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

[homer1475]

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.

Ok I get what your saying, but that makes no sense at all? If you open the valve on the top, how does the water get pushed uphill? If you want RO/DI you have to clear the line from the valve at the bottom, to the valve at the top. Just opening the valve on the salt bin will not clear the line. You have to push it uphill(back into the bin), and opening the valve on the bottom will just push more water into the line(pressure). With 1" piping, your probably mixing a gallon or 2 every time you want salt or RO/DI.

I'm not calling you out, just trying to understand your thinking here and how it works. I considered doing it your way, but could not figure out how to not mix the 2 without a separate valve for just RO/DI.

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

If you look at the picture...there is a valve on the bottom left...for the rodi water...a valve on the bottom right for the saltwater. Open the rodi valve and close the salt valve. Then above the pump, in the middle...theres 2 valves...one for a quick water hose connent to drain water to my top offs, and one that leads to the saltwater. Close the quick connect line and open the saltwater line. With the pump on freash RODI will flood the line pushing all the extra salteater left in the line into the saltwater container. After a few moments close the top shut off valve to the saltwater...and open the middle quick connect line to have clean RODI water to send where ever you need. I could have installed the drains like you did which is fine for anyone wanting to do so. I could fill my top offs just with the height pressure from the containers. But what for when this works perfectly fine?

 

[homer1475]

So your still mixing a small amount of water, either RO/DI into salt, or vice versus. Again with 1" piping thats a couple gallons every time you do that.

Might want to check the salinity in the salt barrel after a few times of doing that. I found when my system was setup like you have it, it would throw my salt's salinity way off when used over time.

I'm certainly not saying your way is wrong, just what I found was an issue when I had my mixing station setup like you have it.

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

For 1 its not 1" piping coming out of the top of that pump...and for 2 the valve ist opened long enough for a gallon of water to send my salinty way off on 55 gallons of water lol. Just opened long enough to clear the line. Its a vectra so the speed is controlled by a simple knob turn. My setup isnt for everyone so...if your not into it...its all good brotha. I may have went your way if i was gonna have my stuff on a stand...but mine sits on the floor.

 

[madweazl]

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?

For what it's worth, the plumbing in our saltwater mixing station goes almost all the way to the bottom (stops about 2" short). I did this to help keep salt from accumulating on the bottom of the container when mixing up fresh batches.

 

[Nanos With A Backbone]

I just retested it to make sure and im not getting the swings your referring to. I did however test this in the beginning to make sure i only had the pump turned on just long enough to clear the lines. I did this by disconnecting the elbow inside the container and collecting the cleared out water in a jug. I then tested it to see if I changed the salinty in the jug which wasnt even a half a gallon by the time i shut off the valve. It went from 1.025 to just a hair under the 1.025 on that really small amount of water in the jug. Then after that I ran a sample of the supposedly cleared water in a glass to make sure there wasnt any left over salt in the line. Took me a few times to get the time for the pump correct, but Im getting 0ppm after testing so...its working as described. Im sure there will always be a little RODI water that gets into the mix by clearing it out this way...but not enough its changing the salinty in a 55 gallon container. And even if it did change salinty over time, to never ever have to fill, move, and clean a bucket of water again...Id gladly spend the few seconds it takes every blue moon to test and add a little salt. Ha ha ha ha for real...done with all that mess!

 

[SteveJacobs]

I had to work with 2 pre-drilled holes in the right hand tank hence the crazy angle to get to the inlet to salt tank.
I have a drain plug too and I'll be piping that outside into my guttering down-pipe.

 

[scottsweet]

Here is mine...connected to my Apex. I have water level sensors in both tanks to turn things on/off/notification. Door bell buttons for the RO/DI to turn on or start the recirc pump. Apex turns on recirc pump daily. I heat my sw tank.

 

[Benoit Martin]

I see on this thread that many people use a yellow external pump. It's hard to tell if it's just a coincidence that those pumps are yellow or if it's a common pump to use for this purpose.

I currently only have a Sicce Silent 2.0 to use for my mixing station build which I am afraid will be a little weak now that my mixing station is going to be about 20 feet further from the tank than my single Brute can was.

Those external pumps all seem to be expensive but since I keep seeing this one used in different builds maybe it's more affordable? I can't justify dishing out hundreds of $$ to pump water from my garage to my DT once a week

What is this mysterious yellow pump?

 

[CK00020]

It’s a pan world

 

[Jaebster]

The yellow pumps are "Pan World" pumps. The engineer of Iwake pumps started his own pump company and named it Pan World. These pumps are a little noisier than Iwakes, much cheaper (relative speaking) and have good head pressure depending on the model. Most people that have these on their mixing stations is probably because they need to pump water to the second floor (plus laterally). The pumps arent bad for the price and I think people get these also because they cant justify paying for a Iwake for limited use just for a mixing station.
I too purchased this pump for my station. It's not set up yet.

 

[Benoit Martin]

The yellow pumps are "Pan World" pumps. The engineer of Iwake pumps started his own pump company and named it Pan World. These pumps are a little noisier than Iwakes, much cheaper (relative speaking) and have good head pressure depending on the model. Most people that have these on their mixing stations is probably because they need to pump water to the second floor (plus laterally). The pumps arent bad for the price and I think people get these also because they cant justify paying for a Iwake for limited use just for a mixing station.
I too purchased this pump for my station. It's not set up yet.

I see, thank you for solving the mystery (to me).
They may be very good price for what they do but they are still more than I am willing to spend for a mixing station
I'll give it a try with my Sicce and we'll upgrade if necessary

 

[Jaebster]

I see, thank you for solving the mystery (to me).
They may be very good price for what they do but they are still more than I am willing to spend for a mixing station
I'll give it a try with my Sicce and we'll upgrade if necessary

Keep an eye out for sales on these pumps, sometimes they go for about 35% discount. Also, the prices on these pumps are all over the place between online retailers. Seems theres no MAP pricing on these or some retailers are violating the MAP pricing. I got mine really cheap brand new.

 

[homer1475]

Yeah brand new on sale think I got my pan-world for like 80$. Cheap and effective.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I’ve Just seen this and read all 25 pages of this thread today. Cool part is 5 years ago I thought I came up with this idea and then now see such an in depth conversation. Except I used 100 gallon horse troff Rubbermaid. All of these designs are so nice and clean great job guys. Wish I seen this before I built mine. So now that I’ve seen this I have a question.
My question is why would be the best practice for my situation. My mixing station is in basement where average temp is about 67 degrees. My Fish tankS are at 78 degrees. In the 25 pages here I’ve read how most everyone only has pumps running in salt tank when mixing fresh salt water batch also only using heaters when mixing fresh salt batch as well just to match temp when changing The water. So for past 5 years I have mixed fresh saltwater (say 50gal worth) with pump and heater and when doing water change I use say 30 gallons and now left with 20 of mixed saltwater in tank so I have left heater and pumps running keeping my mix at 77-78 degrees the whole time till next water change 1-2 weeks later. My problem is if I turn pumps and heater off after doing water change then fresh mix goes back down to 67degrees and sits here for 1-2 weeks. Isn’t this not good for the fresh salt mix to be at 78 the 67 over and over. I can’t imagine everyone here making exactly how much water they only use for there water change then with empty container turning off pumps and heater. With this being said and sorry for being so long winded No matter how much fresh mix is left is it best to turn of circulation and turn off heater and let sit stagnant and get cold. What is best for the salt mix? I’d assume it’s best to stay stable at the same temp it be eventually staying at in my display Tank.
So everyone here only uses heater and pumps when first mixing salt and turns off after water change leaving whatever amount of fresh saltwater mix In tank and just just puts more salt and Rodi on top and turns pumps and heater back on till water change again ? Thanks for any info again sorry so long winded

 

[dbl]

I’ve Just seen this and read all 25 pages of this thread today. Cool part is 5 years ago I thought I came up with this idea and then now see such an in depth conversation. Except I used 100 gallon horse troff Rubbermaid. All of these designs are so nice and clean great job guys. Wish I seen this before I built mine. So now that I’ve seen this I have a question.
My question is why would be the best practice for my situation. My mixing station is in basement where average temp is about 67 degrees. My Fish tankS are at 78 degrees. In the 25 pages here I’ve read how most everyone only has pumps running in salt tank when mixing fresh salt water batch also only using heaters when mixing fresh salt batch as well just to match temp when changing The water. So for past 5 years I have mixed fresh saltwater (say 50gal worth) with pump and heater and when doing water change I use say 30 gallons and now left with 20 of mixed saltwater in tank so I have left heater and pumps running keeping my mix at 77-78 degrees the whole time till next water change 1-2 weeks later. My problem is if I turn pumps and heater off after doing water change then fresh mix goes back down to 67degrees and sits here for 1-2 weeks. Isn’t this not good for the fresh salt mix to be at 78 the 67 over and over. I can’t imagine everyone here making exactly how much water they only use for there water change then with empty container turning off pumps and heater. With this being said and sorry for being so long winded No matter how much fresh mix is left is it best to turn of circulation and turn off heater and let sit stagnant and get cold. What is best for the salt mix? I’d assume it’s best to stay stable at the same temp it be eventually staying at in my display Tank.
So everyone here only uses heater and pumps when first mixing salt and turns off after water change leaving whatever amount of fresh saltwater mix In tank and just just puts more salt and Rodi on top and turns pumps and heater back on till water change again ? Thanks for any info again sorry so long winded

I can only answer for myself, but I don't worry about maintaining the mixed saltwater temperature in between using it. Once I do the water change, all pumps and the heater are turned off until the next time I do a water change. In my particular case the temperature never gets that cold so it's just not been an issue for me.

Hopefully some of the colder climate folks chime in with their practices.

 

[Jaebster]

Yes. Most salt mixes are safe to keep "still" and unheated for long periods of time. Some salt mixes will precipitate calcium. As a safe measure, after mixing and using whatever portion you need to use, put a powerhead on a timer to circulate the water once or twice a day for an hour or two. You dont need to keep it heated though.

 

[swiss1939]

Wow this is awesome. Couldn't get through the whole 25 pages to see if my question was asked/answered, but I am wondering if using 1 pump for both FW and SW will contaminate the FW container when switching between the two from the small amount left over in the section of plumbing locked off from both individual tanks? I assume you solve that by just dumping the first gallon or so after switching back to FW before using for top off.

 

[homer1475]

Pics of setup?

I have no mixing of the 2, but I do not use the pump for RO/DI, only to push it from the fresg barrel to the salt barrel.

I put a "spigot" on the fresh barrel and use gravity to fill anything with RO/DI.

 

[swiss1939]

I am starting my "first" (very short failed attempt years ago) reef tank and will use this thread as guide for a scaled down smaller version that suits my apartment. Reefer 170 tank going up so 43 Gal system, 1.2 Gal top off resevoir. So I figure 5 gal weekly water changes and 2-4 gal weekly top off tank demands. This means I only need 5 gallons of SW and 5 gallons of FW on hand every week. I have a BRS 5 stage RO/DI unit I will install under my kitchen sink to cold inlet and drain waste. Conveniently, I have a somewhat dead/wasted space right outside the kitchen sink cabinet I plan on installing this.. which I have yet to find use for given the landlord installed these strange cheap counter tops due to an old radiator on the wall that prevents you from really installing any cabinets down there. This is the perfect place for a small water station!

I plan on using two 5 gallon food grade water containers (15" high x 12" long x 10" wide) stored in this space on a two layer shelf that I will build to fit this space. I bought 4 pack... two for this storage/mixing station and 2 for storage/transport to my tank.

I'll store one container above the other fresh on top, salt on bottom, laid on their side so that the plumbing can feed the FW container straight down to the SW container using gravity. I'll add valves and an outlet inline before the SW container that fill a bucket or another container with FW as needed. Then have another set of valves and outlet after the SW container to fill buckets with SW as needed. Finally will drill a hole and plumb a line from the side of the SW container out to a pump and back in to the front inlet of SW container with valves to turn access on and off as needed. This will be used to mix the SW as needed.

Excuse the crude diagram.. did it in a rush just to get a plan in my head.

Question I have is how/where to add an access port or opening to add salt to the second container for mixing without it spilling everywhere?