Mixing station- do you need RODI?

[Johnboy3886]

I’m looking at building a mixing station for my new build, and I’m wondering do I need to have both salt and RODI water? I am limited on space so I’m trying to decide if I should go with a large barrel for saltwater or 2 smaller brute cans, one for salt and one for RODI. The system is roughly 150 gallons. The space is roughly 28x28 by 90 tall. I could fit 2 32gal brute stack up or one taller barrel that would hold just saltwater. What makes more sense? TIA,
JB

 

[TriggerFinger]

It’s always a good idea to have saltwater and rodi on hand in the case of an emergency. I keep 2 32g brutes and a few 5g jugs; one brute for saltwater and the rest for rodi. I have a 90g and 20g tank to maintain.
Edit: I also have a 35g roto mold tank if need be, but I don’t keep it filled. I realize space is an issue for you, so I would try to maximize what I could.

 

[Vette67]

I personally only have one. I have a 35 gallon HDPE container that I keep filled with RO. The day before a water change, I mix in the salt. I do the water change, rinse out the 35 gallon container, then refill with RO. It depends on how frequently you do water changes. I do water changes on the less frequent side, maybe once a month, tops, so I don’t need salt water around long. I do go through lots of RO because I mix about 5 gallons of kalk water to drip into my tank per week.

So the quick answer is it depends on your situation, and if you want to have to rinse your water mixing bucket after each use, or if you’d rather have the 2 separate so you can keep the RO water and salt water separate and no maintenance. But you certainly can just use one.

 

[Johnboy3886]

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It’s always a good idea to have saltwater and rodi on hand in the case of an emergency. I keep 2 32g brutes and a few 5g jugs; one brute for saltwater and the rest for rodi. I have a 90g and 20g tank to maintain.
Edit: I also have a 35g roto mold tank if need be, but I don’t keep it filled. I realize space is an issue for you, so I would try to maximize what I could.

Thanks for the reply, the only reason I thought a larger saltwater storage would be important, Is for emergency. The only reason I see needing RODI is top off, but maybe I’m forgetting something

 

[Johnboy3886]

I personally only have one. I have a 35 gallon HDPE container that I keep filled with RO. The day before a water change, I mix in the salt. I do the water change, rinse out the 35 gallon container, then refill with RO. It depends on how frequently you do water changes. I do water changes on the less frequent side, maybe once a month, tops, so I don’t need salt water around long. I do go through lots of RO because I mix about 5 gallons of kalk water to drip into my tank per week.

So the quick answer is it depends on your situation, and if you want to have to rinse your water mixing bucket after each use, or if you’d rather have the 2 separate so you can keep the RO water and salt water separate and no maintenance. But you certainly can just use one.

Thanks for the response, I plan on running auto water change.( I’m a water change guy). But you bring up a valid point. I do plan on run kalkwasser.

 

[Billdogg]

I set mine up over 30 years ago as a single 55g barrel and it's worked just fine ever since. I've moved several times since and still use the barrel as-is even though I've been in my current home for 20 years and have a fish room larger than some peoples apartments (~600sf). I bought a second barrel about a year ago (just pre-COVID) and built a stand to hold both, I just haven't gotten around to setting it up.

I do like vette67 and mix salt up the day before water changes, use it all the next day, and then let the rodi fill it back up.

 

[TheSharksDen]

How long does the water stay good? Both RODI water and mixed water?

 

[hebdizzle]

I keep a brute can for saltwater and just a 5 gallon bucket or so of RODI. Have never seen the need to keep a lot of RODI on hand.

 

[TheSharksDen]

I keep a brute can for saltwater and just a 5 gallon bucket or so of RODI. Have never seen the need to keep a lot of RODI on hand.

Does the salt water go bad after it’s mixed if it isn’t added to the tank, just sitting in the storage bin? TYIA

 

[hebdizzle]

Does the salt water go bad after it’s mixed if it isn’t added to the tank, just sitting in the storage bin? TYIA

I have read that no it doesn’t. But I don’t know definitively. It does start to smell different, not great, but I’ve also read that it’s a coating on the brute trash can that causes it. I don’t have any sources for this.

 

[homer1475]

I keep twice as much RO/DI on hand the salt. 40G salt, 80G RO/DI. I use it in my humidifier, wash test kits, topoff, etc, etc.

I found I always needed RO/DO more then salt. So when I remade my mixing station, I doubled my container. I can mix water whenevr I want without having to always make RO/DI for it.

 

[TheSharksDen]

I keep twice as much RO/DI on hand the salt. 40G salt, 80G RO/DI. I use it in my humidifier, wash test kits, topoff, etc, etc.

I found I always needed RO/DO more then salt. So when I remade my mixing station, I doubled my container. I can mix water whenevr I want without having to always make RO/DI for it.

What did you do? The costs can get to high hundreds even low thousand depending on materials used. Trying to decide if I’m going to use brute cans or buy the expensive ones the LFS uses. Seeing what others are doing.

 

[homer1475]

Ace roto mold tank is what I used. 100G vertical tank(before covid) at my local tractor supply was like $100. My mixing barrel is a brute.

 

[Floyd-]

What did you do? The costs can get to high hundreds even low thousand depending on materials used. Trying to decide if I’m going to use brute cans or buy the expensive ones the LFS uses. Seeing what others are doing.

I use 2x 32 gallon brute cans in the garage. I have them stacked vertically on a DIY stand I made out of some spare 2x6's. Top one is RODI and has a single valve that I can open and dump water into the lower can on wheels where I mix the salt. Simple, cheap power head to mix the salt up and then cheap "pond pump" to pump in and out of the tank from the garage (maybe 30')

 

[homer1475]

I used to use just a cheap maxijet pump to mix, and pump from barrel to tank. Took a while, but it gets the job done.

A few years back I won a huge external MRC pump that I have no use for on my tank, so I use that for my mixing, and pumping to tank. I can pump 40G of water in about 5 minutes. It's certainly overkill, but it was free.

 

[TheSharksDen]

I use 2x 32 gallon brute cans in the garage. I have them stacked vertically on a DIY stand I made out of some spare 2x6's. Top one is RODI and has a single valve that I can open and dump water into the lower can on wheels where I mix the salt. Simple, cheap power head to mix the salt up and then cheap "pond pump" to pump in and out of the tank from the garage (maybe 30')

Thank you my friend. This is what I was thinking originally and can almost be done for under $200 with the plumbing. The tanks Homer was talking was a preferred method but again pre-Covid pricing yeah! Now they are like $300+ per barrel. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[homer1475]

Brutes work great, and we have been using them for decades in the hobby.

Just keep in mind when using brutes, if you want to drill and go through the walls of them, uniseals are great up to 3/4" pipe, but anything over that pulls on the walls to much and I could never get them to seal properly.

My pump requires 1 1/2" piping, so I had to end up using sch 40 bulkheads. The uniseals would just never seal without leaking a bit on that large diameter pipe.

 

[Dburr1014]

Thank you my friend. This is what I was thinking originally and can almost be done for under $200 with the plumbing. The tanks Homer was talking was a preferred method but again pre-Covid pricing yeah! Now they are like $300+ per barrel. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Sometimes I see used plastic 55 gallon drum barrels cheap on ebay or other similar sites. They can be had for pretty cheap. Just find ones that were for food storage.

 

[Floyd-]

Brutes work great, and we have been using them for decades in the hobby.

Just keep in mind when using brutes, if you want to drill and go through the walls of them, uniseals are great up to 3/4" pipe, but anything over that pulls on the walls to much and I could never get them to seal properly.

My pump requires 1 1/2" piping, so I had to end up using sch 40 bulkheads. The uniseals would just never seal without leaking a bit on that large diameter pipe.

Agreed on the pipe size. My brute is plumbed with 1/2" PVC. Its not the fastest setup but its cheap and works.
RODI can has the auto shut off float valve and then the drain. The water mix bin is plain with no holes drilled at all.

 

[EricR]

Like a couple others have mentioned, my RODI goes into 32 gallon Brute and I just mix salt in separate tub the night before use.
*all extra RODI and saltwater I store in capped 5 gallon Sparkletts jugs and have used both weeks or even a month after storage without any noticeable problems.

I will say this, I really am starting to wish that I had just setup a mixing bin/station also when I did my RODI setup so, if I had to vote, I'd vote BOTH (to the original question)