Feedback Please!!! Water storage/change Station

[Richmond]

Hello; I recently finished dry fitting the plumbing and would love some feedback and suggestions before I cement the setup. Pics below:

The left barrel will hold fresh water. It will have an ATO sensor that will shut off my RODI and a failsafe float that will shut down water in if it gets above the ATO sensor somehow.

The barrel on the right will be for mixing salt water. I currently have a 40 gallon tank doing 8 gallon weekly automatic water changes at a rate of ~1/5 gallon every 4 hours.

The pump will fill the right barrel with fresh water, circulate the saltwater to help with mixing (there will also be two large powerheads inside), or pump thru the 1/2 inch hose to fill my auto-water-change reservoir inside the house. I'm waiting to speak to a plumber about running that hose under the crawlspace directly to the stand.

The pump is plumbed in with 1 inch silicone hose. The intake/output are 2.25" and I didn't want to mess with reducing that to hard plumb. This will also make maintenance super easy as I'll only have to loosen the hose clamp.

I am planning to add a check valve between the valve and T on the fresh water side, to prevent any salt getting into the fresh reservoir.

Please tell me what I'm overlooking, need to improve, or need to change to prevent problems.

Thanks in advance.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I think it looks good. Two comments:

1. Hard to tell from the picture, but are the short 2x4 legs actually directly under the frame of the stand, so that the weight is directly transferred to the legs. You don't want the fasteners (nails / screws) supporting the weight.

2. The drain valve on the left that is sticking out maybe a foot of so, I'd run a small piece of 2x4 up from the stand to help support that plumbing. Too easy to bump or lean on that extended pipe and break the watertight connection of the uniseal.

 

[Richmond]

Thanks for the input! The 2x4 legs are not on the frame, they're on the plywood. Should I put additional boards directly to the frame?

I'll check to see how I can support the plumbing. Great suggestions! Keep 'em coming.

 

[Richmond]

(the reason I didn't put the legs to the frame originally, was that I didn't want the plywood alone supporting all the weight. So the legs *should* help keep the plywood up)

 

[HOOPDEEZ]

You may want an outlet for saltwater that you could access to in case of pump or power failure (have the plumbing match the left side). Also you may want to add a couple unions so you can take it apart and clean it.
I agree that the vertical 2x4s should not push into the plywood. I would frame the supports in so they are much stronger. Make two rectangles out of 2x4s and have the vertical legs rest under the top 2x4. The bottom 2x4 would connect the 2 legs and protect the stand from any horizontal force. Then have 3 2x4s brace the plywood and span between the frames, along with a couple at the bottom as well.
Alternatively you could stack cinderblocks under each container and that would sure up your stand plenty! I did this with my water station, because I already had shelves built in my garage, they just needed reinforced.
I love having a water change station, enjoy!