Let’s see your saltwater mixing station!

[n2585722]

Mine is not as fancy looking as some of these. I have three 20 Gallon Brute cans on dolly's. These can be rolled out from under my work bench as needed. Below is a photo of the three under the work bench. The one on the left is the mixing tank. Once It get above 60% full the pump used for stirring the tank turns on. Once it is refilled after use with DI all I have to do is add the salt mix and when it is ready to use again I press the green button on the button box above it. This tell the controller the contents is ready for use. The blue button on the box above it turns on the bench lighting press it again and it turns off but if I forget it turns off after being on 30 minutes. The middle tank is my fresh saltwater tank. My auto water change system draws water from this tank. I also have a pump installed so I can dispense into other containers by pressing the yellow button on the button box above the tank. Once pressed it will only run for 10 seconds unless it is held. Pressing it again will turn it off. I also have a manual valve on the line and it is left closed unless I want to use it. The bottom switch on this button box is a push for push for on and push again for off. This is used to pause my auto water change which is controlled by the controller. It will also disable all the other buttons if it is on. If the fresh saltwater tank goes low the controller will refill it from the mix tank if it is ready to use. Once the mix tank is low the controller turns on the RODI and and also clears the mix ready flag. Once the mix tank is refilled the controller turns off the RODI. The controller controls which tank is getting RODI using two solenoids. The tank on the right is DI water for my ATO and anything else I need it for. The white button on the button box above it is used to dispense DI water to containers like the fresh saltwater tank. When this tank goes low the controller will refill it with the RODI until it is full. There are two backups on both the mix and DI tanks. There is a float valve and if it does not fill in a given time the controller will stop the RODI and sends an alert that it took too long to refill. There is also two leak detectors also. If either detects a leak then the RODI is shut off along with ATO, AWC and transfer from mix tank to fresh saltwater if it is ongoing at the time. I guess that about covers it.

 

[Stang67]

Hey. I picked up 3 barrels similar to yours today. For $90 total I figured it'd be a cheap option. Are those regular bulkhead fittings you used to tap into them? Did you have to do anything to get them to seal with the curvature of the barrels? I was also thinking about installing some barbs at the top and bottom with tubing in-between to be able to easily see how full they are since they're thick and blue. Thanks!

Regular bulkheads work very well. Nothing special for the seal the rubber gaskets handle the curve just fine. Neat idea on being able to see. My salt is the white one and the light is bright enough to tell on it.

 

[sdreef]

I’m researching how to put together a saltwater mixing station and I’m looking for ideas. I do like the white vertical tanks and would do that if I can find them locally. But also understand blue plastic barrels would work too if clean. I’m thinking 40 gallons would be enough and I’d place the station in the basement and eventually want to pump water up one level where the DT is.

I have mine setup in the garage. I use an Apex DOS to pump water to and from the display for a daily water change.

In case you hadn't seen this thread

Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them!!

I am currently looking to set up a RO/DI storage and salt mixing station in my house and I'm interested in the way other folks are doing it. So if you have any good photos of your systems don't be shy lets see them.:bigsmile:

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reefer911]

Nice and clean. I like it

 

[QuickrdenU]

I have mine setup in the garage. I use an Apex DOS to pump water to and from the display for a daily water change.

In case you hadn't seen this thread

Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them!!

I am currently looking to set up a RO/DI storage and salt mixing station in my house and I'm interested in the way other folks are doing it. So if you have any good photos of your systems don't be shy lets see them.:bigsmile:

www.reef2reef.com

Love it! So clean and well thought out. And I’m getting Breaking Bad vibes for some reason… haha

 

[reefkeep]

Saltwater mixing station, Priceless!

Love the tanks, did you get the local to Atlanta?

 

[ripcord]

Love the tanks, did you get the local to Atlanta?

Plastic-mart, I picked them up in Griffin, Ga. its just south of Atlanta.

 

[carmodpg]

Here are a couple pics I took right after I finished building my mixing station a year ago. Since that time, I have cleaned it up a bit to eliminate the wires hanging around, added versas for AWCs, and a couple FMMs to auto-refill my ATO reservoirs. I also bought a cheap washing machine which is in the second picture for filter socks. What a lifesaver that thing is!

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Here are a couple pics I took right after I finished building my mixing station a year ago. Since that time, I have cleaned it up a bit to eliminate the wires hanging around, added versas for AWCs, and a couple FMMs to auto-refill my ATO reservoirs. I also bought a cheap washing machine which is in the second picture for filter socks. What a lifesaver that thing is!

I am still mixing in a 30 gallon brute. I have an RODI line on a float switch hooked up to the can so I can fill it over night. I have measured out how many scoops of salt I need to add mix a new batch.

For those of y'all with mixing stations setup like this, how do you mix new batches? Do you get close to the end of your salt and dump it in temporary 5 gallon buckets or do you mix on top of the saltwater you have left?

I'm sure I am overthinking this, but in my head, my mixing station would need two saltwater bins and a slightly larger RODI bins. That way I can completely empty a saltwater bin and have more salt ready to go without having to allow 24-48 hours for the salt to properly mix.

 

[carmodpg]

I am still mixing in a 30 gallon brute. I have an RODI line on a float switch hooked up to the can so I can fill it over night. I have measured out how many scoops of salt I need to add mix a new batch.

For those of y'all with mixing stations setup like this, how do you mix new batches? Do you get close to the end of your salt and dump it in temporary 5 gallon buckets or do you mix on top of the saltwater you have left?

I'm sure I am overthinking this, but in my head, my mixing station would need two saltwater bins and a slightly larger RODI bins. That way I can completely empty a saltwater bin and have more salt ready to go without having to allow 24-48 hours for the salt to properly mix.

I usually have extra salt on hand, but either way, if I have some extra and need more saltwater, I just dump what I have left in with the salt I already mixed and mix it up again. Some others may frown on that, but I have never seen any undesired results from doing so.

Further, if you plan your water changes, I do not see the need to have 3 bins. I use Red Sea blue bucket, they recommended mixing for no longer than two hours. When I empty my saltwater storage tank, I just refill with the water from the RO/DI halfway, make more water and then fill the saltwater bin to the top (and repeat). This takes maybe half a day for me.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm sure I am overthinking this, but in my head, my mixing station would need two saltwater bins and a slightly larger RODI bins. That way I can completely empty a saltwater bin and have more salt ready to go without having to allow 24-48 hours for the salt to properly mix.

Nope, you're not over thinking it.

The 2 outer ones are salt and the one in the middle is fresh water

One thing this hobby has taught me is that when you need saltwater, it's better to have it on hand rather than mixing and waiting.

In an emergency mixing salt and dumping it is OK, but having it mixed and settled (all the reactions taken place) is better.

 

[Mikey-D]

Simple and budget friendly for now. Norwesco cans will be the ultimate station. This way I can focus more money towards the actual tank and live stock.

 

[dstockwell]

Three 5 gallon buckets

 

[theatrus]

Nope, you're not over thinking it.

The 2 outer ones are salt and the one in the middle is fresh water

One thing this hobby has taught me is that when you need saltwater, it's better to have it on hand rather than mixing and waiting.

In an emergency mixing salt and dumping it is OK, but having it mixed and settled (all the reactions taken place) is better.

Glad I’m not the only one that appears to be the owner of a MP40 wet side collection

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Glad I’m not the only one that appears to be the owner of a MP40 wet side collection

It's so much easier to swap them out with a clean one when it's time for cleaning.

 

[MrLargo]

Twin 45s in my garage, with RODI lines feeding my auto water change via DOS going under the house and up into sump.

 

[ripcord]

It's so much easier to swap them out with a clean one when it's time for cleaning.

I second that!

 

[dangles]

 

[grizzwald39]

looking for advice. I have the room to either stack my mixing station tanks so RODI above and salt below or i can do side by side. I was wondering if anyone had any input on he upside or downside of these. I was thinking with vertical i could use gravity to fill saltwater tank with rodi but not sure. any comments appreciated.

 

[reefishee]

All this for a 15 gallon AIO