Saltwater Mixing Stations Outside?

[Ted_C]

How Many of you have your saltwater mixing stations outside or in the un-cooled garage?

The layout of the house I'm looking at makes it difficult/nearly impossible for me to have the saltwater mixing station (figure 100+ gallon RO container / 100+ gallon Saltwater container) inside the house.

Do you all take any precautions when adding this 95+ degree water to your 78 degree aquariums? Do you just go with an oversized chiller or do you try to bring the water temp down or just add it to the sump and let it equilibrate?

What do you do in the winters with water as cold as 40+ degrees (on our coldest days).

I'm thinking of having the aquarium in the current dining room. The wall that it will be on is common to the bathroom. The other wall it will be on is common to the outside.

The only other choice is put the aquarium in my second bedroom (which will be my home office). In that case - I totally lose the ability to have a second bedroom (it's currently iffy right now if I can have a second bedroom with my office in there). In that case - I could put the 100+ gallon vats in the closet of the 2nd bedroom. It's a possibility but not my ideal choice - as anyone coming into the house to view the aquarium would be in my office as well.

 

[MJNTWise]

My water station is in the garage and have no problems with heat or cold....That I know of.

 

[risin]

Everything but my DT is in the garage. My sump is insulated and I use styrofoam sheets where I can. No chiller required just a single fan for cooling. I do 10% water changes that only bump the temp up .5 degrees. Also I don't keep an RO container; solenoid valve directly off of the RO/DI system.

 

[Tryder]

I have a 75 gallon sump and two 30 gallon trash cans I use for Topoff and water chnages that are full 24/7. Only problem i ever have is that when I keep my garage open at night I have bugs fly into the light above my sump then get into sump. You should be fne with the heat, might raise your temp of your tank by a degree or 2, FYI if you do not have a chiller.

 

[sirrealism]

So i had a thought about this. I do have a chiller that I dont use so My idea is to put the chiller on my fresh salt water so that when i pump it from my hot garage to my tanks it goes through my chiller first. Not sure what kind of temp drop i can get with one pass through the chiller but it should help some. I would pump it pretty slow to give it more time in the chiller. Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[rogergolf66]

So i had a thought about this. I do have a chiller that I dont use so My idea is to put the chiller on my fresh salt water so that when i pump it from my hot garage to my tanks it goes through my chiller first. Not sure what kind of temp drop i can get with one pass through the chiller but it should help some. I would pump it pretty slow to give it more time in the chiller. Any thoughts on this idea?

U wouldn't even be able to measure the temp drop with one pass. Just plumb it into mixing station turn chiller on hour before change then open valve that goes to tank and close the valve that circulates it.

 

[sirrealism]

another good idea. Ya I didnt think it would do a lot. Thanks for the info Roger

 

[Ted_C]

one of the criteria I've been looking for in a house is where do I put the reef tank. I really like the idea of a fish tank / home office in a Florida room. I'm already planning on a chiller - so no issues with temperature I can think of.

Slightly off topic - but I posted this to my facebook page today - its funny some of the properties you see... Edited of course to remove obscenities from my quotes.

For those that don't know, I'm in the market here in Florida for a new House.
Funny story about one of the properties my real estate agent and I looked at yesterday. We were looking at the below property in person. The listing Real Estate Agent must have taken old pictures - because the house was certainly a surprise. We didn't have our hopes up because the best offer was due yesterday. God help whoever put in their best offer because the house is listed at 174k.
First - we saw the exterior damage to the stucco as we drove up. Figured it might have been water damage. Then we walked inside.

Every room had a different color of paint - 1/2 gallon dumped directly on the carpet or thrown on the walls or over the interior mirrors. Easily fixable because I want 100% tile anyways.

The pool had sledgehammer marks where the previous owner had tried to beat the crap out of it. Not easily fixed - but the damage was slight and I could live with it.

The Coup d'état though was the master bath in the master bedroom. As soon as we opened the door, the real estate agent guy was like - "what's that smell? I don't know what that smell is."

Being from a long line of plumbers, I instantly recognized the smell of dried poo. I told the real estate agent what the smell was and I swear I've never seen anyone vacate the premises faster. It was no big deal to me.

It turns out, whoever was mad about losing the house and doing all this damage (including the stucco damage on the outside) took a poop in the master bathroom and threw it everywhere inside the master bathroom.

Honestly, who does this? If your that mad about losing your house that you will touch your own poo and sling it all over the bathroom - why wouldn't you just do that to the entire house?

"I guess the previous owner did give a *poo"

"Holy *poo Stains Batman!"

"That was not funny *poo"

"I hope he didn't get *poo-faced"

http://www.trulia.com/homes/Florida/Seminole/sold/1175709-10641-117th-Ln-Seminole-FL-33778

 

[anbosu]

Wow. That type of thing probably happens more than I would have guessed, but that is crazy nonetheless.