Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

SFish said:
Looks clean! Not sure if it matters (salt may mix fine the way it is) but you might want to make something like this to mix the salt if you don't have plans to


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Instead of a 90 at the bottom, there will be a TEE just like you have it and then 2 - 1'' Elbow Slip x Spigot (Street) 45's pointing on each side. I think this will work a lot better than having 1 CPR Aquatic Eductor mixing the salt at the bottom of my Brute container... Again, many thanks for your little tidbit!
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BlurrVT said:
Awesome thread. I read the whole thing this weekend:) I started plans for a water mixing station earlier in the week and then found this thread which answered a lot of my questions. Mine is just a redendering at this point. 5 basic functions here. RODI on the left, salt on the right. Tanks will hold 30-50g each. The tanks are there for reference as I haven't decided what I will go with yet. Thanks to you all for finding the Roto Molds from RuralKing with free shipping!
1. Move RODI to the salt container.
2. Mix water in the salt container.
3. Send RODI to the ATO container at the tank.
4. Send salt to the sump during a water change.
5. Fill buckets of either if needed.
I wanted a separate pump for the RODI because I didn't think it was a good idea for the RODI water path to come in contact with the salt path at any point. Could contaminate the water going into the ATO tank. Am I overthinking that bit? Not sure what the RODI pump will actually be at this point, but the Eheim in the drawing is probably overkill. It's just there for reference. I will be using the Eheim 1262 for the salt pump. I haven't worked out the details of actually doing the water change yet (manual on/off of outlets or float switches), so some adjustments might have to be made. I'll also have to take into account any siphons that might be created so that may change things some. I'm also trying to figure out the best way to keep the RODI tank full. I don't want it to just top off. I would rather have it get down to a few gallons and then fill back up. I'm thinking a float switch near the bottom that triggers a solenoid for a set amount of time, a float valve for the RODI inlet just in case the solenoid fails, and possibly another float switch to trigger a hard shutoff in case both of those fail. Anyone have anything they've successfully done here?

What solenoids are you all using with Apex to control RODI flow?
Are the horizontal mounted reed float switches as reliable as the vertical ones? I won't make the system reliant on any one float switch, but I do want to start off with something relatively reliable.



Thanks all for the great inspiration in this thread.
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Awesome diagram! Where do the two vertical pipes go - directly to your tank?
 
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FLSharkvictims Saltwater Mixing station setup!

FLSharkvictims Saltwater Mixing station setup!

Here is my set up so far! Just need to make a few tweaks and I will be ready to start gluing my fittings together. Also, just need to add 2 Gate valves on each side of my Brute containers so I can get fresh and saltwater out of them at any giving time.
 

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Exactly what I did well kind of anyway. First batch is mixing now while I put the hoses for fresh and salt water on. I wanted a way to fill an ATO container that was isolated from the RODI tank that my Apex will keep full.

Just noticed this pic was from when I was needing to pick up a union to attach the mixing loop but you get the idea I hope
 

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Actually thought I had posted mine. Got a few idea from others on here. My simple mixing station.

Instead of uniseals I found these nice plastic bulkheads at lowes! They have a really thick rubber washer that squishes when you tighten the bulkhead to adjust for the round sides of the brutes.



Got the bright idea to wire everything into switches. RO/DI PH, Salt PH's, and my main pump. I decided to use a couple old Hydor Korralia PH's I had laying around instead of the main pump for mixing(The pump I have shuts off from overheating after like 10 minutes).



And completed project.

 
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For all of you that run 1 common pump to either move RO or salt water depending on your needs has anyone ever tested their RO water output for salinity to see if anything left in the pipes was getting mixed in with you RO water? I used to have a set up like the majority of the ones shown here until I realized that dried up salt or saltwater trapped in the lines would effect my salinity of my RO water when I was filling up my top off containers. Granted it was a tiny amount but a tiny amount over time adds up. I ended up plumbing in a separate pump for my RO container so there would be no cross contamination.

Another question I had was for anyone living in an area that gets pretty hot in the summers and have their water containers in their garage. I live in Texas and mine are in my garage and the water can get up in the low 80's during the summer in my bins. I constantly battle corals bleaching out or really getting ****ed off from water changes due to the temp differences and they swings they cause. For those of you that live in areas like me, how are you handling water changes on your large tanks to avoid that?


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ClownsRCoo said:
For all of you that run 1 common pump to either move RO or salt water depending on your needs has anyone ever tested their RO water output for salinity to see if anything left in the pipes was getting mixed in with you RO water? I used to have a set up like the majority of the ones shown here until I realized that dried up salt or saltwater trapped in the lines would effect my salinity of my RO water when I was filling up my top off containers. Granted it was a tiny amount but a tiny amount over time adds up. I ended up plumbing in a separate pump for my RO container so there would be no cross contamination.

Another question I had was for anyone living in an area that gets pretty hot in the summers and have their water containers in their garage. I live in Texas and mine are in my garage and the water can get up in the low 80's during the summer in my bins. I constantly battle corals bleaching out or really getting ****ed off from water changes due to the temp differences and they swings they cause. For those of you that live in areas like me, how are you handling water changes on your large tanks to avoid that?


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Click to expand...



You could get some water bottles and fill them with RO and feeeze them. Throw them in the containers to cool the water to match your tank when you're ready for a water change.


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ClownsRCoo said:
For all of you that run 1 common pump to either move RO or salt water depending on your needs has anyone ever tested their RO water output for salinity to see if anything left in the pipes was getting mixed in with you RO water? I used to have a set up like the majority of the ones shown here until I realized that dried up salt or saltwater trapped in the lines would effect my salinity of my RO water when I was filling up my top off containers. Granted it was a tiny amount but a tiny amount over time adds up. I ended up plumbing in a separate pump for my RO container so there would be no cross contamination.

Another question I had was for anyone living in an area that gets pretty hot in the summers and have their water containers in their garage. I live in Texas and mine are in my garage and the water can get up in the low 80's during the summer in my bins. I constantly battle corals bleaching out or really getting ****ed off from water changes due to the temp differences and they swings they cause. For those of you that live in areas like me, how are you handling water changes on your large tanks to avoid that?


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Click to expand...

I don't use the pump other then to fill the mixing barrel and to pump into the tank. If I need plain RO/DI I have a T with a shutoff that is gravity fed, and before the main shutoff. No saltwater touches that section. I purposely set it up that way thinking the same as you posted about the salt residue left behind.

Frozen bottles of RO/DI work great, and a great suggestion. I use them on the DT all the time in the summer.
 
Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

For anyone that happens to notice the salt creep that I was experiencing in my RO line from sharing the same pump here is my new set up



I can circulate either tank or send water from one to the other... Although I would never send water from the salt bin to the RO bin. Something else I found recently which has made 1 man water changes much easier is remote control outlets!


I've got one on my powerstrip now out in the garage and I plug which ever pump I'm about to use into that outlet. Then I drag my hose into the house and by using the remote I can turn the pump on/off by myself while filling the tank after a water change or filling my ATO res under the stand. Makes life much easier.

I picked up a 5pk of them off of amazon for $24 and use the others for remote control of floor fans, turning on/off all holiday decor plugged in around the house, etc. you can program multiple outlets to all turn on/off by using the same or different buttons.



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this is my plan forrodi mixing station

this is my plan forrodi mixing station

picture.php
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all mock up will be done in wood finshed will be done in steal and powder coated with oak covering
 
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ClownsRCoo said:
For all of you that run 1 common pump to either move RO or salt water depending on your needs has anyone ever tested their RO water output for salinity to see if anything left in the pipes was getting mixed in with you RO water? I used to have a set up like the majority of the ones shown here until I realized that dried up salt or saltwater trapped in the lines would effect my salinity of my RO water when I was filling up my top off containers. Granted it was a tiny amount but a tiny amount over time adds up. I ended up plumbing in a separate pump for my RO container so there would be no cross contamination.
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Click to expand...

I flush my lines with RO after pumping saltwater by pumping a small amount into the SW container. In addition to cleaning the lines, it means the pump doesn't have SW sitting in it for extended periods.

- Ivan
 
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Looks great, although that 3 gang box mounted below the water reservoirs would make me nervous. Any leak would get right in there. I hope you have it on a GFCI breaker or outlet.
 
Hello Guys,

Is there a good place to buy the large white good grade storage containers?

Everywhere I have looked has them but shipping is as much as the tank itself?

Any suggestions? I'm in West Michigan if that helps.

Thanks
 
Did you call them? Online they are all listed as costing shipping but on the phone typically they will waive that. I got mine when they were free shipping on the web but I have gotten some for local reefers where they waived shipping.

Tractor supply is another option if you have one locally.
 
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