Mixing Station

[Chbix]

So my current "mixing station" consists of a 32 gallon trash can in the garage with ro/di water and 5 gallon buckets to mix salt. This works for my 40g tank, but I'm building a 180g and 5g buckets arent gonna cut it. So I decided to put a mixing station next to where the tank will go in my office. Luckily this room shares a wall with the laundry room where the ro/di unit is so its a simple up and over through the wall to where the mixing station is to be built.

I spent a lot of time researching this. I decided to go with 32 gallon brutes, would have liked some of the square type containers but felt I would better spend the money elsewhere. I found a lot of designs but settled on this design I found.

I started designing in fusion 360 and came up with this

You will notice I added some addition supports from left to right that arent in the original design.

And then the plumbing.

Since the tank is going to be next to the mixing station, I figured I could use the pump to take water out as well.
I also decided not to paint the wood since I will eventually use some type of skin and magnets since this will be inside the house and "furniture," the aquarium stand is metal and will do something matching as well. I did the entire stand out of 2x4 and 3/4 board.

I decided on 3/4" plumbing. lots of valves and unions......

I coated the boards in a spray plasti dip to reduce water issues. You will notice I drilled a hole in the center, when actually plumbing, I decided to then move the 32g brutes to one side instead of centered to keep all the plumbing inside the stand for when I skin it.

After initially building, it was too short, well it fit, but trying to take the lid off the bottom can became a pain and didnt give enough room so I added a 2" piece of wood to each inside leg.

used bulkheads in the bottom.

I added a hose thread to this to allow hoses to be attached.

I also added some felt pads to the bottom to not scratch the hardwood too bad.

I have the same pump on my mixing station as I am going to use on my build for some redundancy. Also went with flex tube on the inlet and outlet to reduce vibration.

I have a 4-channel power strip on the way. I have water tested both systems and it works with no leaks. There is approx 30 gallons in the top container as we speak.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Nice work! I like the design. Just out of curiosity does the bottom lid come off for cleaning purposes?

 

[Idoc]

nice setup

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

How do you get in there?

 

[Chbix]

Nice work! I like the design. Just out of curiosity does the bottom lid come off for cleaning purposes?

Yes it is removable for me to clean, add salt, etc. The tube going down from the valve is not glued in, I have also tested and found that even if the tube falls out while draining from the top into the bottom that it will flow straight down through the hole in the lid. Initially I had wanted to do a uniseal on the top but decided against it as this will become very difficult to remove.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

here’s mine. In garage. Same concept. My RODI comes through the wall into my top 50 gallon can. Gravity fed to salt station below. Separate valve on side for RODI to bottles or whatever.

below is the circulation pump which ties into a valve for 3/4” tubing to fill Random stuff with salt water. There is also a valve that feeds the sump of my tank in the house for water changes.

 

[Chbix]

How do you get in there?

The lid on the bottom comes off easily and I can look down inside. If needed, I can drain and remove all the plumbing with the unions.

 

[Chbix]

here’s mine. In garage. Same concept. My RODI comes through the wall into my top 50 gallon can. Gravity fed to salt station below. Separate valve on side for RODI to bottles or whatever.

below is the circulation pump which ties into a valve for 3/4” tubing to fill Random stuff with salt water. There is also a valve that feeds the sump of my tank in the house for water changes.

I contemplated going side by side, but really wanted to limit the space and decided to go vertically. I initially wanted a 2x2 space but ended up going 30" x 24" to be able to get the trashcans out if I ever need to. at 2x2 I would literally have to build the bottom can in with the extra bracing for the top.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Yea. If space was a premium and mine were inside I would have done the same. I also just used spare crap I had laying around to build it. Yours is pretty nice.

 

[Chbix]

So I had to move the station to install a GFCI in the outlet next to it....Those are a pain btw...

Anyway I got the ADJ PC-4 power station as well so I mounted it, put a heater in, thermometer and mounted the wires/power brick on the pump. Turned out pretty well in my opinion.
So I will get it into position and then move the stand in.