Barrel plumbing

[ReefArtist]

Well I’ve been soaking my barrels now for a week so I decided to take one out of the swimming pool and see if the pepper small had dissipated. (Here is the old link if anyone is interested: ). The smell is still a little noticeable but not to bad â€"œ two weeks might be best. It will sit in to fresh air for the next few days while I figure out the best way to hook them up. I’m also hoping this thread will help others in their quest in getting theirs up and running and also think about using these barrels as their water holding tanks. This is recycling at its best, Id’ rather use these instead of seeing them on the bottom of the ocean! So â€"œ what’s the best way to hook them up - This is where I’d like some help.
Some information and my requirements:
I’m going to be using two barrels â€"œ one is black and the other is red brick in color
Black tank 60G and it’s 40 â€"œ 41 inches tall:
I have an RO system that will be attached to the this tank and it will be my fresh RO holding tank
I have a float valve to hook up to this system
I have a pump for circulation/or to pump water out of the tank
This will be fresh RO water for my saltwater tanks and freshwater tank

Red tank it’s around 34 inches tall:
Will be used as my salt water mixing tank

These tanks can either sit side by side or I can place one outside on my porch or inside with the freshwater tank.

For the freshwater tank what I was thinking was to put a connector on the outside of the tank to hook to a hose â€"œ this is how I fill my freshwater tank now. The problem is I need a pump hooked to it when I run it. The tank is deep so I can’t just grab it and hook it up like I do now.

I’d also like the two tanks hooked together or have some means of quickly transferring water from one tank to the other.
Just so everyone knows what these babies look like and the size â€"œ that is a four foot level next to them â€"œ here are a few pics:

The large black barrels - about 40-41 inches tall. Oh that's George waiting for the barrel to break so he can play in the water!

The shorter red barrel - about 34 inches tall

Comparison

This is the valve kit I have.

So any ideas - I'd like to hear from you .

 

[flfirefighter13]

Im useing similar barrels and what I did was put uniseals on the side towards the bottom and install a 1" valve on that. I have a mag 18 that I hook up to the barrel and a hose that runs to the tank to fill. For mixing a powerhead and heater droped in would work fine. I also made a inverted U shape out of PVC that hooks into the vlave then runs up to the height of a 5 gallon bucket and turns back down, lets me fill a 5 gallon bucket as needed when the water ;eve; in the barrel is close to full. this setup would allow you to hook in quickoy and transfer from the fresh tank to the salt tank, as well as from the salt tank to your display when needed.

 

[mflamb]

I'm building a rack to stack my barrels. The top one will be RO/DI and the bottom one will be Saltwater. Each will have 2 bulkheads, one near the top on the side and one inline below it near the bottom but still on the side. The top bulkhead will have a 90 degree PVC fitting pointing down with a barb fitting attached to the PVC 90. The bottom fitting will have a T fittting facing vertic ally. Out of the top of the T will be a barb fitting facing up toward the top barb fitting. Between the 2 barb fittings will be clear hose. That will be my water level indicator. Out of the bottom of the T on the top barrel will be a ball valve and another T, one side going into the top of the bottom barrel, the other side going to a ball valve, then a T then into a pump. Out of the T on the bottom barrel, pipe will go to a ball valve then to the same pump. Out of the pump will be a T and then a ball valve on each side of the T and then the 2 pipes that are underground from the garage to my sump. One pipe will be for saltwater for water changes. The other pipe will be fresh water supply for my auto top-off unit.

 

[boydx6]

mflamb, I think you should buy stock in the company that manufactures the ball valves, as many as you have you could probably get a descent return on your investment. LOL You totally lost me in the explanation. You have to post pics when you are done.

Sorry Carol, I don't have any good ideas for you. I don't have anything that is automatic.

 

[mflamb]

I'll post pics when it's plumbed. Should be done in about a week. Try to draw it as you read it.

 

[plc001]

I'm building a rack to stack my barrels. The top one will be RO/DI and the bottom one will be Saltwater. Each will have 2 bulkheads, one near the top on the side and one inline below it near the bottom but still on the side. The top bulkhead will have a 90 degree PVC fitting pointing down with a barb fitting attached to the PVC 90. The bottom fitting will have a T fittting facing vertic ally. Out of the top of the T will be a barb fitting facing up toward the top barb fitting. Between the 2 barb fittings will be clear hose. That will be my water level indicator. Out of the bottom of the T on the top barrel will be a ball valve and another T, one side going into the top of the bottom barrel, the other side going to a ball valve...

Mike I was able to draw up to here. Detail pics would be great.

Also, should I worry about the pool's chlorine?

Thanks!

 

[mflamb]

The chlorine will clean the barrels...I hope.
Pics within a week.

 

[mflamb]

Where did you get the auto shut off kit???

 

[ReefArtist]

Just made it back to my house - picked up a bunch of cleanup crew guys, peppermint shrimps and some shrooms from Hawk'ster. The shrimps are soooo cool to watch.

Ok back to plumbing - what did you say mflamb, you lost me after "I'm building a rack to stack my barrels" - LOL. Yeah I'll need to sketch it down and take a look - it will definitely come in handy later .


flfirefighter13 - that also sounds very interesting - I'll sketch yours out also and post what I have - you can then tell me where I go wrong- which I'm sure I will.

Hey boydx6 - you'll be getting yours next week. I'll make a trip I'm hoping Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll put them in the pool for a week or two and the pepper smell should be gone.

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh - mflamb, I got it from Fosters and Smiths.

 

[flfirefighter13]

Ill try to snag some pics tommorow for you, Im sure i made it sound much more difficult than I have it set up.

 

[mflamb]

Thanks Carol...I just ordered the same kit.

 

[ReefArtist]

Cool mflamb - I haven't tried them yet but they looked like what I need to stop the floods.

Ok flfirefighter13 - I sketched yours out so we'll see how close it is to your "real" thing:

 

[flfirefighter13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9536586#post9536586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefArtist
Cool mflamb - I haven't tried them yet but they looked like what I need to stop the floods.

Ok flfirefighter13 - I sketched yours out so we'll see how close it is to your "real" thing:

guess I dont need to take a pic after all, you got it. I dont have 90s after the valve, I just leave the valve open and then can slide the 1" PVC in as needed, that way I can swap around the pump and or bucket filling thing to the tank I need (Ive got 6 for salt water storage, 1 for RO and 2 for saltwater transport).

Since you have it down pat Ill fill you in on the rest of my system. My saltwater storage is all outside on my patio that just gets pumped in via pump but My RO starage tank is actually in the laundry room on the other side of the house. It is stacked on another barrel to allow for gravity to work for me. I have a float valve in the top for filling and out of the bottom I have the same uniseal and valve, which then goes to a tee with one side being open and one side connected to a garden hose. The garden hose runs through the wall into my closet which. I can either uncoil the hose to fill the tank, or what I usually end up doing is just bringing my 5 gallon top off bucket to the closet and filling it up. Garden hose has a valve on the end and gravity drains the RO water no problem. This works for me cause all I use RO for is topoff as I collect natural seawater for changes, If I mixed my own I would have a pump plumbed to transfer h20 to the mixeing container.

 

[ReefArtist]

flfirefighter13 - Cool - I see what you did with the Water valves, that would make it easier. Thanks for the "rest" of your system layout. I know I'm going to face these problems and with you guys pitching in - I now have some solutions. I'll update the sketch with the correction and updates.

MFLamb - well I sketched your RO/DI system out - I have the basics but I'm not sure if I got the bottom tank connector correct. I added in a 90 - just thought one should be there. Here it is - let me know where I went wrong:

 

[ReefArtist]

Mike - I love the clear tubing viewing area - what a great idea.

At the bottom I have the code to fill the tank and barrels - let me know if these are correct and I'll add it here - I have a feeling you can't read them on my sketch:

To add RO water to the tank BV 1, 2 and 4 are open and 3 and 5 are shut.

To add Salt water to the tank BV3 and 5 are open and BV 2 and 4 are shut.

To add RO water to the bottom tank - BV2 and 3 are shut.

 

[mflamb]

No T at BH2. BV1 goes into top of saltwater barrel. At bottom of T at BH3 is another T that splits between saltwater barrel and pump. Clear hose between BH1 and BH2 for viewing. T at BH1 splits between clear hose and pump. I think that's all.

 

[college429]

Don't worry about minor pepperonchino scent even after soaking them for two weeks. I could not get all scent out either. My corals didn't mind at all. They showed no effect from it.

 

[ReefArtist]

Hey Mike thanks for the clarification - I'll redo and see how close I get.

College429 - Thanks I was hoping someone that had used them would come forward. I didn't think we would have a problem but it's always good to hear it from the experienced.

 

[WarDaddy]

Here is how I am thinking of doing mine...

What I am doing differently is 2 things, Pump is on the floor (easy to Prime) I am using UniSeals, since they are designed for curved surfaces.

On each of the valves I am installing a Female Quick Release fitting. On in and out of the pump will have female quick release fittings. Then I will have a long hose with a male quick release fitting to go to the tank. I will have a shorter hose with Male quick release fittings on each end to go from the change water tank to the pump.

So here is the theory:

To empty water from tank, hook the long hose to the input on the pump, short hose is on out put and goes to the drain... (hard part is priming the pump here, but I have an idea.) Drain water as necessary.

To fill tank, long hose to out put on pump. Short hose to input on pump and to the waiting saltwater. Turn pump on and fill tank.

No buckets, no stumbling with 40 pounds of water, no spilling as you try and pour a 5 gallon bucket into a sump under a stand, or worse, into the display 5 feet off the ground.

There it is, my little change system.