Help me skip the crud in my mixing station!

[Peace River]

Its reef Crystals by IO. Previously was Tropic Marin Bio Actif

You may have said this already, but do you have any filtration plumbed into the saltwater mixing station, extra mixing pumps, filter socks, etc.?

 

[vetteguy53081]

You may have said this already, but do you have any filtration plumbed into the saltwater mixing station, extra mixing pumps, filter socks, etc.?

None.
Upper ropw of RODI plugged into poly tank and external pump for water movement and valves for water disbursement and to pause flow in tank. heater goes straight down on the cap on top of tank with a thermometer unit

 

[Peace River]

None.
Upper ropw of RODI plugged into poly tank and external pump for water movement and valves for water disbursement and to pause flow in tank. heater goes straight down on the cap on top of tank with a thermometer unit

IME, IO and RC are dirty salt mixes. Where does all of that go in your system? Does it pass through to the DT? No judgment. Genuine question.

 

[vetteguy53081]

IME, IO and RC are dirty salt mixes. Where does all of that go in your system? Does it pass through to the DT? No judgment. Genuine question.

The water is distributed from top of tank under pressure. No allowance for crud on bottom would there be any

 

[Peace River]

The 5 micron filters arrived today, so I pulled the new-in-the-box BRS reactor off the shelf to start trying to figure out how to plumb it in. I was pleasantly surprised that it came with a pump, which is great, but it adds more options that I need to figure out. Should I plumb it directly in to the mixing station plumbing or do I drop the standalone pump into the bottom of the mixing station and run it directly to the filter and back?

 

[Peace River]

For now, I installed the BRS reactor with the 5 micron filter using a Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 pump and the provided tubing and running the tubes in and out of the 65g saltwater mixing tank (without using the existing plumbing). I previously drilled one 3/4" hole on the top side of the 65g Norwesco polyethylene tank to run the probes through that connect to the Hanna Multi Monitor. I was able to use that hole for the return tube and then I drilled another 1" hole, located near the 3/4" hole, for the pump-side tube. I made the second hole one inch so I could also fit the plug through in addition to the tube. I mounted the reactor to the wall behind the mixing station slight above the height of the full water level of the mixing tank (to avoid any potential of a syphon while still limiting back pressure). The mounting setup and quick release tubing should make for easy maintenance.

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

I find that RC is dirtier than IO. It also helps if you mix without heating. Red Sea Blue bucket was decent, with ESV being the cleanest, but also now the most expensive.

 

[Peace River]

Yes, no question that both RC and IO are dirty salts. The easy, and maybe even better, way would be to do what many do and change salts or I could also live with the crud. I wanted to experiment with an alternate solution, so here I am with the sediment filter.

 

[vtecintegra]

I'm using an Aquaclear pump and its quick filter in my mixing container. The filter on the left is new, and the one on the right is after mixing about 150 gallons of Instant Ocean. Does good at keeping the container clean.

 

[Peace River]

I'm using an Aquaclear pump and its quick filter in my mixing container. The filter on the left is new, and the one on the right is after mixing about 150 gallons of Instant Ocean. Does good at keeping the container clean.

I like it! That looks like a very good option and is is essentially what I am doing with the BRS reactor. I went the direction that I did because I think the 5 micron filters have a smaller micron size then the filter sleeve. I was previously using filter socks that were definitely working, but still leaving a lot of crud that built up over a year.

 

[Peace River]

One thing that I didn't factor in (but should have) is that the extra pump in the saltwater mixing container has pushed up the temperature of the saltwater in the holding tank. This may or may not be an issue, but I will continue to monitor the temperature and any related implications. I wanted to make the call out now for anyone considering adding a sediment filter to their mixing station. It may be a reason to switch to a configuration that aligns with @homer1475's setup (see their explanation and pictures earlier in this thread) where the sediment filter is inline with the circulation pump.