No more buckets!

[corey.nolta]

I am so excited and I don't have anyone that fully understands (friends and family are non-fish tank people), so I am sharing with all you reefers! I started a weekend project plumbing my fresh and salt storage tanks directly up to my tank. I can fill my auto top off container and / or my tank directly without lifting a bucket! I know this is not a new concept, but the setup is new to me and I wish I would have done it from day one.
It's not the cleanest or nicest set up as some I have seen, but it works perfectly for my 90 gallon.
Fresh RO/DI on the left (65 gallon); salt water mixing on the right (35 gallon). There are definitely a few things I wish I had done different with the pvc, but all in all I'm pretty happy! Just a matter of tidying up cords and final touches.
I mean I no longer have to carry buckets up the stairs and across the house! I'm actually excited for my next large water change


Bonus Photos--
Paly eating a hammer tentacle


Tomato Clown hiding under his massive red 'shrooms. There is a 3" and a 4" in there (side note-any ideas to the white dots? Only seem to appear once they grow larger).

 

[rebekwl]

Very nice! I dream of the day I have the same. I totally get it, congrats!! LOL!!

 

[ReeferRoo]

Excellent!

What would you have done differently with the pvc? Any lessons learned...

I just ordered the plumbing for 2 tanks i picked up from a local place a few weeks ago.

It will be the first thing i setup for my tank so even though i don't know what you a have gone through with buckets i understand the excitement and your enthusiasm just reinforces my decision to setup a mixing station first!

Anyway...Gratz!

 

[corey.nolta]

@ReeferRoo, two things I would have done for sure were added a few unions just to make taking it apart easier. Granted I have no intention of changing the set-up or moving anything, BUT if for whatever reason I would need to move something, it's going to be a major pain. The second thing I wish I would have done, would be: instead of the top right "90 elbow", I would have put a "T" with a hose barb. That way I could utilize a hose if ever needed. Doing that would also require another ball valve. But like I said, this set-up works perfectly as is!
@rebekwl, It's going to be wonderful to not have to carry buckets! I was going from the basement, up the stairs, and all the way across the house. Plus, with three large dogs always following me wondering what I was doing, there was always spillage Definitely going to be money well worth it!!!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Congrats and your back will thank you!

 

[cobraz]

Nice setup... just keep into account either RO or saltwater in the pipes when turning valves on and off... a gallon or 2 of either can swing your water top off or RO.

 

[corey.nolta]

@cobraz, that is an excellent point. One I did not really consider. There really is no way to avoid that with this set up, as I think about it :-/. I'll just have to keep an eye on everything. Periodically check the sg of my top off container etc. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[cobraz]

@cobraz, that is an excellent point. One I did not really consider. There really is no way to avoid that with this set up, as I think about it :-/. I'll just have to keep an eye on everything. Periodically check the sg of my top off container etc. Thanks for the heads up!

No problem, also I would assume you have the back draining ..solved so you don't remove water from above over filling containers below as we can not see the magic near the tank. What you do not want is back siphoning.

 

[FishLover01]

You're probably just being like me, second guessing yourself. In this case, it doesn't appear you need to do that. I think your water mixing station looks fantastic. As long as it works for you, it is good. It actually looks professional. Very good job.

 

[Bob Escher]

Wow fantastic arrangement. But back siphoning may be a issue. You said this is in basement? Where are the pvc going in the t's or is it just to hold the pipe up

Congrats. Great job

 

[Steve Tobias]

Very cool! I cannot wait for the day...

 

[Drakonis]

What about an air bleed on a ball valve at the tank to let the lines run back to appropriate tank when you switch between the two?

 

[corey.nolta]

I wasn't able to upload a video as I could not reduce the size enough to meet the requirements. So there is a youtube link to the video at the bottom!

@cobraz, You are correct. I have it set-up so I don't have to worry about back siphoning from the tank down to the storage containers. I have the output above the tank waterline, so that should never be an issue.

@FishLover01, Looking back, the only thing I wish I would have done was add a few unions to make it easy to tear down if ever needed. I'll have to cut a few sections IF I were ever to move it. I've used it now a few times and it works pretty flawlessly!

@Bob Escher, I have it set up so back siphoning should not ever be an issue. If you're referring to the "T's" on the bottom, those are just a few extra couplings I had left over that I put underneath the valves for support. I have three large dogs that like run around, so all the extra support the better!

Now on to the video!!
PVC comes through the floor to a ball valve with a 1" hose barb. This ball valve is an "insurance policy" in case my IR remote that controls the pump in the basement failed to work.
(I also have a second shorter hose that I can switch out in order to fill my ATO reservoir next to the tank. With a few turns of valves in the basement, I'm able to pump up fresh RO/DI water too!)
The hose continues up the back of the stand/tank and connects to (2) 90 degree elbows that I have secured to my light bracket.
This is what love looks like

 

[NANOKING]

Nice no matter what anybody says

 

[corey.nolta]

Thanks! All I did this past weekend was do fish-tank projects! I set up all the plumbing. I re-did all my wiring in the stand- MUCH more organized, and safer now too. Started a second tank in the basement next to new water mixing station. Still not 100% sure what I'll be doing with it. Probably a small frag tank for when I bust things off in the display. Plus I have had several big mushrooms detach from rocks and I do not want them starting a new colony in my display tank. Might plop 'em in the new tank. Thought about reading up on clown fish breeding. Who knows! And finally I started finishing the stand to my display tank! Only took me 8 months to figure out what I wanted to do! Coming along nicely I must say.
The stand is just a skeleton 2x4. I got kind of used to it over the past 8 months.


Finally decided on a route to take today, so I built a frame!


And added a door! (Love brushed nickel hardware!)


I still have to attach crown molding around the door piece to hide the screws. Then it's time for paint! I think I'm going to paint the door/frame black and then the crown molding a brushed nickel metallic to match the hardware????? Thoughts?? My other thought was to stain it dark.

 

[corey.nolta]

Primed and ready to go! Should be finished tonight

 

[corey.nolta]

Just a quick run through of me filling my ATO container. I am absolutely in love. If you're ever thinking of adding a mixing station, DO IT!

 

[Kyuss414]

Awesome. It's always a good feeling when you make routine tasks much easier, as I find they actually get done routinely then lol. I remember some of my old FOWLR tanks didn't even have an ATO, it was such a huge pain to deal with daily. Now it's something I deal with once a month and takes like 2 minutes of my time flipping a couple valves to fill up my reservoir and shut it off the next morning when it hit the float valve, and it's much more stable to boot. Nice work!