Gravity Sap Ladder?

[DRod2]

Most of the information I have been reading about a sap ladder are people who use a vacuum. I do run a vacuum but it is only on the weekends as I live about an hour away from my sugar bush. The other problem I am have is I am not able to work with any slope. So where my mainline ends its only about a foot and a half off the ground which I have dumping into a 50 gallon tank. Now that I have a vacuum I am having to empty that 50 gallon tank very often and would like to make a change.
So I purchased a 300 gallon plastic tank that is inside of a cage to be my new collection tank. The top of the collection tank is roughly 4 feet off the ground. We would like to use one tank for the weekdays (which is just gravity) and weekends (which will be on a vacuum.
With all of this information this leads me to my question. Will the weight of the sap lift 2 and a half feet on the "gravity" days into new collection tank?
Any help would be great, thank you for your time.

[lpakiz]

Sap will run into your tank that high, but not before it backs up in the line to the exact same height it needs to clear the opening of your tank. Liquid (standing) will always seek its own level. The sap will actually be pushed into the tank from sap that is behind it, and higher.

[maple flats]

It will likely be pushed up to fall into the new tank, but it will reduce your flow considerably. Now any natural vacuum you may have will be reduced by about 2 1/2" of vacuum (48"-18"=30", 1 foot drop = about 1" vacuum, thus 2.5' rise loses about 2.5" vacuum. If you have no natural vacuum, it will still create the same sort of loss but it may show more on your sap collection than you might think.
There might be a couple of options, can you lower the new tank without having a pit that will fill up with water or mud? That might be an option, another might be to tie the sap line into the bottom valve on the new tank. Then when the sap level is low, you actually gain, as it is at 18" you are equal to the current flow and you only lose as the level rises above the height of the current barrel. You might also try an over flow capture method, use the 55 gal as before, but run an overflow from near the max full level on the barrel to run to the bottom valve on the new tank. Either of these however have a freezing issue, if the line entering the new tank freezes, it may not thaw as soon as the in coming sap lines.

[markct]

Rather than a cage tank a pickup truck tank or leg tank will have a much lower height. Also a used dairy tank with the legs and outer skin removed would be much lower and easier to clean

[DRod2]

Thank you for the input. Digging a hole is not an option but I am considering putting a gravity line feed into the side of the tank. This will then allow me not to change an tubbing.