Fertilizer Mix Tank

After we decided to go to a foliar fertility program, I was tasked with designing and building a fertilizer mix tank. First, I turned to Google, this was not much help. I found a few post showing mix tank setups but that was it. I couldn't find any specs on pumps, piping size, flow rates or design diagrams. This was going to be fun.

I talked to a tech at Dultmeier Sales, they cater to the agriculture industry, he gave me a good starting point. We decide on a 500 gallon cone bottom tank with a 2" 3HP centrifugal pump that would pump 150GPM. I drew a schematic of the plumbing of the tank and pump on graph paper. From the schematic I made a parts list of all the fittings and hoses I would need.

Before I could build and install a mix tank we had to build a containment area for the 500 gallon tank. We made a monolithic form so we could pour the floor and the walls of the containment at the same time.





















We extend the roof of our existing chemical building to cover the new containment area. We also closed everything in to have a dry mixing area.

I installed an exhaust fan to get rid of any fumes while loading the sprayers.

I built a platform around the 500gal tank for safety concerns and to make it easier to pour in fertilizer.

The pump is mounted behind the tank. I have a 100 mesh strainer installed to protect the pump. I also install a pressure relief valve with pressure gauge for pump protection. The suction hose connects to the ball valve with the yellow handle. The pump discharge is teed, with the green hose for mixing or filling and the blue hose for recirculation.

The eductor increases agitation 5 to 1.



The green discharge hose connects to a 3 way ball valve where flow can be directed to the tank for mixing or to fill the sprayer. The electrical switch turns the pump on and off.

The shower, eyewash and garden hose are connect to a fresh water line. The pipe with the 100 mesh strainer is a irrigation line for filling the mix tank and sprayers.

The overhead fill is connected to a 1.5" electric valve that is controlled by a switch on the wall. The box below the switch has a 24 volt transformer to operate the the valve. The valve is a standard irrigation valve. We can fill our 300 gal sprayer in 4 minutes with the irrigation line. We can fill the sprayer with liquid fertilizer in 8 minutes from the mix tank.

This was a fun project! If you have any question concerning the mix tank shoot me an email.