Let’s Mix it Up! Designing and Using a Water Mixing Station

[BAPrince]

Such GREAT information in this thread! I'm so excited to start this project. Two questions....

1. Where the plumbing goes into the top of the SW container, what do you do with that on the inside of the tank? Just a few inches of pipe and it shoots onto the top of the water? Plumb it down to the bottom so it stirs up the bottom? Does that question make sense?

2. What is the recommended brand of ball valves? And, I've read through this entire thread, and I can't quickly find it again, but I think I saw that you needed 4 of one type of valve and two of a different type?

Thank you!

 

[Rich1987]

Such GREAT information in this thread! I'm so excited to start this project. Two questions....

1. Where the plumbing goes into the top of the SW container, what do you do with that on the inside of the tank? Just a few inches of pipe and it shoots onto the top of the water? Plumb it down to the bottom so it stirs up the bottom? Does that question make sense?

2. What is the recommended brand of ball valves? And, I've read through this entire thread, and I can't quickly find it again, but I think I saw that you needed 4 of one type of valve and two of a different type?

Thank you!

1. My pipe goes in 5 inches And just splashes out bc I run my pump on a 30 minute daily timer to periodically mix the storage water. But also your idea of extending the pipe to the bottom of storage container is excellent! I might even change mine to do that now !!!

2. I use all ball valves from BRS. Much more expensive but you can install them and never have to worry about them. Plus them all having unions installed right out of the box is a very nice feature. I used all the same type of ball valves on mine. All from BRS.

 

[dbl]

Such GREAT information in this thread! I'm so excited to start this project. Two questions....

1. Where the plumbing goes into the top of the SW container, what do you do with that on the inside of the tank? Just a few inches of pipe and it shoots onto the top of the water? Plumb it down to the bottom so it stirs up the bottom? Does that question make sense?

2. What is the recommended brand of ball valves? And, I've read through this entire thread, and I can't quickly find it again, but I think I saw that you needed 4 of one type of valve and two of a different type?

Thank you!

1. In my case, it's just a short piece of pipe that dumps into the tank. The agitation and the pump pulling from the bottom keeps things stirred up. I do have a power head at the bottom I run during the initial mixing just to be certain.

2. I just used the big box ball valves since they were inexpensive. They have been fine and although they are a little harder to open after several years, they do still open. If I were to ever do it again, I would probably use a true union ball valve but it's certainly not necessary.

 

[Rudzbrewski]

When I’m just cleaning out the bottom main piles of salt water here’s what I do.....

I Close off bottom container drain valve to salt side so no salt water can come out.

I open the lowest drain valve and place a 2 gallon bucket underneath it.

Then Open bottom RO container valve all the way and the force off 55 gallons. With gravity floods all the lower pipes fast.

Then I let the bucket fill up 3/4 of way so about 1.5 gallons of RODI floods the whole lower pipe and drains into the bucket.

I leave bucket under there like 45-60 seconds to let out the drips.

Now even if there’s a (tiny Bit) of contamination it’s not enough to hurt anything at all. I have been testing my RO container daily to ensure this for 2 weeks straight and it still reads 0 TDS and 0 Salinity. So I’m convinced it works.

Just make your stand high enough to fit 5 gallon buckets underneath.

If that was not clear about flushing, I will take video and PM

Do you find that the section that spans the from and has all the ball valves requires some support due to all of the weight? I just finished piecing it all together and it seems decently heavy and I’m thinking I should run a piece of wood under for support instead of that whole section freely suspended in the air help by only the 3 piece that connect into the storage containers and mixing pump.

 

[Rudzbrewski]

After I pump saltwater to the tank, I run the pump with fresh RODI water for a little bit into the adjacent laundry sink to flush the hose out. Then it's ready to pump fresh RODI water to the reservoir at the tank. I don't do many water changes anymore so mine is mainly used to pump fresh to the ATO reservoir.

I don't actually worry about it going the other way because it's really not that much fresh in the hose before it starts to pump from the saltwater container to make a difference.

If you're careful with the valves, at least in my system, neither container gets contaminated by the other. But you have to pay attention or it can happen. Don't ask me how I know...lol.

I'm on the final assembly of my RODI station. Did you use PVC cement to connect the pieces, or since they are exposed to you find that just pushing them together tightly was good enough?

 

[dbl]

I'm on the final assembly of my RODI station. Did you use PVC cement to connect the pieces, or since they are exposed to you find that just pushing them together tightly was good enough?

Mine is all glued/cemented and I would recommend doing so. You'll be pumping water through the system and although maybe not a lot of pressure depending on your pump, it's not worth the risk to me. Highly recommend gluing it up.

 

[BAPrince]

I'm on the final assembly of my RODI station. Did you use PVC cement to connect the pieces, or since they are exposed to you find that just pushing them together tightly was good enough?

You MUST use PVC primer and PVC cement. The primer sold in big box stores is purple and ugly. I haven't bought any yet, but my understanding is that you can buy clear primer, and therefore keep it looking nicer.

 

[Desert Sea]

You MUST use PVC primer and PVC cement. The primer sold in big box stores is purple and ugly. I haven't bought any yet, but my understanding is that you can buy clear primer, and therefore keep it looking nicer.

X2 .....if you don’t it will only be a matter of time before a joint let’s loose and you have a flood on your hands. And yes they do have clear primer but your probably going to have to order it online or get it at a plumbing/mechanical supply house. The purple is required in most jurisdictions to prove that a primer was used in the assembly of the pipe joint.

 

[CK00020]

If you use dark green Oatey or the new fusion you don’t need primer for most applications

 

[CK00020]

But I should add clear primer is a good idea, purple is never used professionally

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

Heres my setup using an Ecotech Vectra S2 pump

 

[BAPrince]

Heres my setup using an Ecotech Vectra S2 pump

That system is SO clean, at first I was thinking you must have missed some critical design component... NOPE! My 75g tanks are on order, and your setup just moved to the top of my "favorites" list!!

 

[homer1475]

Heres my setup using an Ecotech Vectra S2 pump

Only thing i see is no way to get RO/DI out without mixing the 2. Yes I get that it's only a little bit, but I prefer to not throw away water. A T and valve off the RO/DI line for pure RO/DI with no mixing is very easy to add in.

Heres my setup with 55G brutes. RO/DI on left, salt on right.

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

That system is SO clean, at first I was thinking you must have missed some critical design component... NOPE! My 75g tanks are on order, and your setup just moved to the top of my "favorites" list!!

Thanks for the kind words I worked really hard on it to make it as clean and nice of a setup as possible. I also plumped the inside of the saltwater container to actually stur the saltwater as well. Pipe comes in the side... 90 degree elbow down to the bottom...T's off to both sides...elbow on each side facing opposite directions. Keeps kind of like a tornado effect in the container. Works really really well at keeping the salt from collecting at the bottom I did reduce the pipe from 3/4 to 1/2 at the elbow down to help create more pressure coming out of the ends to mix the salt.

 

[BAPrince]

Thanks for the kind words I worked really hard on it to make it as clean and nice of a setup as possible. I also plumped the inside of the saltwater container to actually stur the saltwater as well. Pipe comes in the side... 90 degree elbow down to the bottom...T's off to both sides...elbow on each side facing opposite directions. Keeps kind of like a tornado effect in the container. Works really really well at keeping the salt from collecting at the bottom I did reduce the pipe from 3/4 to 1/2 at the elbow down to help create more pressure coming out of the ends to mix the salt.

Interesting. I posted elsewhere about what people were doing with the pipe once it went inside the tank. Seems many just have a few inches of pipe inside, and let it "splash" on the top surface, some with a powerhead at the bottom to keep it stirred up. Seems like your idea would work great. Would you do it your way again, if you were starting over from scratch?

 

[homer1475]

Mine is setup the same way, with the pipe into the bottom with elbows. Works great and I would not do it any different. Keeps the salt from accumulating on the bottom.

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

Also...i didnt want anything manual about this setup...like no bucket moving at all. To clear the line all you do is open the salt valve at top..let the salt line clear into the salt bin, shut off the salt valve at top, and then you have fresh RODI water throughtout the line. No waste Sure you might get a tiny bit of RODI water into the salt container after youve already gotten it mixed correctly...but the amount is sooooo small its not even worth talking about lol.

 

[madweazl]

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

Interesting. I posted elsewhere about what people were doing with the pipe once it went inside the tank. Seems many just have a few inches of pipe inside, and let it "splash" on the top surface, some with a powerhead at the bottom to keep it stirred up. Seems like your idea would work great. Would you do it your way again, if you were starting over from scratch?

Yes totally I cant speak for those that do it the way you just said...but i seen that too and thought about the noise if it wasnt submerged ...the splash and salt creep...and the extra pumps youd have to have to keep the salt mixed. Doesnt seem as clean or as simple or as cost effective as mine. 1 plug for the pump and thats it 2 plugs if you wanna add a heater.

 

[CK00020]

What are people doing, as far as piping inside horizontal tanks?