Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

[brvheart]

Couple general questions:

Does anybody keep the RO/DI pressurized? Meaning the valve feeding the RO/DI is on and flow is controlled by John Guest type ball valves on the output side. I imagine it would work as the valves are rated at 150psi and the pressure going into the RO/DI is 50-60psi.

Also, does salt need to be stored in a food-safe container like water? The 200 gallon IO salt is on sale all over for $40 but it comes in bags. I'd like to keep it in a standard Home Depot bucket if I can..

 

[woodnaquanut]

Not sure why you'd want to control outflow. RO/DI already has a flow restrictor on the waste side. If you restrict the output you'd loose more water to waste. A float valve shuts off flow completely if you have a auto shutoff on the RO/DI filter.

HD buckets? You don't have a pile of old salt buckets out in the yard? What's wrong with you? I'd still leave the salt in a bag for extra moisture protection. That could be put in any bucket you want.

Couple general questions:

Does anybody keep the RO/DI pressurized? Meaning the valve feeding the RO/DI is on and flow is controlled by John Guest type ball valves on the output side. I imagine it would work as the valves are rated at 150psi and the pressure going into the RO/DI is 50-60psi.

Also, does salt need to be stored in a food-safe container like water? The 200 gallon IO salt is on sale all over for $40 but it comes in bags. I'd like to keep it in a standard Home Depot bucket if I can..

 

[brvheart]

Not sure why you'd want to control outflow. RO/DI already has a flow restrictor on the waste side. If you restrict the output you'd loose more water to waste. A float valve shuts off flow completely if you have a auto shutoff on the RO/DI filter.

I'm not trying to control outflow.. I would like to run 1/4" RO tubing about 15' to my kitchen under the sink where I can fill an ATO container a couple times a week. The reason I would use a valve to control output is simply for the situation where I would turn off the water in the kitchen (rather than at the RO/DI supply line) which would leave the RO/DI pressurized and producing waste water. This would only happen for 30 minutes or so. I can't think of any harm it would cause.

HD buckets? You don't have a pile of old salt buckets out in the yard? What's wrong with you? I'd still leave the salt in a bag for extra moisture protection. That could be put in any bucket you want.

Nope, I don't. Is there a problem storing salt directly in a non-food grade bucket? Not a terribly big deal as they're $5-6 at HD, but I happen to have a lot of standard Homer HD buckets lying around.

 

[jscarlata]

I found a great air/water tight storage bin for salt at the container store. I use esv salt and i hated using the boxes and bags.. This plastic storage bin was an ace purchase...

 

[connecticut cichlids]

just finished mine this weekend in the garage..

Those are very nice storage drums...

 

[brvheart]

Surprised there aren't more gravity fed systems up here.. I think 2 of the systems here have been gravity fed, out of 545 posts :0

I just finished mine this weekend. Could include pics but it's pretty simple. RO/DI under kitchen sink feeding to basement below into freshwater Brute. Freshwater Brute dumps into saltwater (mixing) Brute. Saltwater Brute dumps into water change buckets.
I love the fact that there is nothing to fail and replace. Of course I have to use a powerhead and heater, but they're easy to replace if necessary. And my basement is so primitive it has a pull string at the door to turn the light on. I just wired the powerhead and heater onto the pull string so all I have to do to mix and heat the water is pull the string. Obviously a timer would work, but this setup is very functional for my needs.

 

[Dustin1300]

Surprised there aren't more gravity fed systems up here.. I think 2 of the systems here have been gravity fed, out of 545 posts :0

I just finished mine this weekend. Could include pics but it's pretty simple. RO/DI under kitchen sink feeding to basement below into freshwater Brute. Freshwater Brute dumps into saltwater (mixing) Brute. Saltwater Brute dumps into water change buckets.
I love the fact that there is nothing to fail and replace. Of course I have to use a powerhead and heater, but they're easy to replace if necessary. And my basement is so primitive it has a pull string at the door to turn the light on. I just wired the powerhead and heater onto the pull string so all I have to do to mix and heat the water is pull the string. Obviously a timer would work, but this setup is very functional for my needs.

Guess I don't have 15 foot ceilings to stack them!

 

[brvheart]

A quick note to those who previously asked about mixing salt in the saltwater container. The answer was "You'll get a feel for it" or "Ahh just wing it" or "Just taste it" (ok made that one up). Here's what I do:

A) I highly suggest installing the water level viewing tubes. I found a very nice low profile way of installing them, and it totals $2 in parts from HD per container. (This is obviously unnecessary with the semi-transparent containers)
B) Using the level viewing tubes, once you mark the gallon level indicators, just mix in enough salt to account for the volume of water added to the mix container. For example, I always do 5g increments. If I have 15 gallons in the FW container, I'll drop the level from 15 to 5 gallons, which obviously dumps 10 gallons of new FW into the SW mix container. If you know your salt scoop per gallon, add the necessary amount. For me, if I drop 10 gallons, I would add 5 cups of salt (1/2 cup per gallon using IO). It doesn't matter how much is in your SW container already, you're keeping your salinity the same. This 5g increment works well for me because that represents a full water change for my little nano.

Obviously this is super simple common sense kind of stuff, but if you're in the early stages of trying to figure out a water change system and you're clueless like I was, this can be helpful.

 

[brvheart]

Guess I don't have 15 foot ceilings to stack them!

I hear you, but it depends on the size/shape containers you're using. I was able to pull it off easily using the samller Brutes. I can barely stand up straight in my basement and I'm 6'2". You could just pull it off with 9' ceilings if using the 32g Brutes.

In fact, I'm pretty curious about this one.. This is on page 2 of this thread, post 41. He has both containers side by side. The FW feeds into the SW container on the bottom via a check valve. Only pump seems to be on the output. I don't understand how this works without a pump in the FW container..

Here's mine. I have two containers, the one on the left is the freshwater, the one on the right is the saltwater. They are linked in the middle with a check valve that only allows the water to flow from left to right. In the SW container, I have a airstone, and two Koralias for circulation. Exiting the SW container, I have a Mag 12 to pump it all upstairs (I connect a Python hose). Rudimentary, but serves the purpose.

 

[deeAnnMG]

Great thread. It has inspired me to do... IDK, something more / easier than the bucket hauling I have been doing. I'm going to think on it, maybe start this weekend. Thanks!

 

[fifthtoe]

For anyone using the large drums to store rodi water and salt water. Are you storing for long periods of time or using it all up at quickly? If storing for long periods, do you have bacterial growth in the storage containers?

 

[brvheart]

For anyone using the large drums to store rodi water and salt water. Are you storing for long periods of time or using it all up at quickly? If storing for long periods, do you have bacterial growth in the storage containers?

I know it's an enormously long thread, but if you use the "search this thread" option on this page, you will find a good amount of talk on that subject; within this thread.

To summarize, several people report having a bit of "slick" or "slimy" walls on the container and on powerheads, etc. Many others have NO growth at all. Many people do regular cleanings of the containers (every few months). Those people tend to be the ones with no growth

 

[Psirex]

I mix the saltwater and use within a day or so. I store aboout 55 gallons of fresh rodi water circulated and cover which I go through in about 2 weeks or less

 

[fifthtoe]

Thanks. I didn't even realize I could search the thread, that definitely helps!

 

[mikecc67548]

What would you search for to turn up satisfactory results?

 

[brvheart]

What would you search for to turn up satisfactory results?

Doing a quick search for "slime" and "slimy" turned up some conversation

 

[Dustin1300]

I hear you, but it depends on the size/shape containers you're using. I was able to pull it off easily using the samller Brutes. I can barely stand up straight in my basement and I'm 6'2". You could just pull it off with 9' ceilings if using the 32g Brutes.

In fact, I'm pretty curious about this one.. This is on page 2 of this thread, post 41. He has both containers side by side. The FW feeds into the SW container on the bottom via a check valve. Only pump seems to be on the output. I don't understand how this works without a pump in the FW container..

Understood, but myself and others have much larger containers (200 gallons myself) I also choose to not gravity feed so I can have a pressurized line to my main system for emergency water changes or ones to my qt tanks.

As far as that example don't think that'd work because one the tank receiving flow had enough back pressure the opposite tank won't have enough pressure without a pump.

 

[slief]

For anyone using the large drums to store rodi water and salt water. Are you storing for long periods of time or using it all up at quickly? If storing for long periods, do you have bacterial growth in the storage containers?

I keep my water in 100 gallon holding tanks that have lids on them. You can see most post earlier in this thread. I've got 100G of RODI and 100G of mixed salt water is on hand at all times. I evaporate close to 100G per month which is replaced with RODI via my ATO. My RODI automatically refils the RODI tank when the water gets down about 30 gallons. I try to time my RODI to salt water holding tank transfers to coincide with the RODI refill. When the RODI water gets down about 30 gallons (just about once a week), I will transfer enough water to refill the salt water holding tank (typically 25-30G). I do this as it's better to run the RODI filters for longer runs as opposed to more frequent short runs.

I also do automatic water changes which change out about 100G per month. So my 100G RODI is rotated through about 2x per month between top off usage and mixed salt water and my salt water is turned over about 1 time per month.

I have my mixing pump in my salt water holding tank turn on every 3 hours and run for 15 minutes to keep the salt water mixed and aerated. I don't run any kind of pump in my RODI storage as I don't feel it's needed because my water is always pretty fresh. I've also never had any kind of bacterial blooms in my holding tanks and have only cleaned my salt water storage tank one time in the last 2 years. It's always pretty clean but I do get a bit of calcerous buildup on the holding tank walls.

 

[lnevo]

Just finished upgrading my mixing station so I can pump my new SW upstairs without having to lug buckets up from the basement...

Here is the before shot:

The 35g brute on the left is my RO/DI storage which has the float valve installed too low, so I only get enough to fill the 20g brute and get a bucket and a half extra to fill my 5g ATO reservoir. I'm in the process of fixing that...I had a submerged pump in that container to fill the SW container and another pump and heater in the SW container to mix and heat my SW. The pumps were pretty big Rio's but they only had 6 feet of head.

Here's the after:

It only took about 16 trips to ACE and a few orders from us plastic, BRS and a few others to get right, Also a few trips to My LFS because the first two pumps I brought home were all having issues. I had to replace the bulkheads during the process and also tried out uniseals to add the level gauge. I'm planning on adding a level gauge to the RO/DI side and I need to add an elbows inside both containers so I can get out every last drop I also plan on redoing the output into the containers with a transition to vinyl tubing to hopefully reduce the pump vibration and make it a bit quieter. If I had to do it over again, I would use uniseals for everything, they were so nice and easy to install.

Originally I was going to use the swan RV/Marine garden hose (posted earlier) to connect to the faucet bibs but the ones that arrived were not the ones I ordered and had the anti-microbial treatment, I wasn't comfortable with that so I just returned it and found a great deal on clear vinyl tubing, I ordered a 100' roll of 1/2" ID 5/8" OD tubing for under $40. It came to $56.25 after shipping. If you need clear tubing definitely check out flexpvc.com.

 

[akitareefer]

The top 55g is ro/di with ato to the system. The bottom barrel is saltwater.