Concrete Pipes for water tanks

[stupidfarang]

Hi, has anyone used the concrete pipe method for storing water for the farm? Looking at ideas for storing a large amount of water for the farm any ideas would be appreciated.

[farmerjo]

This is a neighbours set up.

Not sure how effective it is.

 

 

[thoongfoned]

the home stores sell cheap and expensive "plastic type" water storage "bins" or tanks. got some 2000 litre tanks mid price  5000/6000 baht each that have been going for 6 plus years, high volumes of water in out ect... got some cheaper ones 1500 litre at about 1800baht each that we use for chemicals to clean lorries in and out have also been using these for years. kept in the shade they last well. the bin type i think hold upwards of 3000 litres each, are cheap also... around a few thousand baht each.

the cement type still costs to do, say 150/200 each ring plus base cement ect so a tower of say 5 will cost 1000 baht plus then you have to leave in place ect... leaks/cleaning...

for me the plastic type bin would be the one.... build a tower..... depends on needs, collection/use ect...

those "ongs" redish clay type pots are ok but the out attachment is small. around use not easy to buy anymore...

[grollies]

34 minutes ago, thoongfoned said:

we use for chemicals to clean lorries in and out

what are you farming mate?

[stupidfarang]

4 hours ago, farmerjo said:

This is a neighbours set up.

Not sure how effective it is.

 

 

Looks like they are leaking water, but that is what I had in mind

[stupidfarang]

2 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

the home stores sell cheap and expensive "plastic type" water storage "bins" or tanks. got some 2000 litre tanks mid price  5000/6000 baht each that have been going for 6 plus years, high volumes of water in out ect... got some cheaper ones 1500 litre at about 1800baht each that we use for chemicals to clean lorries in and out have also been using these for years. kept in the shade they last well. the bin type i think hold upwards of 3000 litres each, are cheap also... around a few thousand baht each.

the cement type still costs to do, say 150/200 each ring plus base cement ect so a tower of say 5 will cost 1000 baht plus then you have to leave in place ect... leaks/cleaning...

for me the plastic type bin would be the one.... build a tower..... depends on needs, collection/use ect...

those "ongs" redish clay type pots are ok but the out attachment is small. around use not easy to buy anymore...

Yes I think the plastic type are good, but have read stories about the sun breaking them down. What home stores did you buy your tanks from? I would want 3,000 litres plus as will use the water in the dry season only, is there a UV proof/ semi proof plastic around do you know? I agree about the "Ongs" we have 5 already but they hold a small amount of water an as you said the out pipe is small 1/2inch I think

[thoongfoned]

3 hours ago, grollies said:

what are you farming mate?

contract pigs, sows-gilts, produce, sell piglets. 

[thoongfoned]

1 hour ago, stupidfarang said:

Yes I think the plastic type are good, but have read stories about the sun breaking them down. What home stores did you buy your tanks from? I would want 3,000 litres plus as will use the water in the dry season only, is there a UV proof/ semi proof plastic around do you know? I agree about the "Ongs" we have 5 already but they hold a small amount of water an as you said the out pipe is small 1/2inch I think

Do home, to me seem to be one of the cheaper home stores, they take money from us most months..... DOS brand green label, 1500 litre tanks are one of cheapest in store. i think, thats why i bought them, have been in shade most of the time, good stuff. also have the blue plastic tanks at the other house on a tower with no roof or shade, must have been there 10 plus years, still do the job, (not Dos brand) would be better in the shade thought though me thinks. at the farm we have tanks up in a high tower with roof and that black shade neting, keeps the heat-sun of the tanks, water is cool.... the main problem with the plastic tanks is bactarial build up over time, just drain them out then clean em. 

3000 litre you can buy the normal blue mid price tanks that would be approx 10,000 baht, i think, or the sort of bin tank that is just like a large bucket with a large top, they seem to always be in black, they have that dimond symble in white, some sort of thai-asian standard..... these are alot cheaper then the normal tanks. 

if you look at the DOS web site they have tanks gallore, big or small, with prices to match. if i were in the market for more water storgae i would use the DOS brand, all our waste from the toilets are in the dos septic tanks, we have a high water table at the farm so the normal ring set up sepics just fill straight up....

[kickstart]

On my travels around I see a lot of these concrete water towers ,and ones that have been they a few years all leak ,I think with the poor quality of Thai cement and the soup  constituency  that the Thai use when mixing cement ,when joining  the pipes I would say   thay becomes porous  and starts to leak ,and I have 1-2 starting to lean over ,after a few years 

I would go with  a square steel tower with say  1-2  plastic tanks on top, seen this done at a village  level , tanks being plastic would be maintenance free,some have been they a few years now  no problems ,one guy has a shade cloth frame on top , helps  to prevent the tanks from biodegrading .

Or go the other way dig a pit and line it with plastic sheeting ,to store water, in this area after 2 yeras of drought ,a lot of farmers have done this , mainly as a drip irrigation system for sugar cane .  

[grollies]

1 hour ago, thoongfoned said:

contract pigs, sows-gilts, produce, sell piglets. 

What do you use for a lorry wheel wash? Assume it's part of biosecurity?

[thoongfoned]

22 minutes ago, grollies said:

What do you use for a lorry wheel wash? Assume it's part of biosecurity?

a chemical that the company provides, the same chemi is used in a spray room for people and also a boot wash, it is "friendly" this one. yes all for biosecurity....

0.5 hp pump from tank that has a hose with a "gun" on the end, can get round lorry and drag units..... have pumps around the farm from 0.5ph to 2hp manly used to push water but also many pumps that draw and push water too.

[IsaanAussie]

I have 4, 1000 litre water tanks mounted under the sty roof, 2.4 metres above the ground. these are all connected with stop valves so one or more can be tapped. It also allows me to "medicate" one tank.

A couple of things to consider. Pump the water once, so I fill the tanks and then gravity feed. Having the height gives better pressure and running the water through 2" piping for as far as possible gives good flow rate filling a bucket in seconds. Second on my list is to match the holding capacity with the ability to feed water into them and daily usage. My ground water is good and well over what I need to fill all 4,000 litres repeatly. Be careful you have enough water for whatever you plan.

There used to be a filtration system schematic on the Pun Pun web site which was made on those rings and fed water to the village. Worth a look before you start.

[grollies]

3 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

a chemical that the company provides, the same chemi is used in a spray room for people and also a boot wash, it is "friendly" this one. yes all for biosecurity....

0.5 hp pump from tank that has a hose with a "gun" on the end, can get round lorry and drag units..... have pumps around the farm from 0.5ph to 2hp manly used to push water but also many pumps that draw and push water too.

I'm looking at speccing a biosecurity setup. Using sodium hypochlorite (phenol chemical). Waste water can be treated with sodium thiosulphate to knock out any residual chlorine. What do you think?

[thoongfoned]

14 hours ago, grollies said:

I'm looking at speccing a biosecurity setup. Using sodium hypochlorite (phenol chemical). Waste water can be treated with sodium thiosulphate to knock out any residual chlorine. What do you think?

to be honest i do not have a clue...... just get given the stuff.

on the label it does have many different types of chloride at 2 throught to 5 % but has 10 % of glutaraldehyde, what ever that is. not going to google it....

in one of the feed shops in town they have different sorts of chemi for bio secruity, starting at about 200baht per 1 litre.

for me bio secruity starts at the entrance to the land, ie long way from the farm entrance, fence, walls, gates, and walls... i would like to increase the hight of the wall that sites around the farm but its just more money and we spend to much money on maintance as it is..

[stupidfarang]

On 11/12/2017 at 6:58 AM, kickstart said:

On my travels around I see a lot of these concrete water towers ,and ones that have been they a few years all leak ,I think with the poor quality of Thai cement and the soup  constituency  that the Thai use when mixing cement ,when joining  the pipes I would say   thay becomes porous  and starts to leak ,and I have 1-2 starting to lean over ,after a few years 

I would go with  a square steel tower with say  1-2  plastic tanks on top, seen this done at a village  level , tanks being plastic would be maintenance free,some have been they a few years now  no problems ,one guy has a shade cloth frame on top , helps  to prevent the tanks from biodegrading .

Or go the other way dig a pit and line it with plastic sheeting ,to store water, in this area after 2 yeras of drought ,a lot of farmers have done this , mainly as a drip irrigation system for sugar cane .  

Thank you for your input, I will go with the plastic tanks, at the end of the day a lot easier, will cover them with a roof and double up on catching rain water to fill them, so less time using the pump

[farmerjo]

Just make sure your ground prep work to sit tank on is good as the cheaper ones after a few years will split at the outlet if it's not.

 

[stupidfarang]

On 11/12/2017 at 8:36 AM, IsaanAussie said:

I have 4, 1000 litre water tanks mounted under the sty roof, 2.4 metres above the ground. these are all connected with stop valves so one or more can be tapped. It also allows me to "medicate" one tank.

A couple of things to consider. Pump the water once, so I fill the tanks and then gravity feed. Having the height gives better pressure and running the water through 2" piping for as far as possible gives good flow rate filling a bucket in seconds. Second on my list is to match the holding capacity with the ability to feed water into them and daily usage. My ground water is good and well over what I need to fill all 4,000 litres repeatly. Be careful you have enough water for whatever you plan.

There used to be a filtration system schematic on the Pun Pun web site which was made on those rings and fed water to the village. Worth a look before you start.

Thanks for the info, I will go with the Plastic tanks, I want 4,000 or 5,000 litre as a back up for some trees in the dry season

[stupidfarang]

1 hour ago, farmerjo said:

Just make sure your ground prep work to sit tank on is good as the cheaper ones after a few years will split at the outlet if it's not.

 

Good info, thanks, the ground is rock with a bit of dirt but I think it will be worth placing some concrete down

[JungleBiker]

These Dutch guys in Chiang Mai supply water storage tanks for greenhouse growers: http://datt.asia/water-storage-solution/  Not listed on that page but they can even supply a 500,000 litre tank (I heard last year it cost over 400,000 baht).

 

With a greenhouse, you can collect the rainwater from the roof gutters, store it, and use it to irrigate the crops inside.

 

Rainwater is good for using in a hydroponics/fertigation system because it doesn't contain any undesirable salts. 

[stupidfarang]

Spoke to a local Thai farmer today, they had 10 concrete tanks built, the tanks look great but the farmer now asks himself why he used concrete tanks as they leak, not a happy farmer after speanding 76,000 bhat to have them built. He told me go with the blue tanks not concrete. (not just farangs who make mistakes on the farm)

[djayz]

I've often thought about building an underground water storage tank... if I ever get around to it and have the necessary spare cash to build it. 

Does any body here have any experience with underground water storage tanks? 

Aside from the additional cost of digging the dirt and the need for pumps, are there any other drawbacks to storing the water underground as opposed to storing it in tanks at ground level? 

 

[grollies]

5 minutes ago, djayz said:

I've often thought about building an underground water storage tank... if I ever get around to it and have the necessary spare cash to build it. 

Does any body here have any experience with underground water storage tanks? 

Aside from the additional cost of digging the dirt and the need for pumps, are there any other drawbacks to storing the water underground as opposed to storing it in tanks at ground level? 

 

I'd imagine it's pretty much the same as building a swimming pool minus the tiles and skimmers, etc.?

[kickstart]

As stupidfarang said  his local farmer built concrete tanks .and they all leak ,cost of a steel tower and plastic tanks ,with plastic tanks of dubious life span ,I would go with  a lined pond .

This one is near me  and was dug 3 years  ago  lined with a plastic  sheet ,this year being a good growing season ,it has not had a lot of use ,but for the past 3 years it has watered  all that sugar cane ,in the background ,about 25 rie ,on a drip irrigation system, with last years drought that pump  was working  24/7, for a good few weeks.and volume wise a lined pond would   probably equal  to a lot concrete towers ,ok,with no gravity  for the water to flow ,it would mean using  pumps, to pump the water out ,another cost, but very little maintenance, still think it would be cheaper  than a water tower ,and  you could even rear some fish .

  

[tifino]

 

...regarding the interface between the concrete pavement, and the lip of the concrete pipe...

 

you cannot ever be guaranteed that a new lay of concrete can bond at the interface with any old 'crete

 

I've just being toying with such a sealing job...

now, I don't know whether it will handle the pressure of a 1+ metre high head of water?

 

- but applying this in progressively deeper (less than 4mm at a time...) the flexible yet resiliant silastic-feeling result is encouraging, so far...

- this stuff claims to be proficient with the new/old interface problem

 

It applies just like silicone, and remains flexible.

In the case of a 'solid/rigid' interface, then apply a layer of this stuff right over the 'filler membrane.

This then isolates the pressure of the water from the waterproofing treatment, of the 'crack filler

 

 

it feels a bit like I'm 'welding' concrete together!

 

 

[stupidfarang]

5 hours ago, kickstart said:

As stupidfarang said  his local farmer built concrete tanks .and they all leak ,cost of a steel tower and plastic tanks ,with plastic tanks of dubious life span ,I would go with  a lined pond .

This one is near me  and was dug 3 years  ago  lined with a plastic  sheet ,this year being a good growing season ,it has not had a lot of use ,but for the past 3 years it has watered  all that sugar cane ,in the background ,about 25 rie ,on a drip irrigation system, with last years drought that pump  was working  24/7, for a good few weeks.and volume wise a lined pond would   probably equal  to a lot concrete towers ,ok,with no gravity  for the water to flow ,it would mean using  pumps, to pump the water out ,another cost, but very little maintenance, still think it would be cheaper  than a water tower ,and  you could even rear some fish .

  

Wow, looks great, but for me a dream only as no flat land on our hills, we do have a small crak that runs through the hills and we are going to build a small dam and line it with plastic sheets they use in the goong farms. You are right about the fish and what about swimming? Lol 

[kickstart]

13 hours ago, stupidfarang said:

Wow, looks great, but for me a dream only as no flat land on our hills, we do have a small crak that runs through the hills and we are going to build a small dam and line it with plastic sheets they use in the goong farms. You are right about the fish and what about swimming? Lol 

Ah, did not know that you were on a hill, see now why a water tower of some sort, would be needed.

Good luck in what you decide. 

[stupidfarang]

5 hours ago, kickstart said:

Ah, did not know that you were on a hill, see now why a water tower of some sort, would be needed.

Good luck in what you decide. 

We have a large flat area carved out of the hill, but after talking with a local Thai who has built concrete tanks we are going with plastic.

[IsaanAussie]

Starting to sound like a Monty Python "hole in road, bloody luxury!" story. LOL