Salt water mixing station cleaning

[Heavymman]

This is a pretty stupid question but just wanted to hear your thoughts.

I have two brute pails plumbed with a pump for my salt water mixing station. When I drain the salt water pail there is always about a 1/2” of water I can’t get out.... is this going to affect anything if I leave it in there and I’m mixing salt water every week? Also RODI pail is always filled (float valve), is it safe to keep in pail?

 

[Swoody]

Myself I don’t worry about it too much as I feel I run enough water through there frequently enough to preclude anything nasty from building up. However from time to time if there is just a very small amount left in the bottom of the saltwater tank I will throw couple of towels in there and mop it all up and wipe the sides etc. Just keep them covered up and you should be fine. Oh, and I always make sure that I throw a little bit of Prime into the RODI tank.

 

[Heavymman]

Myself I don’t worry about it too much as I feel I run enough water through there frequently enough to preclude anything nasty from building up. However from time to time if there is just a very small amount left in the bottom of the saltwater tank I will throw couple of towels in there and mop it all up and wipe the sides etc. Just keep them covered up and you should be fine. Oh, and I always make sure that I throw a little bit of Prime into the RODI tank.

Is the prime for double security no cholormines in the water?

I noticed a little mildew smell at of the salt water bucket, maybe I can run some white vinegar with a good flush

 

[Swoody]

Is the prime for double security no cholormines in the water?

I noticed a little mildew smell at of the salt water bucket, maybe I can run some white vinegar with a good flush

That is exactly why I do the Prime.

 

[Heavymman]

That is exactly why I do the Prime.

@Swoody salt water resovoir definitely had mildew starting, smelled and areas were slimy.... fresh RODI was all good.... that being said I drained it and took ALL the water out. Going forward, if I add prime to the RODI, that will prevent mildew in the salt water resovoir or should I just dry it out after use? Am I going crazy here? I just don’t want any anomalies when I start my main DT

 

[jsker]

Good question, It would really depend on the salt that you are using. Most salts can mix and sit, even natural sea water can sit for a very long time without mixing. The salts that have a short mix and sit time are probiotic salts, usually 24 hours.

 

[Heavymman]

Good question, It would really depend on the salt that you are using. Most salts can mix and sit, even natural sea water can sit for a very long time without mixing. The salts that have a short mix and sit time are probiotic salts, usually 24 hours.

That probably explains it, I’m using redsea, I didnt look into it too much

 

[Heavymman]

https://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea...Salt_Mix-Red_Sea-RS11055-FISM-RS11065-vi.html

 

[Heavymman]

Should I vinegar the bucket ?

 

[jsker]

That probably explains it, I’m using redsea, I didnt look into it too much

What issue are you experiencing? Vinegar is a good cleaner for cleaning algae, coraling, and calcium deposits. Vinegar is also good for carbon dosing.

If the bucket is clean I would suggest just leaving the bucket as it is.

 

[Heavymman]

What issue are you experiencing? Vinegar is a good cleaner for cleaning algae, coraling, and calcium deposits. Vinegar is also good for carbon dosing.

If the bucket is clean I would suggest just leaving the bucket as it is.

Just the slight smell of mildew (honestly more like a vague smell of when curing rock) and slightly slimy feeling on the heater and pail (when wet prior to drying out). I am maticulous so I might be going nuts but like I said before, this is my main salt water mixing area and I don’t want to create any issues in my DT when it’s up. (I want to limit the troubleshooting to real issues, not dummy ones I created for myself)

 

[jsker]

Just the slight smell of mildew (honestly more like a vague smell of when curing rock) and slightly slimy feeling on the heater and bucket (when wet prior to drying out). I am maticulous so I might be going nuts but like I said before, this is my main salt water mixing area and I don’t want to create any issues in my DT when it’s up. (I want to limit the troubleshooting to real issues, not dummy ones I created for myself)

Paper towel is your friend. I use food safe buckets that one can purchase at Costco business center for the best price $20.00 for two with mesure on the sides of the buckets. Since switching to a Auto Water Change I noticed that my bukets had a rust color on the sides and wipe the dry bukest down with a dry paper towel.

 

[Heavymman]

Paper towel is your friend. I use food safe buckets that one can purchase at Costco business center for the best price $20.00 for two with mesure on the sides of the buckets. Since switching to a Auto Water Change I noticed that my bukets had a rust color on the sides and wipe the dry bukest down with a dry paper towel.

This is a brute pail I’m talking about, sorry for being misleading. Picture below is RODI on right and salt water on left. Covers kept on 99.9% of time

 

[cracker]

I get a musty smell from time to time I'll fill with rain water our a 1/2 gallom of vinegar or some bleach. let it sit for a day then syphon out wiping the barral out with the rough side of a sponge. rinse well then sun dry .

 

[jsker]

This is a brute pail I’m talking about, sorry for being misleading. Picture below is RODI on right and salt water on left. Covers kept on 99.9% of time

Nice mixing station

I get a musty smell from time to time I'll fill with rain water our a 1/2 gallom of vinegar or some bleach. let it sit for a day then syphon out wiping the barral out with the rough side of a sponge. rinse well then sun dry .

Good suggestions.

How about to leaving the lid off when not mixing or storing?

One other suggestion is to raise the brutes off the ground and install bulkhead on the bottoms of the brutes to completely drain them

See how I have the bulkhead leading in to the drain, I have the same for the sump.

 

[Heavymman]

Nice mixing station



Good suggestions.

How about to leaving the lid off when not mixing or storing?

One other suggestion is to raise the brutes off the ground and install bulkhead on the bottoms of the brutes to completely drain them

See how I have the bulkhead leading in to the drain, I have the same for the sump.

I want two of these but my wife would either kill me or through me out of the house for spending money like this on a mixing station lol.

 

[jsker]

I want two of these but my wife would either kill me or through me out of the house for spending money like this on a mixing station lol.

There need to be a trade off

;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[cracker]

If the barrel is positively dry I put the lid on .
Nice barrel !

 

[Swoody]

I want two of these but my wife would either kill me or through me out of the house for spending money like this on a mixing station lol.

Oh yeah them things there are great... matter of fact anybody who’s really into making their own home brew beer has a conical fermenter. Definitely easy to make sure that you got the last of the water out of every mix.

 

[Swoody]

@Swoody salt water resovoir definitely had mildew starting, smelled and areas were slimy.... fresh RODI was all good.... that being said I drained it and took ALL the water out. Going forward, if I add prime to the RODI, that will prevent mildew in the salt water resovoir or should I just dry it out after use? Am I going crazy here? I just don’t want any anomalies when I start my main DT

I just try to keep my fresh water reservoir full at all times. When I use a batch whether to fill my ATO reservoir (which is now going to be 41 gallons I can’t wait for to get here)!!!, Or to use it to mix a batch of salt water for a water change, once I’m through with whatever operation I’m doing next thing I do is make a new batch of fresh water and fill up the tank.