Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

[rjjr1963]

WIP on my saltwater station.

My stand is done and I only mis-cut one board. The plumbing is run through the ceiling. This was the toughest part and I got bloody knuckles to prove it, lol. Finally the RO/DI unit is mounted and two 20 AMP electrical circuits have been wired up. The station is in a spare bedroom and the RO/DI unit is in a utility room behind the tank. Today is plumbing day and if all goes well I'll be filling water tanks.

 

[rjjr1963]

Everything is plumbed and I'm happy with the results. One little screw up. I ordered the wrong size uniseal. Should be here early this week and we will have WATER! lol

 

[don_chuwish]

Very tidy! I'm crazy jealous of all that space!

 

[rjjr1963]

No kids, that helps tremendously.

 

[rjjr1963]

Do I need to clean my water tanks before I use them?

 

[soulpatch]

I ran some vinegar water through mine just to get any oil or shipping films off of them. Drained, dried out, and started to use as normal.

 

[don_chuwish]

I was gonna come up with some typically reefer overblown 5 stage cleaning process that you absolutely MUST do over a 4 week period or all your livestock will die slow agonizing deaths... but I'm just too tired for that level of creativity.

 

[rjjr1963]

lol

 

[zachts]

WIP on my saltwater station.

My stand is done and I only mis-cut one board. The plumbing is run through the ceiling. This was the toughest part and I got bloody knuckles to prove it, lol. Finally the RO/DI unit is mounted and two 20 AMP electrical circuits have been wired up. The station is in a spare bedroom and the RO/DI unit is in a utility room behind the tank. Today is plumbing day and if all goes well I'll be filling water tanks.



One structural comment:
Before you get water in there, I would add additional verticals at the four corners, 4 pocket screws supporting each corner is asking for a failure down the road, that's a heck of a lot of weight for 4 screws to support, assuming they never get wet and start to rust out..........

Not saying it necessarily will fail just it could and that's a lot of water.

An additional front to back horizontal on the top might not be bad either seeing how you have the containers positioned in order to prevent the plywood from sagging over time from the weight and as it gets wet, and it will. Which could cause the tanks to lean forward enough to break your plumbing. I'm full of doom and gloom tonight :lolspin:

 

[rjjr1963]

I knew someone would rain on my parade. :hmm5:


40 gallons tanks so maybe some additional reinforce is needed.

 

[zachts]

sorry to be the buzz kill......was just running the math and the average screw can support around 50lbs give or take before breaking........granted that's going to be distributed to more than just the four screws in the back corners but still thats around 333lbs of water in each tank..........cutting it rather close, too close for comfort even if over half the weight gets taken up by other points, which it probably does, but I'm not an engineer.......screws will rust especially fast near salt water unless you sprung for heavy 316 grade stainless......rather than deck screws or the like.

I'd consider skinning the back and sides while your at it also, increases the rigidity and stability of the stand many times over. you don't wan't it to be wobbly with tall tanks like that, granted no kids around but........

 

[don_chuwish]

Yeah it doesn't have to be much though - rip some 2x4s in half and attach to the other vertical, snugged up tight to the cross piece.

 

[rjjr1963]

I used glue when I assembled it so that's going to help some but the load at the two back corners could overwhelm the 4 screws. Easy enough to put some support in there for peace of mind.

 

[Mrs. Music]

I used glue when I assembled it so that's going to help some but the load at the two back corners could overwhelm the 4 screws. Easy enough to put some support in there for peace of mind.

Yep, easy peasy addition at this point. Looks fantastic!

 

[soulpatch]

I knew someone would rain on my parade. :hmm5:


40 gallons tanks so maybe some additional reinforce is needed.

The bigger issue is that the vertical pieces are not carrying the weight. Typically we put the top frame on top of the vertical braces so that the weight is easily transferred down and carried by the wood. The way you have done it is to carry the weight by the glue and screws except in the center where you do carry it on the vertical brace.

I would simply add 2 vertical braces on the sides in the framing to carry the weight.

 

[DarthReefer27]

WIP on my saltwater station.

My stand is done and I only mis-cut one board. The plumbing is run through the ceiling. This was the toughest part and I got bloody knuckles to prove it, lol. Finally the RO/DI unit is mounted and two 20 AMP electrical circuits have been wired up. The station is in a spare bedroom and the RO/DI unit is in a utility room behind the tank. Today is plumbing day and if all goes well I'll be filling water tanks.

where did you get the containers?

 

[rjjr1963]

I got them here; http://www.plastic-mart.com/product/215/40-gallon-vertical-plastic-storage-tank-vt0040-18

Shipping on this size isn't bad. The next size up and the shipping skyrockets.

 

[rjjr1963]

I added a couple of vertical legs and added a second layer of plywood to help distribute the load more evenly. I've laid out the plumbing but wanted to post it first to see if there is anything I should change before I glue it up.

 

[mnkykng77]

What pumps are people using for their stations? I need to pump water from my garage to my tank which is 30ft away and up about 8 steps. Are their any internal pumps that would work on only external ones my only real option for high GPH?

 

[rjjr1963]

What pumps are people using for their stations? I need to pump water from my garage to my tank which is 30ft away and up about 8 steps. Are their any internal pumps that would work on only external ones my only real option for high GPH?

It's an Iwaki 30. It doesn't put out a tremendous amount of GPH but it has very good head pressure rating. I also have to run about the same setup you have but it's only for water changes and it's just a 40 gallon tank. I hope to be testing this weekend.