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

[Deep Elem]

Thanks everyone for all the info. I have attached a picture of my station and I have two questions. First, is it a big deal that I am using brass spigots? And second is can I just put my ATO pump in the RO/DI reservoir or I am I asking for trouble given possibility for overfills? I use a Neptune ATO.;

 

[Jeffcb]

Now all I need is a tank.

 

[homer1475]

Thanks everyone for all the info. I have attached a picture of my station and I have two questions. First, is it a big deal that I am using brass spigots? And second is can I just put my ATO pump in the RO/DI reservoir or I am I asking for trouble given possibility for overfills? I use a Neptune ATO.;

Yes your asking for trouble with the brass(main alloy in brass is copper) spigots. Go plastic.

And yes to your other question. You allowing your ATO to have a nearly endless supply of water. Not a good idea at all. It can be done, and has been many times, but it requires a lot more redundancy then just throwing the ATO pump into the tank.

 

[homer1475]

Now all I need is a tank.

I have the same craftsman air compressor.

Nice looking mixing station setup. Everything in one place and easily accessible.

 

[SteveJacobs]

I have the same craftsman air compressor.

Nice looking mixing station setup. Everything in one place and easily accessible.

You could double up the RODI utit to suppy your home brewery and that room would be brilliant!!!!

 

[Deep Elem]

Yes your asking for trouble with the brass(main alloy in brass is copper) spigots. Go plastic.

And yes to your other question. You allowing your ATO to have a nearly endless supply of water. Not a good idea at all. It can be done, and has been many times, but it requires a lot more redundancy then just throwing the ATO pump into the tank.

Thanks for the info and quick response!

 

[don_chuwish]

While I wouldn't buy an expensive hole saw, I would still buy a hole saw for this application.

$19.99 for a 16 piece hole saw from BRS that covers 99% of the typical hole sizes.

16 Piece Hole Saw Drill Bit Set

This affordable hole saw set includes all the holes sizes for all the Uniseals on BulkReefSupply.com. Use it for drilling acrylic, PVC and water storage containers like plastic garbage cans or drums. Hole saw sizes included in this set: 3/4"/ 19mm 1"/25mm 1-1/8"/28.5mm 1-1/4"/32mm...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Think I got one even cheaper from Harbor Freight.

Funny, that looks exactly like the one I got from Harbor Freight.

 

[SeaJay]

I set my water station up as I’ve seen a a lot of you do, with one pump to pump water from rodi to salt container, to re-circulate the salt mix and to move saltwater to the sump. I recently took my station apart to clean the salt tank and tested my rodi to find 40-50ish tds. My rodi output is zero, my tank is clean and the lid stays on. The water is used and replaced frequently. This means that even though there is never an “in” to the rodi container other than the rodi product line, something is being introduced to my rodi tank. This could happen if I left the rodi output valve open when switching to salt, but for the purposes of this question, let’s assume I’ve never done that(because I haven’t). Any thoughts?

since salt mix tests upwards of 7,000 tds I figured it would take very minimal of that introduced to the rodi to show 40 tds. Is this just normal and I’m reading into it too much?

unless I find an answer, I’m going to be safe and plumb the salt and rodi independently of one another and just use two pumps.

 

[homer1475]

RO/DI is like a sponge, dust in the air can give you that TDS.

 

[don_chuwish]

I set my water station up as I’ve seen a a lot of you do, with one pump to pump water from rodi to salt container, to re-circulate the salt mix and to move saltwater to the sump. I recently took my station apart to clean the salt tank and tested my rodi to find 40-50ish tds. My rodi output is zero, my tank is clean and the lid stays on. The water is used and replaced frequently. This means that even though there is never an “in” to the rodi container other than the rodi product line, something is being introduced to my rodi tank. This could happen if I left the rodi output valve open when switching to salt, but for the purposes of this question, let’s assume I’ve never done that(because I haven’t). Any thoughts?

since salt mix tests upwards of 7,000 tds I figured it would take very minimal of that introduced to the rodi to show 40 tds. Is this just normal and I’m reading into it too much?

unless I find an answer, I’m going to be safe and plumb the salt and rodi independently of one another and just use two pumps.

My suggestion is to put the RODI container ABOVE the NSW mixing container. Just gravity feed RODI down to the mixing bin when needed. You might be getting just a little salt water finding its way back into the RODI container due to gravity.

Mine looks like this :

(actually I've tweaked the plubming a little since then but this is the best pic I could find quickly!)

 

[SeaJay]

My suggestion is to put the RODI container ABOVE the NSW mixing container. Just gravity feed RODI down to the mixing bin when needed. You might be getting just a little salt water finding its way back into the RODI container due to gravity.

Mine looks like this :

(actually I've tweaked the plubming a little since then but this is the best pic I could find quickly!)

I actually did switch them.

 

[arking_mark]

I have a simpler ULM version for saltwater mixing that I use for AWC.

A slightly different approach to AWC

Key takeaways if you don’t want to read the long post: 1. Very small footprint 2. Mechanical and electronic redundancy against water accidents 3. Only maintenance is adding salt once a week and pushing a button Makes this ultra low maintenance! In preparation for my upcoming build, I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Max93]

While I wouldn't buy an expensive hole saw, I would still buy a hole saw for this application.

$19.99 for a 16 piece hole saw from BRS that covers 99% of the typical hole sizes.

16 Piece Hole Saw Drill Bit Set

This affordable hole saw set includes all the holes sizes for all the Uniseals on BulkReefSupply.com. Use it for drilling acrylic, PVC and water storage containers like plastic garbage cans or drums. Hole saw sizes included in this set: 3/4"/ 19mm 1"/25mm 1-1/8"/28.5mm 1-1/4"/32mm...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Think I got one even cheaper from Harbor Freight.

Thank you!!! And any power drill can be used for this right? I need to buy one anyways but.. for my purposes now, any drill is fine?

 

[don_chuwish]

Thank you!!! And any power drill can be used for this right? I need to buy one anyways but.. for my purposes now, any drill is fine?

Yep, doesn't have to be anything special. Harbor Freight would happily sell you one of those too.

 

[WirelessMike]

One of these days I dream of a system like that! Unfortunately I only have a single bucket and not a lot of room to spare (plus a smaller tank) so I make do using the same bucket and rinsing it out after each SW mix.....but one of these days I’ll get away from the “lazy man’s station” lol

 

[Noam]

Excellent article and writing.
What pump did you use?
How did you insert the pump and plumbed it inside the SW container?

 

[dbl]

Excellent article and writing.
What pump did you use?
How did you insert the pump and plumbed it inside the SW container?

If the question was directed to me, I used an old Little Giant external pump I had. Once it finally bit the dust, I ended up using a Reeflo pump I picked up locally for next to nothing. Way, way overkill but I couldn't beat the price!

In my case, with my particular storage containers, they have a port at the bottom of the tank and I simply used a bulkhead for the plumbing. If you containers do not have a port, you can drill a hole and use a bulk head on the flat surfaces. If it's a curved surface, I would suggest using a uniseal instead. In fact, the top hole of the SW container has a uniseal at the top to and it's plumbed to circulate/stir the water while mixing.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

If the question was directed to me, I used an old Little Giant external pump I had. Once it finally bit the dust, I ended up using a Reeflo pump I picked up locally for next to nothing. Way, way overkill but I couldn't beat the price!

In my case, with my particular storage containers, they have a port at the bottom of the tank and I simply used a bulkhead for the plumbing. If you containers do not have a port, you can drill a hole and use a bulk head on the flat surfaces. If it's a curved surface, I would suggest using a uniseal instead. In fact, the top hole of the SW container has a uniseal at the top to and it's plumbed to circulate/stir the water while mixing.

I’m about to set up my two 250 gallon mixing containers and I read something about you saying you plumb the top so it stirred the water while mixing I wanted to know if you still liked this idea or would you do it differently before I do the same thing

 

[dbl]

I’m about to set up my two 250 gallon mixing containers and I read something about you saying you plumb the top so it stirred the water while mixing I wanted to know if you still liked this idea or would you do it differently before I do the same thing

Although my need for mixing no longer exists since the tank was taken down, the mixing station still remains unchanged from the first post (with the exception of the pump change mentioned above). When/if I get back in the game, and I'm still in this location, there isn't much I would change regarding the setup. The only thing I would add to it would be an auto water change mechanism, but that's a topic for a different article.

 

[siggy]

I seen this one at work and thought what a most excellent mix tank and ironically it's a water softener tank for salt pellets.
It has multiple bulkheads for all your plumbing and sensors