Mixing Station Build with Images and Lessons Learned

[fdevans]

The mixing station wasn't on my original budget, but was always in the plan. My LFS isn't conveniently close enough to drop in on so self sufficiency was important. I didn't track all the costs but it definitely spiraled into quite the project. Since it's been up and running for a bit now, I'll see if I can recap all the interesting challenges.

As most do, I spent lots of time figuring out the best place to store a large volume of water and minimizing risk of damaging dry items around it. I decided on a spot right next to my water softener in the garage, which is also right next to the water heater. This was ideal as it had a great water source, fresh off the output of the water softener, and a place to dispose of the RODI filter waste water. The third bonus, that tied in with a key design idea I had, was I could catch any potential overflows and direct them out the same overflow feed as the hot water heater.

I guess that takes us to our design. Below is a picture of the final install. The stand was hand built as well and the whole project took up both a Saturday and Sunday with a few more finishing touches Monday/Tuesday. Here's how it came out:

The pump was bought from my LFS. They have a bunch of use Iwaki pumps they purchased from another shop that closed it's doors. It wasn't pretty, but it runs great and really crunches that salt fast! A minor clean up on the outside with a wire brush, a few new screws since some where rusted through, a new electrical plug and it was ready to go.

One design idea I added that I haven't seen anywhere yet was adding two water heater pans under the Brute cans, then piping the output of them to the hot water heater overflow. That overflow is just a pipe that dumps right outside the garage, but if something were to ever overflow nothing inside the garage is getting wet. I also drilled small holes in the Brutes about 1/2 from the top and towards the front of the station so if water is coming out I'll see it there rather than letting it overflow from a spot of it's choosing under the lids.

Few challenges I ran into and things I learned:

• The input and output valves to the water softener were not installed with shutoff valves. (previous home owner was a DIY person that needs to have their tools taken away, but that's a much longer story and gripe list.)
• After the valves were properly installed, connecting to and branching off the water softener was a learning experience in pipe thread versus hose thread along with size changes, etc. The amount of trips back and forth to Lowe's earned me a "Hey! You're back again??" more than once. (They should probably just get me a name tag at this point.)
• Building a Mixing Station is great practice if you plan on doing any pluming on the main display tank (which I did). I was much more willing to make those mistakes on the mixing station than on the center piece of the hobby.
• I went with the white Brutes to allow myself to see other issues like algae or other things in the water that I might not want to be there. I found some posts later that White lets in a lot of light. I haven't had issues with this yet, but it might have affected my decision. I also found 44 gallon sizes after buying the 32 gallon ones. Likely would have chosen the larger size as it would have made the initial filling much easier.
• Schedule 80 fittings are crazy expensive. :/

More details about all my other newbie lessons learned in my Build Thread.

 

[Idoc]

Nice project!

 

[coralfishreef]

Looks great. The water heater pans are something I could’ve used and may add sometime. RODI overflows happen. I have a pair of leak detectors in case I forget to shut the water off. 32 gal is ok if the tank isn’t large.

 

[Benga]

Whatre your stand dimensions?

 

[fdevans]

My stand measures 55" long, 28" deep, 25.5" high but those measurements all depend on a few important factors and other measurements.

Width was mainly driven off the size of the water heater pans after they were joined together using a T join so both drain to the same outlet. I also had to make sure the pump fit well between them. My original drawing for the stand had it at 48" so I could save on some wood costs, but at that size the water heater pans would have been hanging off the edges. Ultimately the 55" cuts gave me perfect extra pieces to cut at 45 degree angles to add more structural support on the leg corners.

Depth was also loosely driven off the size of the water heater pans.

The height was simply an 8 foot 4x4 piece of wood cut in 4 equal pieces. The additional 1.5 inches comes from the 2x4 pieces sitting on top of the legs.


While were on the topic of measurements I'll throw in a few other tips where I almost tripped up, but I spent way too much time sitting and staring and thinking at all the parts.

- The height at which the Uniseal Bulkheads was drilled was specific so that it aligned with the edge of the drip pans. That way the drain pipes coming out the front have something solid to sit on without tweaking the container. Note: the edge of the hole drilled was not the edge of the drip pan. The hole drilled is larger than where the pipe will actually come out so think it through carefully. If I remember right, I took a piece of pipe and level, marked the circle of where the pipe needed to be, found center, then drilled the appropriate (larger) hole for the Uniseal and the pipe was in the right spot after installation.
- The height the Uniseal holes are drilled at will also determine the height your pump will need to sit at. I had to raise the pump up off the main platform by a couple inches for everything to line up properly.
- The height of the stand is flexible. I did think about what I wanted to store under it ahead of time, but it wasn't much and I opted for saving wood costs and just buying a single 4x4 post. (I store most of my buckets underneath).