Pump and heater for bucket mixing

[boisblancboy]

Anyone have some recommendations for a small pump and heater for mixing salt in a 5gal bucket?

 

[Joe31415]

What ever cheap powerhead your LFS has will work just fine. Same for the heater. If you're just using this to mix up saltwater and it's only going to be running for a few hours or a day or two at a time, I would get something cheap, especially if noise (from the pump) isn't a concern.
This is the one I have in my 35 Gallon Brute container. When I do happen to need to mix something in a 5 gallon container, it works just fine there as well. Remember, since you're just trying to dissolve salt, it doesn't have to be anything special.

Regarding the heater, personally, I don't use a heater for mixing salt, but on the rare occiasions that I'm heating water in a 5 gallon bucket, I use whatever I have nearby. This one will work just fine.

 

[PR_nano]

I use a small Sicce pump. I find the pump warms up the water and I don’t need a heater. I normally wait 5 mins to let the new water cool off prior to the change as it’s 3 degrees higher.

 

[Nick711]

I use an MJ1200 pump & small Aqueon preset temp (77F) heater, but most cheap options should work just fine

 

[I never finish anythi]

Anyone have some recommendations for a small pump and heater for mixing salt in a 5gal bucket?

The cheapest you can get tbh . Don't have to be nothing special !

 

[Uncle99]

Anyone have some recommendations for a small pump and heater for mixing salt in a 5gal bucket?

If your change is around 10%, no need to heat that.

 

[boisblancboy]

Thanks for the ideas.

I’m thinking a small pump would work better in my case than a power head for mixing cause then instead of trying to dump the bucket into the tank I can use it to pump the water into the tank also.

 

[PotatoPig]

The absolute cheapest your LFS has going.

If you’re patient and this isn’t an urgent requirement then Petco regularly has sales where these are about $10 a piece.

 

[iiwil77]

I use a cheap Amazon pump. This pump helps me drain the tank and fill it back to the level I want. I also drop it in my 5 gallon bucket to mix the salt water. Of course you will need a hose to connect to the pump.

 

[lil sumpin]

Wavemaker

Heater

 

[saltienewb]

Aquarium co-op 100w heater (now no longer sold iirc)

20 gallon brute with top

XStream 3500 Wave Pump (925 GPH) - Sicce (literally any pump will work, I bought this off a reef club member for 20 bucks)​

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

If you have young children around, I’d get 12Vdc Pumps. I use these for my Power outages, and they work well. https://a.co/d/eNHY7yU
Also I don’t use a heater, even though my Brute Container is in the Basement, there’s not a Significant change in temperature, up to a 25% Water Change.