floatnslope2

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Closer to growing time

Well, I got a few hours this weekend to get some work done on the float and slope system. I was thinking of making the troughs 12 or 16 foot long, but I finally settled on a shorter run. Once I had decided on the 8 foot length, it was time to get the troughs built.

The troughs are 2X4 lumber covered with a plastic tarp. I have used some gravel as an underlayer to help filter the water a bit, and to promote faster runoff.

The 2X4's are nailed on both sides. The tarp is stapled with 5/16 inch staples. The screen strainers are stapled also.

SCREEN STRAINERS

It is time to trim and tack the screen strainer on the ends of the chutes.

Just one more strainer to do. Then it's time to fill up the troughs with the fired clay.

Now there are 8 bags of fired clay in the troughs. When dry, each bag weighs 40 pounds. Now, the total dry weight is around 320 pounds.

Washing out the dust from the fired clay. The water seems to drain pretty well. I guess the wood is strong enough.

I am thinking of using this 3/4 inch pvc to tap into the top tank and cap the bottom ends. Then, I could drill holes in the pvc small to begin with and enlarge them or add more to raise the flow rate as needed. I might reuse the flood system pots salvaged from another project to compare the performance of gravel, growrocks, foam stone, and fired clay by allowing the run off from the troughs to run into the top of the pots.

Thanks for droping by. Let me know what you think. email

(updated 4-22-01)

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