Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...It's off to work...

[dprais1]

Some before and during the process.

Drilled the 40's last night 4/11 and the rest started about 5am today and is progressing as it progresses.

Before96607966089660996610966119661296613

[dprais1]

And during....
96614966159661696617966189661996620966219662296623

[dprais1]

966249662596626

[Phillydubs]

Really cool! Thanks for sharing... Simple yet efficient seems to be the M.O. here...

[Debow]

3rd tank from the left has a amazing pair in it vary nice. What do you do with all your fry?

[Akili]

Progressing very nicely, Thanks for sharing.

[rickztahone]

Play-doh, ingenious idea! lol. I'm going to have to use that one too

[dprais1]

3rd tank from the left has a amazing pair in it vary nice. What do you do with all your fry?

Nothing yet, there seems to be little demand for fry. I will attempt to raise a bunch out to 5" and sell them for cheap then...

[dprais1]

Play-doh, ingenious idea! lol. I'm going to have to use that one too


Worked perfectly fine, and with a six year old in the house I have no shortage of color choices

[dprais1]

Update. Problems.

1. First off the 300 gallon stock tank leaked from the drain plug. found this out after filling it 1/2 way. So I had a steady stream of water from the tank to my basement drain for 2 days while still doing 2 50%+ waterchanges on each tank daily.

Stock tank repaired with epoxy and now works like a charm.

2. I bought a water trough auto fill off ebay for about 15.00 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Giant-Trough-O-Matic-Stock-Tank-Float-Valve-/271841550824?hash=item3f4b04e1e8:g:zckAAOSwpDdVMSi c) great deal, free shipping.

But it is model 825 which does NOT have the parts to enable it to fit a wide rim.
I could not find the parts to convert it sold separately.
I did not want to dish out more money just for some L brackets.
I went to Lowes and got some L brackets but the hole are not machined with threads. I ended up using epoxy to attach the L-brackets.

It not works perfectly. But it still makes me nervous so I only leave the water turned "on" when I am home but I don't need to sit and watch it refill and, so far, it does turn off as described.

3. On the 20 gallon, the bulkhead does not leak but I'm assuming the pvc standpipe in the tank is not water tight, there is a slow draining of the tank through the drainage hose. Maybe 5-7 gallons of 10 hrs. I'm not sure if I need to use PVC cement.

4. My basement is still a mess, I will get that cleaned up this week then I will finish off the other 2 tanks.


FYI....
1. If I had to do it over again I would have used 1/2" or 3/4" bulkheads. 1" is great but total overkill, IMO.
2. I bought barbed (for hose to hose connection) ball valves to use on the drainage hose but these also seem like a waste...assuming I can get my leaky pvc standpipe corrected
3. hard-plumbing is really not as hard as I thought it might be for a low pressure system, in the future I will probably change the flexible tubing at least partially over. I wouldn't use all flexible tubing again.
4. Drilling a tank is not that hard, I got a cheap bit off ebay because jehmco was out of stock, even my cheapo bit worked fine and really only danced around on the first hole I cut. I assume it just needed to be worn in a little.
5. Jehmco is really helpful.

6. and lastly, cinder block stands...
These work well for a few tanks but I wouldn't bother with doing a bunch. I don't think there is any cost savings, they are heavy, they take up a lot of space. For me space is not really an issue and I like the fact I can always tear it down and rearrange the configuration if I want. But if I was to ever add more tanks I would probably switch to home-made wood racks or buy steel shelving units.

[rickztahone]

Pictures of your progress :)