Gourd - Silicon will fix that leak no problem. Just make sure to let it sit for 24 hours in 70 degree temps for a proper cure. Silicon will leave no harmful chemicals and will seal your base 100%.
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10 min $10 DIY aerated compost tea ACT brewer
- Thread starter heady blunts
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Sorry I have not been around for a bit. Great job! My only recommendation, had I been around would be to use 1.25" thin walled PVC for a brewer larger than 5 or 8 gallons. When I talked about using 1 inch that was related to my experiments with the bucket brewers. 1.25 may increase your flow. If you are happy, that's what counts.
On the internal diffuser chamber it is a little complex and you may need to customize some parts to create it. It goes in right where your air input is now. We had to customize parts and fill spaces with glass epoxy. Basically on the other side of where your tubing goes now, you need an air output, which in our case is threaded to accept the brass threads of the diffuser I designed. I used 3/4 inch PVC which I had slotted with 254 micron slots (at PVC machine shop). The end of the pipe is capped without glue to allow cleaning. The length of the diffuser was calculated through trial and error by measuring flow and dissolved oxygen rates. Similarily the distance on the right angle from the center point of the riser pipe was calculated through trial and error by measuring flow and dissolved oxygen rates. This is the crux of my patent. This was originally done for the 50 gallon barrel brewer, which we did not worry about leaks with. With the cone bottom we are working on, the piping and diffuser is exterior so we have incorporated threaded unions so the whole thing can be dissassembled but have no leaks.
PS. You cannot use sched 40 for diffusers. trust me.
I know buttkiss about dry molasses.
I was drinking milk, and now it is all over my screen, lol. Buttkiss, classic.
Thanks OB! Any opinion on male or female threads on the tank? That's an option when ordering the tank. I would think Male would be better
OB, you're building a bigger tank? Bigger than 15 gal?
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It really doesn't matter if you get a male or female fitting. The inside diameter is the same either way I believe.
As for the bigger tank, yup! I am doubling the amount of plants grown this year in my back yard, not just canna. Last year I was cutting my 15 gal brews with 50% water to have enough. This year I would have to cut it by four, so instead I am going to make a 40-50 gal brewer. May just go with the garbage can, but then again I may just buy another cone bottom tank like the one you posted.
If you are reducing in size, I believe FMPT is more practical.
OB, how do you apply the brew? Do you have a sprayer, or can it even be sprayed? I'm looking to apply to lawn as well as garden and am interested in some large scaling and minor automation.
MM, do you mean reducing below 15 gal? Seems like less/easier thread cleaning with a MNPT? I have this vision of sitting there looking up this hole with a toothbrush to get at the threads with FNPT. Good thing I'm medicated or I'd be nauseous now.
I apply the brew to my veggie and canna plants by just watering the plants with a soil drench. When I apply the ACT it acts as my watering for the plants, it is part of my schedule's. I also like to spray as a foliar spray, and when I do I bought a concrete water pump. Microbeman (I believe) recommends the concrete sprayers and has done tests to make sure the microbes live through the sprayer. For lawn I would spray for sure, strained and diluted to 10:1 ratio. However, I always defer to MM.
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SeaMaiden
Ok, time to post a link to what has turned out to be one of my BEST purchases to date: A tank sprayer from Northern Tool. This. Thing. ROCKS. Use it for all applications. I put mine into the tow-cart I have for the lawn tractor, and it's how I did everything last year with the injury (the tractor + the cart).
I got mine on sale for around $170 including tax & shipping. This is technically an ATV-mountable sprayer, but like I said, I just strap mine into the cart I tow behind my lawn tractor. The Little Lawn Tractor That Could!
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200347993_200347993
I got mine on sale for around $170 including tax & shipping. This is technically an ATV-mountable sprayer, but like I said, I just strap mine into the cart I tow behind my lawn tractor. The Little Lawn Tractor That Could!
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200347993_200347993
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i finally made one. YEEHAW
This is the sprayer I also recommend because the pump shuts off when not spraying. I have not checked how their agitator works but most recirculate through a mechanical pump which is not good.
Get the widest open nozzle possible. [I have not run tests on this unit, just read the specs]
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SeaMaiden
Yes, for a tank that size compared to a woman my size, the agitator makes life much better/easier. I also got an additional 50' of vinyl tubing to extend the reach, as you're only provided with 15' of tubing. Northern Tool says you can't do this, but you can.
Yes, the agitator is a recirculation system. If need be, I can take some pix of the tank mounted in the cart and the agitator thingy. I had my husband build and install the agitator, so I won't be able to answer questions directly.
One other thing to remember--you cannot agitate the tank and spray at the same time, that's the only thing, it's one or the other, not both.
Also, if you're concerned that 2.2gpm is insufficient push, I find that it is not insufficient, it works very well. The nozzle can be adjusted, also, to go from stream/spot spraying to fine mist broadcast. I use that adjustment quite a lot, depending on both what I'm spraying and wind conditions.
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SeaMaiden
I don't see how the agitator can cause contamination if there is none using the unit without it. Or... something like that.
Most spray tanks in the landscape/garden/farm industry use a pump which is continuously circulating. This is because historically these tanks and sprayers were used for applying chemicals which require constant mixing. The same pump which sprays is used for recirculating so it is going constantly. If you read my section on brewing with a venturi set up and the tests through pumps, you will realize what is wrong with this. It will damage fungal hyphae for sure, probably bacterial structures, depending on size and perhaps/probably some protozoa. Why go to all the trouble of building/buying an air operated brewer to then run ACT more than one or two passes through a mechanical (water) pump.
It is for the very reason that the Northern Tool sprayers do not do this, unless ordered, that I recommended this sprayer a couple/three years ago. I believe that Rittenhouse was working on an improved ACT sprayer with aeration in the tank but when I spoke to them they had yet to get their patent.
Your best option is to set up a small air pump running a diffuser in the tank.
When we applied ACT on our farm we used, either an irrigation pump connected into the tank and our irrigation system or we dropped a sump pump in a mesh bag into the tank connected to a garden hose. We use the regular garden hose nozzle or thumb. We use the latter now that our farm is reduced from 100 to 2 acres.
It is for the very reason that the Northern Tool sprayers do not do this, unless ordered, that I recommended this sprayer a couple/three years ago. I believe that Rittenhouse was working on an improved ACT sprayer with aeration in the tank but when I spoke to them they had yet to get their patent.
Your best option is to set up a small air pump running a diffuser in the tank.
When we applied ACT on our farm we used, either an irrigation pump connected into the tank and our irrigation system or we dropped a sump pump in a mesh bag into the tank connected to a garden hose. We use the regular garden hose nozzle or thumb. We use the latter now that our farm is reduced from 100 to 2 acres.
