Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

Fishbulb2 said:
Ok this is a little different. Rather than just showing my station, I actually need help setting it up! So recommendations are welcome.

These are my thoughts and concerns. I notice everyone builds a wooden stand to elevate the water containers off of the floor. But you'll notice that to the right of my tanks, there is the panel box for the house electricity. If I raise the water tanks up at all, I won't be able to open the doors without draining and moving the system. Can I just leave everything on the floor?

Next is, I'm not sure what pump to use to mix. I have three pumps on hand. These are a mag 18, A QuietOne 3000, and a SRO Water Blaster 5000. Which would you use. I like the idea of using the more powerful Mag 18, but I've heard they leak when run externally. If I drop it into the mixing station, how would I get the power cord to exit? I would think that this would leave an opening for air to get in and help with evaporation. These tanks will hold 1 months worth of mix.


I notice most people have the pump draw in water from the bottom of the mixing station and they send water back up to the top. Wouldn't we get more efficient mixing if we actively mix and stir the salt by having the water return to the bottom of the mixing station?

Last silly question. I was surprised these tanks didn't have gallon marks on it. I don't want to fill 50 1 gallon just of water. Is there a better way to guess where the 50g mark would be. (These are 55g barrels).

Thanks guys! I am really excited to get this up and running.

FB
Click to expand...

Can you stack them?

If you elevate them you can draw water via gravity. On the floor you'll have to use a pump.

If you draw from the top, the tank would either have to be full to pump or have an internal pipe to the bottom.

For volume you could measure. It should be about 90% of the inside height. Mix up a batch and adjust as needed. I like to weigh salt. Easy to be repeatable.
 
lnevo said:
Why is there a plastic hose barb and then the brass one?
Click to expand...


Couldn't find something at the store to convert from the 3/4 bulkhead down to the 1/4 ID tubing directly. So the first elbow goes 3/4 to 1/2, then the threaded brass end fits 1/2 snugly enough to work with a hose clamp. I don't expect it to ever even get wet so "good enough".
 
woodnaquanut said:
Can you stack them?

If you elevate them you can draw water via gravity. On the floor you'll have to use a pump.

If you draw from the top, the tank would either have to be full to pump or have an internal pipe to the bottom.

For volume you could measure. It should be about 90% of the inside height. Mix up a batch and adjust as needed. I like to weigh salt. Easy to be repeatable.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'm sure I don't have the ceiling height to stack them, so I'm currently just planning on going with the Water Blaster for circulation. I'll figure out the 50 gallon mark, but it would have been nice to not have to. I really wanted to get a container at least 50 gallons so that I don't have to measure any salt. I'll just dump in whole 50 gallon bags and have salt for the month. The goal is to use automatic water changes through my Apex DOS. Then each month just fill and dump in a new bag.

Now I just need to figure out how to get this RO tubing from the basement to the tank upstairs!

FB
 
You can use a flex drill bit kit. They are over 4' long and you can get a 4' extension.


 
Last edited by a moderator:
UFO8MyCow said:
You can use a flex drill bit kit. They are over 4' long and you can get a 4' extension.
Click to expand...

Wow! Mind = blown! I've never seen such a thing. Thanks a lot for the link.

I've never had such a hard time on a project such as this. Our walls are also all lathe and plaster. So going through the wall may not be trivial either. Regardless, thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to look into it and see if I can make it work.

Cheers!
FB
 
I went through the floor for mine and into the basement ceiling. It was crazy how far the basement wall comes out compared to the upstairs. Had to open the basement ceiling a bit to grab the lines and pull them through.
 
lnevo said:
I went through the floor for mine and into the basement ceiling. It was crazy how far the basement wall comes out compared to the upstairs. Had to open the basement ceiling a bit to grab the lines and pull them through.
Click to expand...

Hi Inevo,

That's interesting. I'm having a hard time gauging exactly how the wall lines up as well in my house. I tried to go from the basement up to place the lines next to a cross beam. My wife said it sounded like it was coming up several feet out from the upstairs wall. I couldn't tell if it was just the resonance or what. Our basement ceiling is finished as well, so I have to minimize the damage. This is what has been holding up my whole build. I have a decent line of channel run from the mixing tanks to near underneath the aquarium. But I'm starting to have my doubts about how whether the upstairs wall is really flush with the basement one.

FB
 
I was pretty lucky in that my basement is half finished and I have the joists open on one side. I would definitely be careful because the cavity under the upstairs wall was filled with electrical (the metal type). The hole in the ceiling was covered by a blank wall plate and the way the lighting is you can't even seen it. I may reuse it later for speaker wires :)
 
Thanks for the tip. I might have a professional come look at it first to get an opinion. Otherwise, I think I'll likely open up the ceiling the patch it myself later. The one thing I have learned is that patching up drywall is pretty easy.
 
Got the mixing circuit put together tonight. I really hate purple primer but none of the local hardware stores had clear.

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Water test tomorrow!
 
don_chuwish said:
Got the mixing circuit put together tonight. I really hate purple primer but none of the local hardware stores had clear.
Water test tomorrow!
Click to expand...

If the PVC is new and clean, no "primer" is needed. I never use it, never had a leak. All the primer does is remove surface contaminates - dirt/oils/etc.
 
Member No. 1 said:
If the PVC is new and clean, no "primer" is needed. I never use it, never had a leak. All the primer does is remove surface contaminates - dirt/oils/etc.
Click to expand...


It's an old argument that even the pros still haggle over. I considered just cleaning with acetone and then gluing, but then decided the primer was less offensive than having to fix something later. I managed to keep it reasonably tidy.
 
Yeah I hate the purple primer as well and my store never has clear when I look. That said I am in the better safe then sorry camp...
 
HA HA Amazon. I seriously need a PW that only my wife knows before I can go on their site. With the new tank coming online I have boxes daily from BRS, Amazon, or Marine Depot on my porch...
 
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