Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them!!

[Devaji]

What is a saltwater mixing station
I only use natural ocean water I collect from 8-10 miles offshore
55gal drum with air stone in it to keep circulating

your mixing station:

 

[Jdubyo]

Where upstate?

Syracuse area. More central than upstate. Most people who are not from NY automatically assume I mean central NYC when I say central NY so I default to upstate lol.

 

[benapilot]

Ok I got through all 32 pages for inspiration. looks like in 2020 shipping is out unless you have deep pockets.

so question why dont we just use aquariums? like 40 breeders 55 or even 75 gal? from petco dollar per gallon. I know it only up to 29 gal these days but still a good deal I believe 50% off up to 75s

I am surprised I did not see that.
I have a cpl 40br and a stand maybe I'll play around with it.

That’s exactly what I did. Shipping to Alaska is outrageous so I had to locally sourced everything. I found a 15 gallon blue jug at a local hardware store for my RODI and use a 20 gal aquarium for my saltwater storage. Fits nicely in the tight space between the washing machine and the wall in the laundry room.

 

[EvilLucky6]

Tsc is where I got mine

 

[DiefsReef]

Love this setup. Nice and clean!

 

[Willbiker]

Here is my cheap and cheerful 600l mixing station. I can mix up 400l of salt mix and store 200l of rodi. I can circulate one barrel only or both together. I can also pump just the right amount I need from one barrel to the other, heat using the 500w inline heater and then pump out to my tank. Total cost £220. Looks ugly as hell though

 

[Boostable]

They only come in contact when I'm filling the bucket. i'll be sure to keep an eye on them, though. Thanks so much!

Late, but if anyone has not told you yet, remove them. They WILL Leach into your water, and over time will contaminate your tank until one day things start dying and you don’t know why.

 

[chopper320]

Question for those of you that run a hose for ato and water changes. It looks like you use one hose for both and control the desired reservoir with valves. How do you empty the hose when you are done?
For instance, after you do a water change and pump saltwater through the hose, after you shut off the pump and the valve, doesnt the hose stay filled with saltwater? Then when you go to fill up your ato, won’t the first part that you pump out be saltwater because that’s what was already sitting in the hose? I’m sure I’m missing something but I’m trying to design a mixing station and I’m getting hung up on that.
Thanks

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

Question for those of you that run a hose for ato and water changes. It looks like you use one hose for both and control the desired reservoir with valves. How do you empty the hose when you are done?
For instance, after you do a water change and pump saltwater through the hose, after you shut off the pump and the valve, doesnt the hose stay filled with saltwater? Then when you go to fill up your ato, won’t the first part that you pump out be saltwater because that’s what was already sitting in the hose? I’m sure I’m missing something but I’m trying to design a mixing station and I’m getting hung up on that.
Thanks

At least with our setup, we can close a valve and open another that redirects the water to the hose. Then disconnect the hose at a union pvc point and drain the hose

 

[revenant]

 

[TigerReef]

I went the Brute route also! Here’s my garage grotto:

BRS 7-stage RO w/ booster

RO inlet and waste line feeding through the wall, through the back of the inside of my lower kitchen cabinets, behind the dishwasher to the sink water line/waste drain.

The Brute on the right collects my RO (w/float shutoff valve!). The Panworld pump transfers to the Brute on the left, then recirculates to mix the salt. I started with uniseals on the Brutes, but they leaked slightly. I ended up switching them out for 1” bulkheads.

 

[chopper320]

At least with our setup, we can close a valve and open another that redirects the water to the hose. Then disconnect the hose at a union pvc point and drain the hose

But isn’t the plumbing on your intake side of the pump that comes after the last valve and on the output side of your pump before the union to disconnect the hose still filled with saltwater at that point?

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

But isn’t the plumbing on your intake side of the pump that comes after the last valve and on the output side of your pump before the union to disconnect the hose still filled with saltwater at that point?

Hose is installed on the pump output side, it's Teed off from the return line to a storage tank.

 

[uninformed]

Question for those of you that run a hose for ato and water changes. It looks like you use one hose for both and control the desired reservoir with valves. How do you empty the hose when you are done?
For instance, after you do a water change and pump saltwater through the hose, after you shut off the pump and the valve, doesnt the hose stay filled with saltwater? Then when you go to fill up your ato, won’t the first part that you pump out be saltwater because that’s what was already sitting in the hose? I’m sure I’m missing something but I’m trying to design a mixing station and I’m getting hung up on that.
Thanks

Before switching from saltwater to RODI, I run the hose back to a sink with a Python eductor on it, suck the line clear, then flush it with RODI to the sink. You need to make an adapter with two female Python ends on it to make it work. After I fill my ATO, I connect it back to the sink and suck it clear again.

I use the same hose to add RODI to my freshwater tanks, so I always give it a quick flush with RODI before putting it away. One "hose volume" of water does a good enough job.

 

[Jeffcb]

 

[codee]

For those of you with mixing stations where flow into the saltwater container comes in from the top, how important is it to run the pipe that is *inside* the salt water container all the way to the bottom? Does salt collect at the base of the container without flow pushing things around?

 

[uninformed]

I have a vertical 55 gal tank (18” x 18” x 40”). I pull water from the bottom and push it back into the top via normal 1” bulkheads. I’m using Tropic Marin Pro and have no issues at all with salt piling up on the bottom during mixing. I add the salt 1 cup at a time while the water circulates, let it run for another 30 minutes, and have clear water.

 

[sharnval]

We have a two 55G barrels setup this way. An auto topoff keeps the top barrel full of fresh water. A bulk head is in the bottom of the top barrel with valve that we open to fill the bottom barrel as needed for salt water mix up.

Jack

I have a similar set up- it's plumbed directly to my display tank and can also flush/fill into a sink drain. No lugging bucket for me!

 

[codee]

I have a vertical 55 gal tank (18” x 18” x 40”). I pull water from the bottom and push it back into the top via normal 1” bulkheads. I’m using Tropic Marin Pro and have no issues at all with salt piling up on the bottom during mixing. I add the salt 1 cup at a time while the water circulates, let it run for another 30 minutes, and have clear water.

Ok, cool - so you just push the water in the top and the natural circulation gets all the Sal dissolved eventually. Thanks!

 

[thewedge]

Here is my set up! I used two 35 gallon Brute Cans from Home Depot and my plumbing parts like my 90's, Cepex Ball Valves and my Spears Gate Vales were all bought from BRS!
For my attachments, I used the Banjo connectors that connect right to my Marnie /RV Drinking water hose that goes right to the tank! Pump wise, I am using a Panworld 40px.
I just need to glue a few fittings together and this bad boy will be ready to fire up! THANK GOD, no more carrying or lugging around 5-gallon jugs. The stand was built out of 2 by 4's and Cement blocks.

Tank Info: 120 Mixed Reef

Right now I'm planning on building a nearly identical setup. Was thinking about building the stand the same way but I wasn't sure if it would work out until I saw your pictures. Thank you for sharing. I am a little bit concerned about using the brute cans. Have you had problems with the UniSeals leaking?