Mixing station questions

[hwk7072]

After dealing with multiple 5g buckets, I finally got around to hooking up an auto shutoff for my Spectrapure RODI, into a 20G Rubbermaid Brute HDPE2 barrel.

 

As RODI

Use the barrel for RODI only and then make saltwater in the 5G buckets when I'm ready to do a WC.

• Do Reef Crystals really need to cure for 24 hours prior to adding to tank? This is the biggest problem I see with this. In case of emergency I wouldn't have a big batch of SW available.

 

As Saltwater Mix

My preferred method would be to use this as the saltwater tank so I always have a ready supply. If I do this

• What's the best way to keep the water moving, a powerhead or a pump? Pumps are less expensive, and they would sit on the bottom, so my sense is that's the way to go.
• Since it's always topped off with RODI, seems like the salt concentration wouldn't be a problem. I would just need to keep a list of how much I took out, and add salt accordingly.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

BTW, it took me forever to figure out how to hook up the shut-off. I kept thinking I did it wrong. What the videos don't say is that the waste water will still come out for about 3 minutes after the clean water valve shuts off. So I kept redoing it, thinking I hooked it up wrong after testing it.

 

 

 

[jamescstein]

I use a 35-40gallon brute. Fill with RO/DI. When it gets empty, I'll rinse it out to remove any settled stuff.

 

When its not and I want to make more water, just fill with RO/DI. Check salinity with a refractometer. Add enough salt to bring it up to the right salinity.

[bob115]

Heh... 24 hours curing time. Yeah I often don't even wait for it to heat up all the way. I wouldn't worry about it as long as its all dissolved.

[VW_TDI_02]

I recently got a barrel and it's worked pretty well. I'm using one of the square brute trash cans since it gives me a bit more floor space for when I had to put all my live rock in there that also had corals on there. On the inside of my trash can it has marks that label 5, 10, 20, and I think 25 gallons. Once I am ready I simply toss the clean water line into the barrel and just let it go. I have two heaters that are already set and the wires are wrapped and ziptied around one of the handles with a bit left over. Once the water is about 1-2" deep, the heaters should be at the same temperature as the water so I can simply plug them in with an extension cable. The extension cable that I run has three outputs so it works perfectly. Once it gets to the 10 gallon mark, I turn off the water and I'm nearly done. I also have a very cheap powerhead that doesn't work well in my tanks. Below is the link to the powerhead. It's dirt cheap at only $10 and works great for mixing salt. I either use the suction cup and attach it to the side of the tank or just let it dangle and move around in the water. The wire for the plug is also wrapped around the same handle as the wires for the heaters so I can plug the powerhead into the same extension cable. After adding all of the salt, epsom salt, alk, and Ca additives I just have to wait until it is done mixing and I'm done. I already have the exact measurements of each that needs to be added during each batch. Periodically I do check the water to make sure everything is good.

 

In regards to the Reef Crystals, I'm not really sure either. I've heard a lot of people having issues with it since it tends to leave a residue in their mixing containers. Personally I use the regular Instant Ocean and then just use the additives in order to dial in the parameters exactly how I like it.

 

For doing the water change itself, it kind of sucks only having one big container. I end up having to pump out the water from my tank into 5 gallon buckets before pumping in the new water from the large container. Once I get done with that, I typically dump the old water back into the trash can and then wheel it over to the bathroom or I just carry the buckets to the bathroom and dump those by hand. Lately I've just been dumping the water back into the trash can and then using my little MJ1200 to pump it into the tub.

 

Overall it's working pretty well. I don't spill anywhere near as much water as I used to. I had a bad tendency of forgetting that I was making RODI back when I was only using 5 gallon buckets. For example, today I needed to make a separate batch of water in order to clean the fines out of my GFO/Carbon reactors so I put a five gallon bucket inside of the trash can and then tossed the RODI line into the bucket. Once again I forgot and the bucket was overflowing and there was about 6" worth of water around the bucket inside of the trash can. If it weren't for the trash can, that water would definitely have been on the floor...

 

 

Here is the link to the cheap powerhead that I use for mixing salt.

http://www.amazon.com/SUNSUN-Submersible-Circulation-Maker-Aquarium/dp/B009YEEW2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434345511&sr=8-1&keywords=powerhead