Stock Tank for water storage

[dprais1]

I find myself needing to age more water than I believe is practical with just Brute barrels.

Of course, my doorway is a tight 29".

To buy a vertical storage container I'm looking at 400.00 with shipping for 175 gallons.

Way too much $$!!

Agrimaster makes stock tanks that that will cost me 287.00 with shipping for 300 gallons (they also make a 150 gallon that would be 224.00)

Space is not an issue for me. I plan to heat the water to a nice 70-75 degrees. I figure for the time being the most I will need to use is 100 gallons a day. But who knows what the next year will bring. Especially with NADA coming to my neck of the woods in a few months.....

Just looking for any input, experience etc. Thinking maybe just a tarp tied down to keep the dust and stuff out.

here is a link

http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/747144-agrimaster-poly-stock-tank-by-behlen-country.html

Thanks

[Phillydubs]

If space is not an issue than for the extra few bucks I would grab that 300 and have at it!

I see no issue at all with that!

Good luck and enjoy.

[Second Hand Pat]

Are you wanting to keep it inside?
Pat

[Cosmo]

I've never used a stock tank for water aging, but looking at it I can see several issues that could prove problematic. First being, the large open top would bleed a lot of heat out of the tank into the room, and second, it would appear somewhat limiting to me on how you would both circulate the water in the tank and how you would move it to your aquarium. I'm sure both could be overcome, and the price per gallon is great, maybe it's just my prejudice since I've always used closed water storage tanks?

[Jayy]

I just setup my 220 gallon and I have a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank in the basement. It was 179 at the local cal ranch store. I think tractor supply and similar stores have them for similar prices around here in Utah at least.

Pumping the water from the basement to my sump does require a strong pump with high head pressure. I am using a Catalina CA4000 rated for 1300 GPH at 1', and I'm pumping it about 6 feet up at 660 GPH. This particular pump will move water as high as 13 feet (but with very little flow) and it's only 50 bucks.

The head height issue is solvable just measure how high you need to pump it and then check the charts and buy a pump that will move enough water that high.

I have not personally worried about dust etc. getting in my stock tank. Doing daily or every other day water changes doesn't give dust much time to accumulate. If I ever let the water sit for a long enough time to be a concern I'd drain it and refill. I have a foam pre-filter on the pump so if anything large does fall in it won't get sucked up anyway.

The stock tank fills up automatically with cold RO water and I have a shutoff system to only fill it 2/3 full. When I want to do a water change, I add 1/8 of a teaspoon of Seachem Safe, turn on pure hot water and fill it the rest of the way. I used a saddle valve and ran a line from my hot water heater main line over to the stock tank. It depletes the reservoir of my hot water tank, and anyone wanting to shower for the next half hour afterward would be in for a chilly experience, but I can get the water into the mid 80's, and then I pump it up into my tank. Eventually I am going to install a small point of use tankless water heater so I'm not using the main house hot water supply.

I also have some leftover powerheads from my saltwater days. I have 2 of these in the stock tank setup to circulate the water in a clockwise motion. They are angled upward a bit so that they agitate the surface of the water as well. And I have them plugged into a controller that runs them on for an hour and then off for an hour all day long. It's not at all necessary to have them on a controller like that but I had one handy so I figured why not use it.

[LizStreithorst]

I like the idea of an open top. It allows for faster degassing during aeration. Just lay a sheet of Styrofoam across the top. It will keep the heat in quite well.

[dprais1]

If space is not an issue than for the extra few bucks I would grab that 300 and have at it!

I see no issue at all with that!

Good luck and enjoy.

my thought exactly

[dprais1]

Are you wanting to keep it inside?
Pat

Yes it will be in the basement....and it will fit through the doorway easily.

[dprais1]

I've never used a stock tank for water aging, but looking at it I can see several issues that could prove problematic. First being, the large open top would bleed a lot of heat out of the tank into the room, and second, it would appear somewhat limiting to me on how you would both circulate the water in the tank and how you would move it to your aquarium. I'm sure both could be overcome, and the price per gallon is great, maybe it's just my prejudice since I've always used closed water storage tanks?

I like Liz's idea, styrofoam should do the trick. Even a cheap powerhead on a timer should circulate the water pretty good and a couple of air stones on 24/7. My tanks are also in the basement so the mag 9.5 I use now to refill my tanks will be just as effective with the stock tank as my current aging barrel


I just setup my 220 gallon and I have a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank in the basement. It was 179 at the local cal ranch store. I think tractor supply and similar stores have them for similar prices around here in Utah at least.

Pumping the water from the basement to my sump does require a strong pump with high head pressure. I am using a Catalina CA4000 rated for 1300 GPH at 1', and I'm pumping it about 6 feet up at 660 GPH. This particular pump will move water as high as 13 feet (but with very little flow) and it's only 50 bucks.

The head height issue is solvable just measure how high you need to pump it and then check the charts and buy a pump that will move enough water that high.

I have not personally worried about dust etc. getting in my stock tank. Doing daily or every other day water changes doesn't give dust much time to accumulate. If I ever let the water sit for a long enough time to be a concern I'd drain it and refill. I have a foam pre-filter on the pump so if anything large does fall in it won't get sucked up anyway.

The stock tank fills up automatically with cold RO water and I have a shutoff system to only fill it 2/3 full. When I want to do a water change, I add 1/8 of a teaspoon of Seachem Safe, turn on pure hot water and fill it the rest of the way. I used a saddle valve and ran a line from my hot water heater main line over to the stock tank. It depletes the reservoir of my hot water tank, and anyone wanting to shower for the next half hour afterward would be in for a chilly experience, but I can get the water into the mid 80's, and then I pump it up into my tank. Eventually I am going to install a small point of use tankless water heater so I'm not using the main house hot water supply. I will try the stock tank float valve, I can hook up a garden hose from my utility sink to the valve and it will refill the stock tank as I empty it. Not sure about heating it. My discus always do fine with cooler waterchanges so I figure 50-75% changes with water in the 70's is fine.

I also have some leftover powerheads from my saltwater days. I have 2 of these in the stock tank setup to circulate the water in a clockwise motion. They are angled upward a bit so that they agitate the surface of the water as well. And I have them plugged into a controller that runs them on for an hour and then off for an hour all day long. It's not at all necessary to have them on a controller like that but I had one handy so I figured why not use itGreat Idea, I will try the same set maybe for 15min every hour.


I like the idea of an open top. It allows for faster degassing during aeration. Just lay a sheet of Styrofoam across the top. It will keep the heat in quite wellVery good idea much better than the tarp idea I had.



Lastly, my wife said "sure sounds good"

I convinced her by saying that if I decided in the future to scale back I would turn the stock tank into a small pond in the backyard :)

[dprais1]

Ohhhhhh....

and thanks everyone for their input, really great ideas and great points.