Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them!!

[FLSharkvictim]

I am in the process of replacing the tanks on my salt water mixing station. I have noticed that many here are getting their tanks through places like Tank Depot, but the freight charges are often higher than the cost of the tanks. After some searching, I found this company and I couldn't believe they were offering free shipping (via UPS). It took 4 weeks for me to get the tanks, but the savings were substantial.

http://www.ruralking.com/ace-roto-mold-40-gallon-vertical-dome-top-tank-vt0040-18.html

THEY NO LONGER ARE ONLY ON THE 40 GALLON TANKS OR LESS! So I am going to go with 2 40-gallon tanks w/ Free shipping for my Mixing station..

 

[sarces]

I can finally add mine to the list!

This was a long time coming and took a ton of planning.

I tiled the floor (replacing carpet) I had the room plumbed for a sink and I had two GFCI outlets installed. I had to wait 2 months for the tanks and I built the stand that they're sitting on. The only change coming is that I'll be adding a hose inlet right before the pump so that it can be used to take water out of my tank on water changes as well.

I didn't plumb "emergency" drain lines to the the left and right of each tank because I can loosen that middle T to point down and drain if need be.

I do have a question for everyone that has one of these though... You aren't really supposed to keep old salt water around, so what do you do with the last 2.5gal of so that can't be pumped out of the bulkhead at the bottom of the SW mixing station?

This is a well thought out set up... in my opinion you shouldn't use the pump from your mixing station to pump out water from the tank, it could pollute the new mix water... just a thought.

 

[yellojello]

Curious as to why you use the green python gravel cleaner tube to drain out the fresh salt water?

 

[Pongo]

My setup:

Water shed.


100 gal tanks.


Pump & plumbing.


Heater and pump are plugged into wifi outlets.

 

[Homebrwr]

My old one had a heater in it, this version does not, only because I am doing continuous small waterchanges between 68ml- 137ml every 13 mins. It isn't gonna help/hurt a larger system if it is or isn't heated.

A week ago I started continuous automatic waterchanges using a DÕS run off of my Apex. Even in this short amount of time, coloration has dramatically improved, there is a visible growth increase in multiple frags. My coralline algae has even become darker and denser in coloration. I've been running my tank on Red Sea blue bucket since the beginning. I filled the reservoir with Instant Ocean and that's what it's been changing its water with, it took less than 24 hours to see a dramatic change in my corals. (In all good ways). I don't think the salt has anything to do with it. (I adjusted the parameters to my usual preferences) By constantly changing a small amount of water its making all the trace elements readily available ALL the time. I'm not changing more or less than I ordinarily would, I'm just maximizing the usage of my salt water. ;)

Besides, now I don't have to do it. My saltwater mixing station mixes it for me, and the Apex changes it for me. I don't do much more than dump salt in the container and flick a few virtual switches

So Rick. Your DOS is what controls the water changes in and out? Seems so simple.. :0) I need to do this once I consolidate all my equipment into one room..
Thanks for sharing your ideas!!

 

[seastar]

This is a well thought out set up... in my opinion you shouldn't use the pump from your mixing station to pump out water from the tank, it could pollute the new mix water... just a thought.

Thanks and great call. I ended up not doing it for that exact reason. :)

 

[Rick.45cal]

So Rick. Your DOS is what controls the water changes in and out? Seems so simple.. :0) I need to do this once I consolidate all my equipment into one room..
Thanks for sharing your ideas!!

Yep, mine is set up so I can do manual changes and pump water directly to the tank as well. But yes, since setting up the DOS it takes care of the work. Every 13 mins or so it comes on and changes almost 69 ml. :)

 

[tupes]

@Rick.45cal would you mind going in to further detail about you waterchange setup? How exactly you have it setup or photos if possible. Thanks.

 

[Rick.45cal]

@tupes It's very simple using a DOS to do waterchanges, you run a dosing line from where you want to take water from in the system (In my case, upstream in my sump) to one of the pumps on the DOS, and you then run the line from the doser to the drain. The other pump head runs water from your new saltwater reservoir and then that line runs to where you want to have the new saltwater into the system (mine dribbles into the pump return section of my sump, which no longer has the protein skin that used to form on the surface of the water).

Then on the Apex dashboard you tell the one from the tank to the drain to "remove" and how much you want it to do (and when). Then you set the other one up to "add" and then the same quanitity that you entered into the other pump. Flip the virtual switches and let it do it's thing. It's been very reliable so far for me.

 

[TonapahNorth]

@tupes It's very simple using a DOS to do waterchanges, you run a dosing line from where you want to take water from in the system (In my case, upstream in my sump) to one of the pumps on the DOS, and you then run the line from the doser to the drain. The other pump head runs water from your new saltwater reservoir and then that line runs to where you want to have the new saltwater into the system (mine dribbles into the pump return section of my sump, which no longer has the protein skin that used to form on the surface of the water).

Then on the Apex dashboard you tell the one from the tank to the drain to "remove" and how much you want it to do (and when). Then you set the other one up to "add" and then the same quanitity that you entered into the other pump. Flip the virtual switches and let it do it's thing. It's been very reliable so far for me.

How did you come up with 69ml every 13 mins? What's the max?

 

[Rick.45cal]

How did you come up with 69ml every 13 mins? What's the max?

2.285 gallons/day x 3785 ml/gal= 8651.4 ml every 24 hours. (I have it doing the exchange 24 hours a day) it automatically separates it into equal doses throughout the day. Which ends up being somewhere in that volume/frequency. So it came up with it.

All I did was plug in 8651.4 ml into a 24 hour time interval and it does the rest ;). Very simple.

 

[Budman's Corals]

just got mine up and running and changing 8 gallons a day via dos over a 12 hour period.

 

[Budman's Corals]

2.285 gallons/day x 3785 ml/gal= 8651.4 ml every 24 hours. (I have it doing the exchange 24 hours a day) it automatically separates it into equal doses throughout the day. Which ends up being somewhere in that volume/frequency. So it came up with it.

All I did was plug in 8651.4 ml into a 24 hour time interval and it does the rest ;). Very simple.

Apex could make a quiet drive dos [emoji23] [emoji23] like there powerheads

 

[Rick.45cal]

Apex could make a quiet drive dos [emoji23] [emoji23] like there powerheads

Yeah, that's the downside of running stepper motors, they do make noise. At the very low volume that I am doing each change it isnt' bad, and my dos is away from the tank so it is just background noise. When it comes on and I notice it, it's soothing because I know it means I'm not changing water anymore :D

 

[Budman's Corals]

Yeah, that's the downside of running stepper motors, they do make noise. At the very low volume that I am doing each change it isnt' bad, and my dos is away from the tank so it is just background noise. When it comes on and I notice it, it's soothing because I know it means I'm not changing water anymore :D

Your right. I had it 250ml a minute and man that thing look like it was gonna take off so went down to 125 and bit longer hours. Least all my tanks are in garage so not big deal but same thing goes with there feeder. Noisy

 

[TonapahNorth]

2.285 gallons/day x 3785 ml/gal= 8651.4 ml every 24 hours. (I have it doing the exchange 24 hours a day) it automatically separates it into equal doses throughout the day. Which ends up being somewhere in that volume/frequency. So it came up with it.

All I did was plug in 8651.4 ml into a 24 hour time interval and it does the rest ;). Very simple.

How did you arrive on that number? Is 16g a week approximately 20% of your system?

 

[TonapahNorth]

Your right. I had it 250ml a minute and man that thing look like it was gonna take off so went down to 125 and bit longer hours. Least all my tanks are in garage so not big deal but same thing goes with there feeder. Noisy

So the DOS sounds like it can handle a huge WC if necessary?

Do you do it with the DOS in some kind manual mode too? In other words, can you override your set amount if you felt the need to do a very large scale WC?

 

[Budman's Corals]

So the DOS sounds like it can handle a huge WC if necessary?

Do you do it with the DOS in some kind manual mode too? In other words, can you override your set amount if you felt the need to do a very large scale WC?

Yeah u can set up some programs to do any amount you want but only change about 4g a hour so it's not worth using to suck out 50g take to long .

 

[Rick.45cal]

So the DOS sounds like it can handle a huge WC if necessary?

Do you do it with the DOS in some kind manual mode too? In other words, can you override your set amount if you felt the need to do a very large scale WC?

Looks like 31.7 gallons per day is the max it can change. (I bet it's real unpleasant at that rate).

I have my mixing station set up so that if I want to change water manually all I have to do to add water is turn on the pump, and open two valves and I can fill the tank. Worst thing I have to do is roll up the Python siphon hose at the end. The DOS is still WAY easier lol

 

[s2nhle]

awesome.