Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them!!

[theturk]

Nice[
QUOTE="Baiggann, post: 2411228, member: 31103"]

Here's mine[/QUOTE]

 

[007Bond]

Thanks Turk,...its real simple,...just figure what a 10% water volume change would be for the size of your system, then add 4 buckets, barrels or what ever(guess you could use just two on a small system)...I use 4 because I'm changing out 100gal's,...my DT goes into 1,2,3,4, then to the sump. You need to plumb your set up so you can take (in my case) 1 and 2 off line leaving water still running through 3 &4 ... you never interrupt the flow to your DT...mix new salt in 1&2 turn a couple valves and your back in business with all 4 barrels...easy peasy!...benefit is more water volume total to your system which in my case helps to compensate for other dumb stuff I might do lol.---Rick

 

[fbodykiller]

This is a great thread with some great setups! So i picked up 2x 35 gallon horizontal leg tanks and ready to make my mixing station. Will a Mag 9 be enough power for mixing salt? For the guys who have an external pump plumbed returning to the top of the tank. Does it just dump right inside the top of the contailer thru the uni seal? Do you guys use anything else inside the tanks for agitation? Tanks in advance for your help.

 

[dbl]

On my system (Post #65) yes, the external pump runs to top of storage tank through uniseal. If I'm not mistaken your Mag 9 is around 900 +/- gph, which should be plenty for mixing. I also have a powerhead setting on the bottom that turns on a few times a day for a few minutes. I also have a heater, thermometer and salinity monitor probe inside as well.

 

[fbodykiller]

That was my next question. How do you get water sample to check the salinity. Kind of hard to reach in the tank unless it's full.

 

[dbl]

Long arm and long turkey baster will do the trick.

 

[007Bond]

dbl says he has a salinity probe in his tank as I do also....good idea!

 

[mcarroll]

Pre-mixing salt water more than a week in advance is not the best idea if you can avoid it. Same goes for continual mixing.

By the first week the vitamins have degraded. With continued mixing and or heating alkalinity and calcium will tend to precipitate.

Ideally you mix the amount of salt water you need to use at the moment. It only takes five minutes to correctly mix salt water so it is ready to use, so there isn't much real argument for mixing it further in advance in most cases.

If you must mix it in advance then once the solution turns clear stop mixing, seal it up and leave it alone until you need it. The vitamins will be gone after a week as noted but otherwise it should be perfect.

 

[mcarroll]

Mixing saltwater correctly:

First a supporting article from Dr. Craig Bingman:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011217234403/www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/sep/bio/default.asp

Last, video proof!
How to mix in 5 minutes without even using a pump:


How to mix in 5 minutes using a pump:


This, and more cool info, can be found in my "favorite links" thread here":
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mcarrolls-favorite-chemistry-links/

 

[Newb73]

I have a 7 stage water filter with the line that runs to a 20g container directly behind my tank.

There is a transfer pump in there that runs to my sump. I also have a pump in my sump that runs to a drain.

The pumps are on remote control outlets so the process is, add some salt, wait a few hours ...push one button,,,,then push another button and done.

The ro line is set up with a float valve auto shut off and I only turn the main valve on when it's under supervision.

Since its just a 20g brute contsiner, it's easy to access. I just walk back there.

I do not buy into the over mixing. My total water volume is 250g and with all my pumps on I can turn the tank over about 110x an hour....I see no harmful effects from circulating water....although im told red sea pro users do have this issue because the mix is hyper saturated.

 

[jgvergo]

I am designing my plumbing as we speak. I am a newbie at this! I want to be able to pump my mixed saltwater when doing a water change (I have lugged more 5 gallon buckets of water in my life than you want to know!). My simple question: should I pump the saltwater into my display tank or into my sump? A factor is that the saltwater reservoir and the sump are 10 feet (head) below the display tank, so I will need a much smaller (and less expensive!) pump to go to the sump. However, what are the issues in running the sump pump and replenishing the saltwater at the same time? P.S. The DT is 85 gallons and the sump is 30. I estimate doing 20 gallon water changes, but my return pump chamber in the sump will be approximately 8 gallons.

 

[Harold Green]

I am designing my plumbing as we speak. I am a newbie at this! I want to be able to pump my mixed saltwater when doing a water change (I have lugged more 5 gallon buckets of water in my life than you want to know!). My simple question: should I pump the saltwater into my display tank or into my sump? A factor is that the saltwater reservoir and the sump are 10 feet (head) below the display tank, so I will need a much smaller (and less expensive!) pump to go to the sump. However, what are the issues in running the sump pump and replenishing the saltwater at the same time? P.S. The DT is 85 gallons and the sump is 30. I estimate doing 20 gallon water changes, but my return pump chamber in the sump will be approximately 8 gallons.

It really depends on your sump. Shut off the pump and after drain down see how much volume the sump has left for additional water. That is the limit on adding water to the tank or sump. I prefer to add it to the sump and allow it to mix as it's pumped into the display. Drain water from the display and add a like amount to the sump and you should have no issues as long as the ph, salinity, and temperature matches.

 

[805reef]

Here is my mixing station. The left container is salt water the right is rodi. I have a fluval sp4 hooked up so I can pump from the rodi to the sw tank, recirculate the sw tank for mixing or pump it into the house for bigger water changes. I also have 1/4" tubing connect to each tank, the rodi for ATO(using an avast marine peristaltic pump) and the sw for auto water changes(using a DOS). The tubing runs over the wall into the attic and down into the living room near my tank. Theres also a valve on the rodi tank so I can pull rodi out for whatever I might need it for(rinsing equipment, water tests, etc).

 

[Newb73]

I pump mine both out of and into the sump. About 10gallows per change.

The only thing I have to shut off is the ato.

 

[805reef]

I pump mine both out of and into the sump. About 10gallows per change.

The only thing I have to shut off is the ato.

I pump old sea water and new seawater at the same time so I don't shut off the ato

 

[007Bond]

It really depends on your sump. Shut off the pump and after drain down see how much volume the sump has left for additional water. That is the limit on adding water to the tank or sump. I prefer to add it to the sump and allow it to mix as it's pumped into the display. Drain water from the display and add a like amount to the sump and you should have no issues as long as the ph, salinity, and temperature matches.

+1

 

[vic5hands]

55 gallons takes 6 min to change water

 

[vic5hands]

In my opinion this should be as robust as possible to give you options. My system has 2 different configurations....

A) A Renew continuous water changing system
B) The ability to mix 55 gallons and bring it on-line after draining 55 gallons of existing tank water
C) The ability to draw buckets of RO/DI water or Saltwater


You run the system in either configuration (but not both) but the beauty is you never have to touch a bucket. In addition, my sink has it's own RO/DI spiget on the sink for cleaning the test vials. We are not up and running with this sytem yet. However, I designed the system to be as automated or as manual as I need. I plan on running it 99% of the time using the Renew water changing system.

Here are some pics.... It's hard to photograph because it's in a fish room and located behind the 400 gallon display. Here are my best attempts at pics....

Super nice..

 

[ReefBum]

Here is a video of my water changing system.

 

[Eric peterson]

Brs 6 stage Ro/Di system, 2 30g brute cans, hydor koralia evolution 1500 gph powerhead, cobalt aquatics 100w heater