Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them

[iwishtofish]

Originally Posted by Orcrone

I use Uniseals I purchased from BRS. They work great - no leaks at all. One word of advice. Use the boring type drill bit, the type with a drill bit and a round cylinder surrounding it. I used the other type (1 1/4" bit) originally and it tore up the container and the uniseal leaked.

Originally Posted by gweston

+1 use the circular hole cutter type of drill bit. Not the flat/paddle head bore hole cutter that you may use to drill a hole in a door to install a door handle or some such.

I picked up a pair of 1" uniseals. They push right into the hole. When you insert the PVC tubing, the uniseal expands and seals the hole. There is no screw/bolt as with regular bulkheads. Just looking at the thing, one can be dubious whether it works.. but it does.

Originally Posted by drimo

+1 on the Uniseals. It also helps to use a small amount of lubricant or soapy water when inserting the pipe through the Uniseal.

Thanks for the great advice!

[Jason1982]

Originally Posted by markglad

Jason1982, I assume this is for adding salt and is a type of automotive funnel? In making the most of space with a vertical system this is an absolute genius idea!

yes exactly, simple yet very effective..

[das75]

Do you guys rinse out between making up new batches?

[Jason1982]

Originally Posted by das75

Do you guys rinse out between making up new batches?

I don't.. The way mine works though, I instantly fill my salt mixing barrel after I do a waterchange.. this way I can start to make more r/o on my top barrel and be ready with saltwater on hand in the lower barrel.. The nice thing is to have both ro/di and saltwater on hand just in case of an emergency or something.. I hear people say that some salts leave a residue but I havent looked into it that throughly..

[Orcrone]

Originally Posted by das75

Do you guys rinse out between making up new batches?

I use Reef Crystals and get a brown residue. Once every couple of months I'll disconnect the Brute containers I use for saltwater & clean them.

[KEITHHAYS_2000]

Originally Posted by das75

Do you guys rinse out between making up new batches?

If you are making large enough batches (several hundred gallons) you will get a sludge on the bottom. The best thing to do is to suck out that sludge before sending it to the tanks. You might also see it after several smaller batches if your output pipe is off the bottom a bit.

[cfsindorf]

For those that do not live in a climate where outside it gets to 110 during the day and agarages ARE NOT climate controlled. LOL What about salt water in garage where it could get in the 90's?? To me the RODI water is not an issue but what aboult salt water??

[MARLANDO]

25 Gallons each 18"x30"

Stainless table

3/4" Pipe

PanWorld 40PX Pump

BRS 75 GPD 5 STAGE RO/DI Plus system

[jeff@zina.com]

Originally Posted by cfsindorf

To me the RODI water is not an issue but what aboult salt water??

Not an issue.

Jeff

[jdantunes]

Very nice built, MARLANDO. Those are good and expensive ball valves. Are they +GF+ ?

[fote03]

Where did u get the stainless table? very clean setup

[MARLANDO]

Originally Posted by jdantunes

Very nice built, MARLANDO. Those are good and expensive ball valves. Are they +GF+ ?

Yes they Are, Grainger !

Originally Posted by fote03

Where did u get the stainless table? very clean setup

Costco.com

[aarond21]

Im alittle late but that is a very clean set up.

[FancyDirty]

seen some great ideas that i mite have to use

[KEITHHAYS_2000]

Originally Posted by cfsindorf

For those that do not live in a climate where outside it gets to 110 during the day and agarages ARE NOT climate controlled. LOL What about salt water in garage where it could get in the 90's?? To me the RODI water is not an issue but what aboult salt water??

a couple thoughts:

an attic fan with a ventilator would may maintain to the garage temp to no hotter than outide. This wouldn't be a complete solution, but I would do this in addition to the any of the others.

Wall-in the Changing station and hook-up a small window unit a/c or connect the walled-in area to the inside of the house. The latter is less good because then you have to heat the water, but you could set the window unit to maintain about 80 degrees.

add a valve setup to a chiller that (during changes) could bring the water down to temp after mixing the saltwater. This only works if you already have a chiller...though if you have deep pockets.

I live in Tennessee now, but when I lived in california water coolers were used instead of a/c (no humidity). They are pretty much just water being cooled by pumping water over a large surface area in open air.

I glad you asked this question because now I am thinking about a large 500 or 1000 gallon container to add capacity and stability to my 400 gallon system. The container would be exposed to the elements entirely.

[stangd1909]

Great thread... I see a lot of great ideas.

[BeanMachine]

Originally Posted by MARLANDO

Yes they Are, Grainger !





Costco.com

Anyone know a cheaper place to get the ball valves with union? $44 a piece! Is it because Marlando's are schedule 80?

Thanks in advance.

[AquaticFins]

Originally Posted by BeanMachine

Anyone know a cheaper place to get the ball valves with union? $44 a piece! Is it because Marlando's are schedule 80?

Thanks in advance.

That's actually a pretty good price for the brand that he's got.

I usually buy mine from USPlastics, but it's not any cheaper.

Lowe's/Home Depot will have some cheaper ones...~$20ish for the sizes we use. They're called "True Union Ball Valves," if you want to do some searching.

[BeanMachine]

Originally Posted by AquaticFins

That's actually a pretty good price for the brand that he's got.

I usually buy mine from USPlastics, but it's not any cheaper.

Lowe's/Home Depot will have some cheaper ones...~$20ish for the sizes we use. They're called "True Union Ball Valves," if you want to do some searching.

Nice thanks. I'm looking at $250 (shippings a killer) for the containers and $200 for the True Union Ball Valves if I go with the higher quality ones, plus the uniseals, pipe, and pump I'll be at like $700...

I guess I could go with Brute containers and cheapy valves from Home depot but not sure I want to go that route.

[MARLANDO]

Originally Posted by BeanMachine

Nice thanks. I'm looking at $250 (shippings a killer) for the containers and $200 for the True Union Ball Valves if I go with the higher quality ones, plus the uniseals, pipe, and pump I'll be at like $700...

I guess I could go with Brute containers and cheapy valves from Home depot but not sure I want to go that route.

Area you looking at 25 G tanks ?

I paid $160 delivered....

[BeanMachine]

Originally Posted by MARLANDO

Area you looking at 25 G tanks ?

I paid $160 delivered....

The 40 gallon tanks, but to save 90 bucks I may go with the smaller tanks. I usually only do a 15 to 20 gallon water change. I thought by going with slightly larger I'd be prepared if I ever upgraded or what not.

[MARLANDO]

Originally Posted by BeanMachine

The 40 gallon tanks, but to save 90 bucks I may go with the smaller tanks. I usually only do a 15 to 20 gallon water change. I thought by going with slightly larger I'd be prepared if I ever upgraded or what not.

if you need more capacity, I used both tanks to give me 50 Gallons of salt when i started my 39G Cad! Now i just use one tank for ro/di and the other is always has a saltwater ready to go !

[The Punisher]

Originally Posted by BeanMachine

Nice thanks. I'm looking at $250 (shippings a killer) for the containers and $200 for the True Union Ball Valves if I go with the higher quality ones, plus the uniseals, pipe, and pump I'll be at like $700...

I guess I could go with Brute containers and cheapy valves from Home depot but not sure I want to go that route.

Brute trash cans and simple plumbing is the way to go for a water change station. I'm all for spending $700 to plumb a DT, but to plumb a simple water change station I would NEVER do that. I think the true union ball valves are overkill for something like this. You're going to be emptying your containers often so I don't think you need to plan as much for dissassembly as you would with a tank where you're worried about interupting a running system. I'm not saying you shouldn't get creative and have your plumbing as complex as you like, but you can make a pretty darn complex plumbing scheme with regular ball valves and brute trash cans for WAYYYYYYYYY less than $700. JMHO.

[giants4pc]

Here are a couple quick pictures of my very simple design. I only have a four foot wide room so width was very difficult to deal with. I use one of those slim jim 23 gallons for the freshwater from the RO and a 40 long for the saltwater. I use some cheap pvc for the plumbing.

[cunningham]

Originally Posted by BeanMachine

Anyone know a cheaper place to get the ball valves with union? $44 a piece! Is it because Marlando's are schedule 80?

Thanks in advance.

Bulk reef supply has some nice ones, around 20 bucks, schedule 80 i have them and they are very
nice!
Danny