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.
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.