Pump to remove algae 1

[myname_earl]

I'm wondering if I can get some advice regarding pump sizing and style to remove an algae/water mixture from ponds/lakes.

Is there a pump style that I'd be able to transport on a trailer that can handle sucking up stringy solids like duckweed/algae and even sticks and be okay?

I was originally looking at something like this in a 2"x2" but having zero background in pumps; it could be over or undersized:

https://www.grpumps.com/product/pump/10-Series-Engine-Driven

I would need to fabricate a header that allows floating algae to be "pushed" into and haven't the slightest clue how I could calculate what I'd need to keep from starving the pump... I'd essentially be pumping this algae/water slurry into a storage tank or trailer and dewater the algae for transportation and then mechanically removing the algae to dump.

I've also heard a submersible pump could work but not sure how I'd control the media being pumped besides going back to a floating or permanently mounted header that I can push the solids into.


Hopefully this isn't too broad of a situation to ask for information on, the conversation of algae removal came from a beer conversation and it sparked my interest to see if it's a better solution than conveying it out on modified pontoon boats that are currently in use.


Thanks! Earl

 

[LittleInch]

"sticks" are a bit too much.

The other option is to just suck it all into a trailer tanker and then blow it out again.

MY BIL uses this to pump slurry on his farm and if it will go down a 4" pipe then it goes into the tanker. Driven off a PTO.

Smaller versions though might be a bit harder to find.

Algae is horrible stuff to try and pump though and any pump risks getting fouled up on this sort of stringy very long material.


but if you're transporting it into a tanker then just vacuum it up and forget about the pump.

But first describe better what exactly you're trying to do please. Empty the pond or remove the algae?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[myname_earl]

Thats odd... I was planning to use it for our small farm. We have some ponds in the area that we like to keep clean but it can be intense and laborious to get out physically. We plan to dry the algae or store it wet then put it on fields blended with manure.

Any chance you can share your BIL's configuration? Just curious what I'd be getting myself into equipment-wise even though it sounds simpler/cheaper than pumping looking at the john deere model.
I'm curious if he bothered with calculations or did some farmer thinking and just went big enough so it worked.

Does he have any type of filtering to stop larger items from getting sucked in? Is someone just wading in the water with the head and sucking up algae or are they draining the water too?

I'm wanting only the algae and returning the water as best as i can to the ponds.

 

[LittleInch]

He's just got a standard slurry spreader. So a tanker with a PTO driven air compressor which you either use in vacuum mode to suck in the slurry from under his cow sheds, then reverse it to blow all the liquidised cow shit all over the fields.

So basically one very much like this. Very simple.

https://farmgard.co.nz/choosing-the-right-slurry-tanker-for-your-farm/

I've seen him hose up water from a swamp to use for animal drinking water before now. Just drop the rather stiff vacuum hose into the pond. If you want something which floats then make it yourself. As I said, if it goes into a 4" or maybe a 6" hose, it will go into the tanker.

How you deal with the water and algae is up to you, but you could use things like geo bags?

Pump the stuff in, let the water leach out then open up the bags and remove the algae??

https://www.crown.co.za/latest-news...ews/8476-geobags-for-capturing-dredged-sludge

Depends how sophisticated and large scale you want to get?



Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[myname_earl]

keeping it simple, we use solid manure and blend it in dry or damp. The ponds are shallow and used daily so I didn't exactly want to deplete them but I don't think i'd affect the levels with a poop tanker now that i'm thinking about it. We're just under 30 acres so we don't own a tanker and always get our manure from the neighbors hog farm. I have no use for larger equipment and dumping money into industrial farming equipment. Hell it's hardly farming and more of a very large garden at this point..

Would be kinda neat to turn into a side business though. Probably wouldn't be a bad secondary income in the summer.


Thanks! Earl

 

[Artisi]

Google Goulds Trash Hog pump.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

 

[georgeverghese]

Or this

https://www.moyno.com/applications/other-applications/agriculture-industry.html

 

[TenPenny]

Megator has a line of floating strainers, that are designed to allow pumps to skim off the top layer of water, and they have some other interesting environmental-related products, more or less aimed at oil spill recovery, but there might be some things in here that would be of interest, or at the very least spark some ideas:

https://www.megator.com/products

 

[myname_earl]

Nice! Having a skimmer would make it a more "hands free" operation where I can get out with a raking tool and push it to the skimmer. Right now I'm looking at something like this that I can mount to a truck or trailer and throw the algae in a small tank, open grain wagon or manure spreader and dewatering it naturally... Link