Dream Tank DIY Pre-Build - Mixing Station - Outside Air - Waste Water Drain - And More

SkiCatTX · Apr 28, 2019

Finished painting the mounting board front and back.

Also, this morning, installed one more light on the far side of the panel, and also the AC outlet for the pumps and controllers.

crusso1993 · Apr 28, 2019

Getting there!

SkiCatTX · May 2, 2019

Got a few more goodies for the build. I'll cover the details as I install them, but FMM for container Optical Sensors, Solenoids for RODI in and auto flush, various wires and hole inserts, buttons, etc.

SkiCatTX · May 7, 2019

Didn't get too far, but started mounting the Apex gear:

- EB4 (Jebao mixing pump, RODI pressure pump, heater, TBD)
- FMM (4 optical sensors: RODI full/empty, Saltwater full/empty, and RODI solenoid)
- ALD (2 leak detectors for the drip pan and 2 additional inputs that will be switches for circ pump and RODI emergency on/off)

The ALD will be repurposed from my main DT. I got two additional new-style leak sensors for the FMM running my ATO and plugged those into the 3 and 4 inputs, which freed up the ALD for this.

The pump controller and buttons go on the front side, next to the tanks:

I might at some point add an Apex Jebao controller, and a Temp/Cond module for Apex control. But for now this will do. It will all be controlled by my Apex Classic in the office downstairs.

SkiCatTX · May 12, 2019

OK, the electronic setup is nearly complete. Next step will be to test the drip pan and drain, then start plumbing the storage tanks.

Here's the plan with the Apex modules:

EB4 powers the circulation pump, the 8800 high pressure pump for the RODI, a heater, and one other item TBD:

One FMM to monitor 4 optical sensors, 2 in the salt water container high and low, 2 in the fresh water container high and low. It will also power the solenoid for turning the main water on and off for the RODI. I have 2 sensors hooked up and tested, I need to order two more.

And one ALD that used to be on my main tank, but I recently replaced with new leak sensors attached to the 2 open inputs on the FMM downstairs on the main tank running the ATO.

I will put the two old leak sensors in the drip pan under the RODI and the recirculation pump. It should safely drain if there is a leak, but if all goes well there will never be water in the pan, so if there ever is I want to know right away.

The other two inputs I wired to two push button switches on the front panel. This I will use for kill switches for the RODI and for the recirculation pump. This way I can turn those on and off without having my phone or laptop with me. I will probably also install a physical kill switch on the power main as well for added safety. This whole setup is already on a GFCI/AFCI circuit.

On the front panel next to the tanks I have the Jabao controller and the two buttons so far. I have several of these pumps on my pond and waterfall outside and have had good luck with them. You just have to buy them double the flow that they state, which once you realize that they are good and powerful pumps, and completely silent. They are also a fraction of the cost of fancier pumps (in some cases you could get 4 of these as backups for the cost of one high-end pump) so if one goes bad I can just get another easy enough, and auto-mixing saltwater is not as critical a function as a return pump on a tank so I'm not too worried about it.

And, yes, I drilled the stupid power cord hole too close...I may re-drill that as a bigger hole...

The buttons even light up. I powered those with the 12v from the Aquabus using a cut USB cable (black and red wires), works great! Aquabus was designed to power some of the smaller modules, so a small current drain is no problem, ideally directly from an EB4/8 box with its own power.

SkiCatTX · May 12, 2019

Here are the two panels all (mostly?) cleaned up:

The RODI that is currently in my garage will move up here once I'm ready. For now it has to stay where it is and continue making water until the last minute.

SkiCatTX · May 12, 2019

Oh, also connected the emergency drain and salt and fresh water out to downstairs. I still need to order the parts for connections downstairs before I can test water tightness in those lines.

Juniorh2r · May 12, 2019

Coming along nicely! Keep sharing

SkiCatTX · May 13, 2019

Juniorh2r said:
Coming along nicely! Keep sharing

Yeah, thx! Like...nice and slowly...ugh...Man if I had any idea how much work this would be...I just have to look to how much time and effort this will save in the future...hopefully...

crusso1993 · May 16, 2019

SkiCatTX said:
Yeah, thx! Like...nice and slowly...ugh...Man if I had any idea how much work this would be...I just have to look to how much time and effort this will save in the future...hopefully...

The reward is often in a job well done!

SkiCatTX · May 16, 2019

crusso1993 said:
The reward is often in a job well done!

hehe, yeah, let's hope so. My wife is just waiting for the first big fail, when it leaks into the house and she can say I told you so...lol. That's why I'm going all out with the safety features, alarms, sensors, drip pan under everything, etc. I of course don't want that either.

We'll all be much happier when I don't have to drag buckets of salty and dirty tank water all over the house...

SkiCatTX · May 22, 2019

Water test for the drip pan and the fresh and saltwater outlets behind the tank.

My daughter picked the colors...green for new salt water, clear for new fresh water... Filled them up to about where the top of the containers will be and left them a few days. Seem good so far.

Cepex ball valves and quick disconnects for now. Initially, I'll just be adding water manually to ATO and tank. Ultimately I will automate with the big tank, when I actually have a sump to work with. Don't mind the one white 90', I didn't have another threaded grey, so I will replace that shortly...

SkiCatTX · May 25, 2019

Today is bulkhead drilling day!

SkiCatTX · May 25, 2019

All set:

Take'em back upstairs and hook'em up!

SkiCatTX · May 25, 2019

First pass on the mixing side, up to the unions for the ball valves. DO NOT forget to put the nuts for the unions on the pipes BEFORE gluing...I swear I nearly did that again...

SkiCatTX · May 25, 2019

The freshwater out:

And the Saltwater out:

crusso1993 · May 26, 2019

Looking good!

Just for future reference; never use teflon tape on threaded PVC fittings as they are not designed for tape use. As a matter of fact, using tape will very often damage the fitting(s) and cause leaks. Often the leaks do not show up until down the road.

SkiCatTX · May 26, 2019

crusso1993 said:
Looking good!

Just for future reference; never use teflon tape on threaded PVC fittings as they are not designed for tape use. As a matter of fact, using tape will very often damage the fitting(s) and cause leaks. Often the leaks do not show up until down the road.

Interesting, I never knew that about the tape, I’ll keep that in mind. Currently the only threaded fittings are the quick disconnects that the hose connects to behind the tank, so I’ll watch them closely.