Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

I have really enjoyed following this thread and have taken a lot of great ideas to incorporate into my setup below:

<a href="http://s1219.photobucket.com/user/gmitch72/media/In%20Wall/6D1EAC95-9094-4A7B-BB94-6554E2639B47.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd427/gmitch72/In%20Wall/6D1EAC95-9094-4A7B-BB94-6554E2639B47.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 6D1EAC95-9094-4A7B-BB94-6554E2639B47.jpg"/></a>

I am using two 55 gallon drums with removable lids. The one on the left is fresh RO/DI and the right is the mixing drum for salt. Both drums can be fed with the RO/DI line via a 3 way valve. They are both hooked up to a panworld pump and there are lines/valves to recirculate water, send water to the mixing drum, send water to the hospital tank, and send water to the service sink.

Auto top off pump is attached to the barrel and a dual head peristaltic pump is hooked up to the salt water to do water small 7-8 gallon water changes 3 days a week.
 
FYI I have experimented on my mixed salt water and fresh RODI water. I let the mixed salt sit for a month and tested it. It smelled a little funny, but all parameters were spot on. I turned on a power head for 30 minutes before testing. And being in a Brute trash can, there were 0 Phosphates! As long as it has a lid, it'll be fine. Nothing died in the tank after using the 30 day old salt water! Before the mixing station, I would buy salt and let it sit in 5g jugs never having an issue! Just my 2 cents :)
 
gregrocks79 said:
FYI I have experimented on my mixed salt water and fresh RODI water. I let the mixed salt sit for a month and tested it. It smelled a little funny, but all parameters were spot on. I turned on a power head for 30 minutes before testing. And being in a Brute trash can, there were 0 Phosphates! As long as it has a lid, it'll be fine. Nothing died in the tank after using the 30 day old salt water! Before the mixing station, I would buy salt and let it sit in 5g jugs never having an issue! Just my 2 cents :)
Click to expand...

Yeah thats what im thinking too. As long as it doesnt have the organics already added to the salt.


Most people are going through a brute trashcans worth of water quicker than a month anyway. unless of course you have a 10 gallon nano tank.
 
So, my current station does RO on the left and SW mixing on the right. I'm working on sending my RO right to the ATO reservoir on my tank and therefore will have no need for a dedicated RO container. I plan on switching the RO output to both barrels with a diverter valve so I can mix new water in one barrel while the other acts as the feed for my auto water change system. Another diverter valve will switch the input for the new saltwater. I'm glad I'm already plumbed to mix in either barrel :)

d872136c37668f6166dd3b513b46d0f6.jpg
 
lnevo said:
So, my current station does RO on the left and SW mixing on the right. I'm working on sending my RO right to the ATO reservoir on my tank and therefore will have no need for a dedicated RO container. I plan on switching the RO output to both barrels with a diverter valve so I can mix new water in one barrel while the other acts as the feed for my auto water change system. Another diverter valve will switch the input for the new saltwater. I'm glad I'm already plumbed to mix in either barrel :)

d872136c37668f6166dd3b513b46d0f6.jpg
Click to expand...


Why not set it up so your tank tops of directly from the RO container.
 
The setup is in the basement. By sending the RO line upstairs I can leverage that its already under pressure and head height won't make a difference.
 
This is probably a dumb question but please bear with me, I swear I am not trolling. Since I am off this week I am thinking of setting one of these up. Right now I just have 2 Brute cans out in the garage. One is empty, the other is full of RODI. I don't have a powerhead, heater, or anything in there. It's just water. I pull out about 2-3 gallons a day to top off my 5 tanks.

What is the pump for on all of these setups?
What is the benefit of having a powerhead in the Brute? Is circulation really needed in a tank of clean water?
Is the heater just to ensure your top-off water is close to tank water?
 
Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

The pump is for mixing salt water, moving between barrels and/or pumping water to tank for water changes.
 
My RO sits on my unheated porch all year no heater. If your not making large volume changes the cold water isn't a problem. My pump can circlute between two tanks or top off my three tanks. Since I don't premix my salt water currently I have two tanks of RO that I use for top off on my three tanks two fresh and one salt.
 
This is not my setup, but I am building one virtually identical and wanted feedback....

I initially thought I should add a valve and short section of hose from a tee at each tank outlet so that I can gravity drain water into buckets/jugs if I needed to.

Now that I think about it more, I can just use the valve and hose on the pump discharge pipe to deliver RODI or saltwater to the buckets/jugs under pressure if I wanted to.

My question is....if I was mixing/recirculating saltwater in the mixing tank before and I needed to fill a bucket with RODI for topoff, wouldn't a portion of the plumbing then be "contaminated" by saltwater if I dispense it this way?

That's why I originally wanted to install two valves at the tank outlets with short hoses on them. Of course, this would mean I would have to elevate the entire system up off the floor and onto some sort of stand. Thoughts?
 

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lapoolboy said:
This is not my setup, but I am building one virtually identical and wanted feedback....

I initially thought I should add a valve and short section of hose from a tee at each tank outlet so that I can gravity drain water into buckets/jugs if I needed to.

Now that I think about it more, I can just use the valve and hose on the pump discharge pipe to deliver RODI or saltwater to the buckets/jugs under pressure if I wanted to.

My question is....if I was mixing/recirculating saltwater in the mixing tank before and I needed to fill a bucket with RODI for topoff, wouldn't a portion of the plumbing then be "contaminated" by saltwater if I dispense it this way?

That's why I originally wanted to install two valves at the tank outlets with short hoses on them. Of course, this would mean I would have to elevate the entire system up off the floor and onto some sort of stand. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have a gravity feed outlet for both my RO/DI reservoir and my saltwater mixing station. The platform is raised slightly off the floor to do this on the saltwater barrel and the RO/DI is stacked above it. I made sure I could use gravity because what if the pump goes out and I really need water for some reason. Gravity will never break so I can depend on it.
 
All I can say is that there are tons of awesome creative ideas here for mixing stations. I will add mine as soon as it's completed! This site now that I have started utilizing it has helped me out a ton more than my local club. Thanks to everyone for sharing
 
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