Originally Posted by
BMKal
To clarify all of the water in the dam by filtration, you would need to pump all of the water through some sort of filter - this would take some time.
A quicker option would be to use a flocculant. Simply set up a pump that draws water from the dam, and then pumps the water back into the dam. Put an injection line into the intake side of the pump (suction line) and inject a small quantity of flocculant into it. The flocculant will mix with the water / clay in the pump.
It causes the clays to agglomerate together into larger particles, which will then settle out into the bottom of the dam. You will find that you only need to do this for a relatively short time, as the water / floc will mix with the rest of the water in the dam through turbulence. The floc will actually work better once it is in the dam and diluted throughout the water body.
One warning though - if you have yabbies or similar life in the dam, don't do this as the floc will in the short term deplete the water of free oxygen, and any life in the dam will die.
Not sure who you could get flocculant from in Tassie. Any decent size mining / industrial chemical supplier should be able to get it for you. Tell them that you want to settle oxides / clays (there are different flocs available for different minerals). Alternatively, if you know anyone working in any mines down there which have thickeners in the processing plants, they will have the stuff by the truckload. You would need less than a 25kg bag of powder to do a dam. Best to get it as a liquid if you can - much easier to inject into suction line, and the powder can be a bugger to mix if you don't have the right equipment (will go like jelly).
No problems swimming in the dam afterwards - this stuff is virtually harmless to humans and animals, and will be so dilute once it is in the dam that you won't even know it is there. I've been swimming in dams / thickeners that have been treated with floc many times, and have copped a mouthful of treated water more than once. No harm so far ........................... I think.
We did have someone throw some in a dam out near Karonie gold mine years back. They wanted a feed of yabbies without going to the effort of catching them in nets - all the yabbies in the dam died and floated to the surface. Not impressed !!!!!
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