Planning New System in KY

[Freeholder45]

I've wanted to experiment with aquaponics for a long time. When I bought this property, part of an old Kentucky farm, it came with one of those liquid protein feeders for cattle -- a big shallow tub with a lid, and two to four little 'conveyor' belts in the lid that the cattle lick to bring up the feed solution. They are several hundred dollars new, so I didn't want to just toss the thing, but I also wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It was sitting out in the pasture, too far from the house for me to do much with it, and too heavy for me to move by myself. Well, yesterday my brother, who now lives next door, brought the thing into the yard with a tractor, and now I can see using it for the fish tank of an aquaponics setup!

The bottom tank is rather shallow, only about 20", and is about 80" across. If I did my calculations correctly, it should hold around 400 gallons of water, give or take a few. I need to take the red top off of it (and figure out a use for that), and put a drain hole in it, and scrub it out. That's not going to happen immediately, as I'm pretty busy with other things right now, like raising bottle calves and hatching eggs, but it will happen.

I have a 10' x 20' high tunnel that I need to get put up, thinking the grow beds will go inside of that. Have to figure out the appropriate size of grow beds for that size of tank; the right size sump and filter tanks; the proper water pump; and build the bell siphons.

[Jason]

Welcome to the community. That sounds like an interesting project. I have never heard of a liquid protein feeders, but I have never been around cattle much. If you get a chance, I would love to see a picture of what it looks like when you get a chance.

Jason

[Freeholder45]

This is more or less what my lick tank looks like, though I think mine is bigger than this one (mine is 80" across, and about 20" high to the top of the white part). They come in other colors, but mine is red and white like this one. The little black rectangle is actually a belt that rolls when the cows lick it (they have very rough tongues), and brings up the liquid from inside the tank. I'm not sure what I'll do with the red top part of the tank yet -- it might work as a planter, if it was turned upside down, but we may come up with a better way to use it.

If nothing else, I can grow duckweed in the tank to feed to the chickens, and have a few fish to eat mosquito larvae.

[Freeholder45]

Oh, and I've been around cows much of my life, and didn't know what the lick tank was until I looked it up online!