Bad back? Weak arms? DIY auto salt dispensing solution into your mixing bin

[pianosdr]

Hi there,

I’ve been thinking about this for what seems like years, and randomly last night it dawned on me: I was trying way too hard to overengineer (and therefore never actually try anything) some fancy mechanism for dispensing salt into my mixing bin.

Gravity and some hooks & wire from Home Depot can do all the work. If you have a bad back (like me) or aren’t strong enough to lift a 10+ lb bag of salt 5-6 feet in the air and hold it there for several minutes straight, consider making this simple contraption

 

[slingfox]

If you can lift the bag that high already why not just cut a bigger opening and pour the bag straight in? I pour the salt into a small bucket sitting on a digital scale. Then use the bucket to pour in the amount of salt needed.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hi there,

I’ve been thinking about this for what seems like years, and randomly last night it dawned on me: I was trying way too hard to overengineer (and therefore never actually try anything) some fancy mechanism for dispensing salt into my mixing bin.

Gravity and some hooks & wire from Home Depot can do all the work. If you have a bad back (like me) or aren’t strong enough to lift a 10+ lb bag of salt 5-6 feet in the air and hold it there for several minutes straight, consider making this simple contraption

That is clever!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Somewhere in my long list of projects to try was some sort of hopper with an auger/conveyor system. A miniature cement plant of sorts. Fully automated would be great. But I’m lacking motivation….and skill, Ha! I feel your pain though!

 

[pianosdr]

If you can lift the bag that high already why not just cut a bigger opening and pour the bag straight in? I pour the salt into a small bucket sitting on a digital scale. Then use the bucket to pour in the amount of salt needed.

The small opening is intentional. It’s best to slow drip salt into the bin to prevent precipitation and ensure the salt mixes uniformly without precipitating at the bottom or clogging up your gear. Pouring salt in more quickly/in clumps will also not provide a reliably consistent salinity each time since you can’t be sure how much of the salt you pour in actually gets mixed (until you test of course & manually stir it up again). And manually stirring would be required if you did that. I have 4 different vectors of water flow going into my bin at both the bottom, middle, and shooting up, and I’ll still get some precipitation at the bottom if I pour too quickly.

The contraption I put together here works better for me than probably most because the amount of salt I need to pour in to get to 1.026 conveniently happens to be just a bit more than an entire bag of salt, so I can just open a new bag, hang it up, and let it drip itself out entirely and basically be g2g. … which is also why it was annoying for me to have to hold it up all the time, cuz I was holding the entire full bag up and trying to drop it in slowly myself.

If you were to require less than a full bag, you’d obv have to monitor a gravity feed like this a bit more to stop it when it’s time… but still better than holding it up imo :)

 

[slingfox]

The small opening is intentional. It’s best to slow drip salt into the bin to prevent precipitation and ensure the salt mixes uniformly without precipitating at the bottom or clogging up your gear. Pouring salt in more quickly/in clumps will also not provide a reliably consistent salinity each time since you can’t be sure how much of the salt you pour in actually gets mixed (until you test of course & manually stir it up again). And manually stirring would be required if you did that. I have 4 different vectors of water flow going into my bin at both the bottom, middle, and shooting up, and I’ll still get some precipitation at the bottom if I pour too quickly.

The contraption I put together here works better for me than probably most because the amount of salt I need to pour in to get to 1.026 conveniently happens to be just a bit more than an entire bag of salt, so I can just open a new bag, hang it up, and let it drip itself out entirely and basically be g2g. … which is also why it was annoying for me to have to hold it up all the time, cuz I was holding the entire full bag up and trying to drop it in slowly myself.

If you were to require less than a full bag, you’d obv have to monitor a gravity feed like this a bit more to stop it when it’s time… but still better than holding it up imo :)

Sure if that works for you great. I use Nyos salt (and previously Tropic Marin) and have zero issues with just dumping in the exact weighed amount all at once. I mix up my barrel of saltwater with a Sicce pump within 15 minutes consistently every time. No precipitation whatsoever.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Reminds me of the hospital leg slings.

 

[pianosdr]

Sure if that works for you great. I use Nyos salt (and previously Tropic Marin) and have zero issues with just dumping in the exact weighed amount all at once. I mix up my barrel of saltwater with a Sicce pump within 15 minutes consistently every time. No precipitation whatsoever.

Cool? Thanks for sharing

 

[pianosdr]

Also just noting for the benefit of others in the future who may happen to catch this thread, while it’s great that Slingfox appears to have a method that works for them, what they’re describing is definitely not what pretty much every salt manufacturer or retailer - including Nyos - recommends

 

[slingfox]

Also just noting for the benefit of others in the future who may happen to catch this thread, while it’s great that Slingfox appears to have a method that works for them, what they’re describing is definitely not what pretty much every salt manufacturer or retailer - including Nyos - recommends

The evidence you are presenting looks AI generated and none seem directly from Nyos. I have the actual directions on how to mix from Nyos Pure (it is printed on the box) and it does not mention anything about how fast or slow to pour in the salt.

Very simple experiment for anyone who wants to test for themselves: Mix a 3 gallon bucket where you pour in the salt slowly vs. pour in the salt all at once. If it is a quality salt I would bet the salinity is the same and there is no precipitation. The risk of precipitation should also be reduced if you use a higher quality, quick dissolving salt. In my mixing setup, the RODI is already circulating when I add the salt. That helps any salt poured in to mix quickly.

If you get precipitation due to how fast or slow you are pouring salt in then you should look into getting another salt to save your back . . .

 

[exnisstech]

I've just been dumping salt in a brute with two powerheads for over 10 years and never had any problems with it not fully dissolving but sometimes it mixes for days or even a week before I use it because I like to keep a full container ready in case of an emergency. I have to admit I've never read the instruction so maybe I've been doing it wrong this whole time