Works has some gravity fed emitters if you just wanted to elevate the tank and let gravity feed the lines. The emitters will work at such low pressure that gravity flow is all you need. It will be much easier to mix your fertilizer. What you mix is what is fed to the plants. With a system powered by fresh pressure, it's hard to gauge how much you are diluting your mix by feeding it with fresh water.

You can also mix your fertilizer in the barrel and use an electric water pump to feed the drip lines. Another way to know how much fertilizer you are feeding per gallon of water.

 

[Chicken]

it will be concentrated liquid fertilizer... 16 ounces to a gallon of water.

ill be force feeding fresh water in.... and the premixed and measured fert. out.

i may go with the electric pump down the road. if i aqquire a bigger holding tank.. but i think i can get more of these barrels.

.......................................................................................

im also gonna do a smaller scale of it... with just a 5 gallon bucket... for my overhead sprinklers.

if i want to throw foliar fertilizer. run the 5 gallon hooked to the sprinkler line.

the 30 gallon drum is gonna be for the veggie garden only.

next year i may run bacca drip line,????

i plan on having '' shut off'' valves on the bottom line,

 

[Knucklehead]

I know you've used DripWorks in the past. They have the backflow preventers you need. The Vacuum Breakers is all you need at your source water. Also check out the Check Valves: http://www.dripworks.com/category/backflow-prevention

These fertilizer injectors work on a venturi siphon system that sucks water/fertilizer from a bucket or barrel and either straight into the pipe or into a bypass: http://www.dripworks.com/category/mazzei-suction-style-fertilizer-injectors

I used to use a fertilizer injector that screwed onto the faucet and the water hose screwed onto it. It had a little rubber hose that you dropped into a bucket and it sucked up fertilizer from the bucket and mixed it into the water hose. It had a built in backflow preventer. They were cheap and easy to use. I'll look for one and post a link if I can find one.

If you know the flow rate of your emitters, say 100 emitters at 1/2 gallon per hour, you can calculate your fertilizer rates.

 

[Knucklehead]

I found the Siphon Mixer like I used to use in the past. It was at Greenhouse Megastore: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/hozon-siphon-mixer/fertilizer-injectors

The brass part screws on between the faucet and a water hose. The little black pipe drops down into a bucket and sucks up the fertilizer.

 

[Chicken]

Now that I like..when I get stopped again I'll look at those links..

Thanks a million knucklehead.,.

 

[Knucklehead]

I found the Siphon Mixer like I used to use in the past. It was at Greenhouse Megastore: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/hozon-siphon-mixer/fertilizer-injectors

The brass part screws on between the faucet and a water hose. The little black pipe drops down into a bucket and sucks up the fertilizer.

View attachment 15539

Now that I like..when I get stopped again I'll look at those links..

Thanks a million knucklehead.,.

I should add that it doesn't have to screw on to the faucet, you can use it inline between two garden hoses, allowing you to move the bucket of fertilizer where you need it. Closer to the patch, or closer to where you mix the fertilizer. Then just run a garden hose over to your drip lines.

If you know the (1)gallons per hour of your emitters, (2)the number of emitters, (3)how many gallons you want to water each plant, and (4) the recommended oz. per gallon of your fertilizer to water, you can calculate your fertilizer mixing rate so each plant gets the correct mixture at the plant. The inlet water (psi or gph) doesn't matter, it's the advertised flow rate of the emitters that matters. Whether mixing in your barrel, or sucking up from a bucket. It's the same.

 

[Smokin Harley]

My whole drip line setup has been on hold..until I got a holding/mixing tank.well today I got a.white see thru 30 gallon plastic barrel...

My question is where would be the best places for the inlet and outlet lines?

I'm thinking the inlet line be on the bottom pushing fresh water in..

And the outlet line be on the top releasing the mixed fertilizer solution..

I've never been around these type of tanks..is my thinking correct?
Or would another way be more effeciant.?????

ok, I know how to do this...the plastic barrel should come with two gasketed bungs with two sets of threads in each. one should be the coarse threads that the bung screws into the barrel itself and the other one should be a 3/4" pipe thread which the bottom one anyway should be fitted with a plastic valve/spigot . Turn the barrel on its side and position it so the bungs are top and bottom of the barrel lid. Set it up on a very sturdy base (30 gallons weighs approximately 240 lbs.)to get the bottom one up high enough for a five gallon bucket under the valve.

the other way to do this is look up a greenhouse supply house and find what is called a hose-on proportioner. What you do it hook it up at your water spigot and then attach your garden hose to that . A small suction hose comes off the proportioner to run down to a premixed 5 gallon bucket of concentrated fertilizer- usually one packet of like Miracle Grow to 5 gallons of water. the running water through the hose picks up the right amount of fertilizer as you water.
Edit...see Knuckleheads post above mine...the mixer he pictured is the exact same thing...thanks Knuck , we tend to think alike ...which should really scare you !!

 

[Chicken]

I think I'm gonna order that syphling hose contraption knick posted a pic of...it looks very effeciant for what I want to do...

 

[DGBAMA]

I think I'm gonna order that syphling hose contraption knick posted a pic of...it looks very effeciant for what I want to do...

I think distribution will be more uniform that way than a simple "flood tank" where concentration varies as water goes through.

 

[Chicken]

i did a lot of research on the siphling mechanism.. and as dogma stated.. for my purposes it will be extremelly effeciant,

i found it pretty cheap on amazon.. gonna order it tonight.

thanks for the help and input guys;;