Dug big hole with MX5100

helomech

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Apr 15, 2011
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East Texas
I am doing a aquaponics system in my front yard and wanted to have the system below ground level. So with my 5100 and the front end loader I managed to dig a hole that is 17 feet wide by 50 feet long. The deepest part is almost 10 feet.



 

Kubota_Man

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Dec 25, 2010
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Thats awesome!!! In the Army we would call that a big tank trap :p

How long did tak you to dig that?
 

Eric McCarthy

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Fill it full of water and mix it up then throw a mud bog! And watch all the wild women mud wrestle in it!!!
 

skeets

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Dude ,,,now thats a hole !!! Sooooo now what are you going to do with it???
 

firejunkie

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he said it was a aquaponics pond, he will grow plants in nothing but water. Very cool pics. Nice work :D
 

hodge

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Huh... anybody who wonders what a Kubota can do, email em that pic. Or, sell it to Kubota, for their next brochure...
 

helomech

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Thanks guys, that hole probably has a bunch of water in it right now. I am stuck offshore, but wife said we got over 3 inches of rain yesterday. Aquaponics is really neat and effective way to grow a garden. You get 10 times the growth of a regular garden, and all you really have to do is feed the fish. The fish poo and the bacteria turns the poo into Nitrate, then another bacteria turns the nitrate into nitrites, which feed the plants. You also get fish to eat. I am going to use catfish in my system. My fish tank is going to be 1550 gallons. This will give you guys a idea of what I am building. The green are the grow beds.



 

helomech

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Apr 15, 2011
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East Texas
Huh... anybody who wonders what a Kubota can do, email em that pic. Or, sell it to Kubota, for their next brochure...
Yeah, everyone thinks I got a bulldozer. No one believes me at first that I did it with the kubota. And that ground is pretty hard, nothing but iron ore.
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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Ok I understand now, a hydroponic set up on a grander scale,,Back when the OL had her green houses I set something like this up but use a large kiddy pool with bluegils the kids caught for the critters and pumped the water to the plants in 6 inch pvc drain pipes. I used a hole saw to cut holes in the pipes for the plants and filled them mostly with gravel and capped the ends pumped the water through and it filtered and drained back to the pool...My set up was a bit more labor intencive than yours,,but then I had to keep everything in the green house,,, damn water would get really hard in the winter,,lol,, It looks like your going to have one outstanding set up when your done,, congrads
 

helomech

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Apr 15, 2011
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East Texas
Ok I understand now, a hydroponic set up on a grander scale,,Back when the OL had her green houses I set something like this up but use a large kiddy pool with bluegils the kids caught for the critters and pumped the water to the plants in 6 inch pvc drain pipes. I used a hole saw to cut holes in the pipes for the plants and filled them mostly with gravel and capped the ends pumped the water through and it filtered and drained back to the pool...My set up was a bit more labor intencive than yours,,but then I had to keep everything in the green house,,, damn water would get really hard in the winter,,lol,, It looks like your going to have one outstanding set up when your done,, congrads
Yeah, hydroponics does not use fish. Once you put fish in than it becomes aquaponics. No chemicals at all in the system. I plan on having the pumps run off solar and wind power. We have to many power outages here to use grid power alone. Going to use river rocks and lava rocks as my media for the plants, they will not be growing in water alone. Should have the tank in by next weekend.
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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OUTSTANDING,, geee I was on the cutting edge and never knew it,,,lol,,, Please keep us updated, I for one find this of interest
 

helomech

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Yes you where.

I sure will keep this updated now that I know someone is interested. Should have more pics to post on Wednesday or Thursday. Stuck offshore till Tuesday if the weather gets better by then. If not may be stuck out here a while.
 

superdog

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I have to ask....... How are the loaders pins and bushings after doing this? While it is really none of my business (or my tractor), it had to put a SERIOUS beating on the loader frame, especially without teeth on the bucket? My neighbor had an older John Deere unit about the same size as yours and dug a hole a little bit smaller than yours for a basement. When he was done, everything was really loose and he had to replace the upper arm pins close to the steering wheel and there were stress cracks at a few places.

Maybe the soil where you dug was fairly soft? The neighbors dirt was a lot of shale and iron stone. I would like to think that since this is a Kubota we are talking about, everything still works and looks like new, no matter how hard you worked it!:D
 

helomech

New member
Apr 15, 2011
527
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East Texas
I have to ask....... How are the loaders pins and bushings after doing this? While it is really none of my business (or my tractor), it had to put a SERIOUS beating on the loader frame, especially without teeth on the bucket? My neighbor had an older John Deere unit about the same size as yours and dug a hole a little bit smaller than yours for a basement. When he was done, everything was really loose and he had to replace the upper arm pins close to the steering wheel and there were stress cracks at a few places.

Maybe the soil where you dug was fairly soft? The neighbors dirt was a lot of shale and iron stone. I would like to think that since this is a Kubota we are talking about, everything still works and looks like new, no matter how hard you worked it!:D
Sorry, didn't see this post till now. Everything is still tight, nothing loose, cracked or broke. And the soil is very hard, can't dig it with a shovel at all. Just have to take it easy, I am sure if I rammed the bucket into stuff it would beat it up, but just pushing steady didn't hurt anything.
 
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