Mix station in a HOT garage?

Yellow Coris Wrasse · Jul 30, 2020

Hi, I need some advice. I would like to set up a RO/DI system and mixing station in my garage. The problem is that I live in Florida and in the summer, the garage can exceed 100 degrees. Has anybody had experience keeping RO/DI water and salt water stored at temperatures above room temperature?

I use Brightwell NeoMarine salt because I have heard that it stays stable for a few weeks after proper mixing.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

TMB · Jul 30, 2020

You should be just fine with a setup in the garage. I live in AZ and mine is in my garage.
I have a pretty extensive setup out there actually:
Whole house filter system> RODI (spectrapure running @2:1) > 100g RODI tank > 100g salt storage on an auto water change system.
I haven't had any problems with anything, including membranes (which I think is the main concern).
The system is going on 10 years old, membranes typically last me 3-5 years.

Bryknicks · Jul 30, 2020

I'm in soflo and have had my mixing station in the garage for the last year. I've had no issues storing RODI or salt water

Hulkwithin · Aug 4, 2020

TMB said:
You should be just fine with a setup in the garage. I live in AZ and mine is in my garage.
I have a pretty extensive setup out there actually:
Whole house filter system> RODI (spectrapure running @2:1) > 100g RODI tank > 100g salt storage on an auto water change system.
I haven't had any problems with anything, including membranes (which I think is the main concern).
The system is going on 10 years old, membranes typically last me 3-5 years.

Hulkwithin · Aug 4, 2020

Can you help me with how you set it up? Can you post some picture of your set up.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 4, 2020

That hot temp will change salinity. It insulate it, add chiller or change location

Redfoxtang · Aug 4, 2020

I’m in central Florida and I have RODI and SW station in my garage. I was also using Neo marine and left it in the bins for a couple weeks at a time but it was leaving residue in the tanks. Not sure if it was from the heat or from the salt so I stopped. Now both bins are full of RODI water and I mix prior to doing a SW change. I also bring the water inside to acclimate to room temperature as well.

TMB · Aug 4, 2020

Hulkwithin said:
Can you help me with how you set it up? Can you post some picture of your set up.

Sure can... Sorry it's a bit messy out there right now, it's been too hot to clean up lately!

Working right to left:
Incoming water goes to a whole house system which consists of a big blue sediment filter, a carbon filter, and then the water softener.
Then it goes to the RO system which is above, and multi stage DI below, and the storage is to the left of that.

100 gallon RODI Water storage:

100 gallon Salt Water storage:

It really is nothing special - but it works for me!

Be happy to help with anything else you might need - let me know.

TMB

Marvollo · Aug 4, 2020

TMB said:
Sure can... Sorry it's a bit messy out there right now, it's been too hot to clean up lately!

Working right to left:
Incoming water goes to a whole house system which consists of a big blue sediment filter, a carbon filter, and then the water softener.
Then it goes to the RO system which is above, and multi stage DI below, and the storage is to the left of that.

100 gallon RODI Water storage:

100 gallon Salt Water storage:

It really is nothing special - but it works for me!

Be happy to help with anything else you might need - let me know.

TMB

Marvollo · Aug 4, 2020

The pictures just helped me figure out he mixing station set up. Thanks!

TMB · Aug 4, 2020

Marvollo said:
The pictures just helped me figure out he mixing station set up. Thanks!

Glad I could help!

TMB

Hulkwithin · Aug 4, 2020

Thank you so much.

LRT · Aug 4, 2020

I live in AZ as well. Keep my brute saltwater mixing can with fresh saltwater in it. Temps are crazy hot. I do get evap and salinity change as suggested already.
All I do is add rodi to get it to proper salinity before doing water changes.

Thomashtom · Aug 4, 2020

It will be fine! Just mix 24 hrs before water change. Sometimes i freeze bottles full of water and place them in water to cool it off a little

atnet360 · Aug 28, 2020

LRT said:
I live in AZ as well. Keep my brute saltwater mixing can with fresh saltwater in it. Temps are crazy hot. I do get evap and salinity change as suggested already.
All I do is add rodi to get it to proper salinity before doing water changes.

Can the heat affect the alk? I've got a brute trashcan full of freshly mixed saltwater in my garage (I'm also in AZ), current temperature of the saltwater = 102 F. I noticed the Alk in my tank was lower than I expected, so I tested the fresh saltwater and it tested out at 6.5 dKH. Mixed a fresh batch (using the same salt) inside in a 5 gallon bucket and it tested at 8.1 dKH. I did notice there is a dusty precipitant all over inside the brute.

Trying to figure a way to keep my saltwater in the house to avoid this. Currenty have to bring it in the night before to cool down before I can do a water change.

TMB · Aug 28, 2020

I'm not a chemist so not really sure. I do know that when heated in storage containers there can be precipitation, so I assume that it is possible.
I don't worry about the numbers of the new water at all - dossing takes care of maintaining levels (CARX in my case).

Also, some salts are worse than others for precipitation - What salt are you using?

atnet360 · Aug 28, 2020

TMB said:
I'm not a chemist so not really sure. I do know that when heated in storage containers there can be precipitation, so I assume that it is possible.
I don't worry about the numbers of the new water at all - dossing takes care of maintaining levels (CARX in my case).

Also, some salts are worse than others for precipitation - What salt are you using?

HW Marinemix. I'm just starting out, not dosing anything yet, but planning to. I only have 1 coral (a Duncan) at the moment.

TMB · Aug 28, 2020

I'm not sure if you mentioned this or not - was your premixed water low ALK as well? or just the tank?

I see that you did say that it was low.

I guess there's 3 options:
Dose the water to be where you want it for Alk - Cal - Mag
Mix it to a higher S.G. so all levels will be higher to start with (like to 35ppt)
Make it the day you,re using it to avoip the precip.

HTH

atnet360 · Aug 28, 2020

TMB said:
I'm not sure if you mentioned this or not - was your premixed water low ALK as well? or just the tank?

I see that you did say that it was low.

I guess there's 3 options:
Dose the water to be where you want it for Alk - Cal - Mag
Mix it to a higher S.G. so all levels will be higher to start with (like to 35ppt)
Make it the day you,re using it to avoip the precip.

HTH

The premixed water was low at 6.5 dKH. Per the BRS website it should mix up at 9 dKH.

The tank is currently 7 dKH.

Also, I thought maybe there was some settling in the bag or something, so I tossed around the bag of salt a bit to mix it up, then mixed 5 gallons inside the house (at a reasonable temperature). That batch came out at 8.1 dKH. I decided to put that 5 gallons out in the garage to see if the alk drops after being in the hot garage for a few days.

TMB · Aug 28, 2020

Have you tested any other parameters? like Calcium and Magnesium?
If it's only the Alk, then baking soda would be an easy fix to bring it back to where you want it.