I'll think about the concrete thing. I'm worried about cracking as
I'm in z5a Chicago area.

Yes - I'm still up in the air & taking suggestions for a vortex/settle
chamber. However, the area is wooded & digging a 1,000 vortex is
going to be tricky.

The plan is:
Vortex/Settle chamber feeding to
50 gallon mechanical filter w/brushes feeding to
Ultima II 4,000 bead filter (mostly bio but some mech, holds about
50g?) feeding to pond

The 70g settle will feed the 50g mech via a piece of 4" pipe.
In the settle water from the 4" bottom drain would come in on the side
with a sweep inside the tank. The output would be in the side and
water would flow into the mech chamber high & in the center of the 70g
(surface area). The plan would then probably be suspend some brushes
around the output pipe - or create some sort of microscreen ot even
separate the input/output pipe by horizontal screen (which I figure
would take a long time to become completely blocked) then flowing into
mech brush chamber.

What is your settle/vortex like? I'm still taking suggestions on it
and am willing to nix the 70g stock tank idea for something better.

"how" wrote in message ...
Hi,
Don't tilt the tank in the ground - looks tacky. Tilt it to the desired
angle before installation and pour a concrete layer and when cured you have
a slanted bottom. A bulkhead fitting could be installed through the bottom
at the lowest point. Put the fitting in first and then the concrete. This
won't be optimal but better than a flat bottom.
The plan of creating a cone with liner in the soil is interesting but cones
work best if the water is delivered at a certain angle to the cone. Its the
turbulance thing again. I don't see this being practicle but if you do it
keep us posted.
Still don't think the Rubbermaid 70 gallon is big enough but it seems that
you have other mechanical filters in mind. Brushes work great also.
Personally never did the bead thing.
How is the 70 gallon tank going to the 50 gallon brush basin? Tell me you
are going to pump out of the 50 to the bead, right?
Remember ALL filters work, some better than others and some make you work
more.
HTH, -_- how
no NEWS is good for a reply


"Lisa" wrote in message
om...
How - Thanks for your input.

The setup would be: 4" bottom drain to 70g settle, feeding 50g
mechanical filter with brushes, feeding Ultima II 4000 bead filter,
feeding waterfall/stream. I'm not sure what pump I'll be using yet,
but It will be in the range of 2400gph to 3500gph. Since conventional
wisdom says a 4" pipe can handle 3000-3500 gph rather nicely.

I have a 2400-2500 gallon pond.

My "easy" thoughts are to slightly tilt the tank to one corner where a
drain would be installed. Yet there will be residual gunk on the
bottom due to the proposed tilt which would be very slight. I guess
the only other concept would be to somehow create a cone shape in the
tank but not sure what I can construct to accomplish that. Concrete?
Cut out bottom & dig the cone into the soil, liner it & have drain
there?

Still taking clever suggestions.