SW Mixing Station Plumbing Critique Needed

[Eye H8 Empty V]

Hey Reefers I’ve got my SW mixing station plumbing mocked up(no glue). Any constructive criticism is appreciated. The tanks on the right shelving unit are for emergency drinking water so disregard.

Thanks!

 

[Peace River]

A few questions to ask: Can you get water out of both tanks? Can you recirculate water in the SW tank? Can you easily add salt? Do you have a way to shut off the RO water to keep the tank from overfilling?

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

A few questions to ask: Can you get water out of both tanks? Can you recirculate water in the SW tank? Can you easily add salt? Do you have a way to shut off the RO water to keep the tank from overfilling?

Thanks for the questions!

Can you get water out of both tanks? For the RO tank, it only flows down to the SW tank. For SW I have a valve that will allow me to pump out.

Can you recirculate water in the SW tank? Yes and I have a long 3/4” PVC with holes drilled like a rain stick for dispersing/mixing inside the SW tank.

Can you easily add salt? Yes

Do you have a way to shut off the RO water to keep the tank from overfilling? I have a float valve with 1/4” fitting coming off the RO system. I might put a solenoid with optical sensor as a backup.

Thanks for the help keep the questions/feedback coming. I appreciate it!

Billy

 

[exnisstech]

Looks awfully complicated for mixing salt. I use a brute garbage can and a couple of power heads but I'm a simple kinda guy. Nice work on the plumbing for sure tho. What size system is this for?

 

[Peace River]

@Eye H8 Empty V - Here's a link you may find interesting:

Let’s Mix it Up! Designing and Using a Water Mixing Station

Let’s Mix it Up! Designing and Using a Water Mixing Station Let’s Mix it Up! There is one undeniable fact in this hobby – WE ALL NEED WATER! In fact, two types of water. Clean fresh water (FW) run through a quality RODI system and the obvious saltwater (SW). Secondly, we all know what a...

www.reef2reef.com

There are plenty of ways to put together a mixing station both with valves and/or automation. To me the availability of high quality water is important (and the importance of not flooding the place is important to someone else in my house ).

IMO I think it is very helpful to be able to get RO water quickly from your storage container to refill the auto-top of container(s) and more.

Although it is definitely not necessary now, you may want to include into your plan what automation that you may choose to add in the future for control and redundancy.

 

[dantimdad]

I would lose the braided hose. It becomes more and more stiff over time and terrible to work with and, it's completely not necessary. Get some silicone hose or just plain old black pvc hose from lowe's. You have already bought the sch80 pipe and it's completely a waste of money in anything on a home scale. Sch40 is honestly overkill but the most common therefore the most affordable.

But, the plumbing looks good.

Make sure you have an easy way to clean them out once in a while. I can't stress this enough. I had a buddy who made a 250 x 2 system and couldn't wash them easily. After about a year, he went down to 55 x 2 because he didn't need that much water and it was a pain to wash the bigger ones.

 

[jhrightyhein]

Looks like you have everything for a great setup!

 

[Pkunk35]

Looks super fun, just a suggestion, looks like you have to close some valves in order to pump out salt or fresh water, I would label stuff and put specifically which valves are what or however makes you realize you are about to pump salt or fresh out from that valve. I have a single electrical outlet I use for my two pumps (one in salt one in fresh) which of course aren’t labeled, and I always end up pumping the wrong kind of water bc the wrong plug is plugged in (and not labeled).

awesome setup!

 

[Peace River]

Looks super fun, just a suggestion, looks like you have to close some valves in order to pump out salt or fresh water, I would label stuff and put specifically which valves are what or however makes you realize you are about to pump salt or fresh out from that valve. I have a single electrical outlet I use for my two pumps (one in salt one in fresh) which of course aren’t labeled, and I always end up pumping the wrong kind of water bc the wrong plug is plugged in (and not labeled).

awesome setup!

Great point about labeling! This could apply to pipes, valves, and electrical cords/switches. This can be especially helpful when someone else is helping.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

Looks super fun, just a suggestion, looks like you have to close some valves in order to pump out salt or fresh water, I would label stuff and put specifically which valves are what or however makes you realize you are about to pump salt or fresh out from that valve. I have a single electrical outlet I use for my two pumps (one in salt one in fresh) which of course aren’t labeled, and I always end up pumping the wrong kind of water bc the wrong plug is plugged in (and not labeled).

awesome setup!

This is a great idea, thanks!

 

[Bret]

Few suggestions:
Eliminate the two 90s you have after the pump. Re-position the plumbing/pump so you can connect straight down into the pump. This reduces the number of connections/joints/failure points, will make it quieter, and increases flow.

Get rid of the soft hose connections and hard plumb it with pvc. You shouldn't need the soft hose for noise/vibration reduction with that DC pump. This eliminates several more failure points, and looks much cleaner. If it does vibrate you can get a piece of neoprene to sit the pump on. Also get rid of any brass fittings.

Put another ball valve on the salt reservoir inlet. This way you can completely isolate it if you want to dispense RO water without risk of diluting your salt mix.

Sch80 pvc has a smaller inner diameter than sch40, you are loosing flow by using the sch80 pipe. Not a big deal on a mixing station, and the sch80 definitely looks better. Consider colored pvc for the best of both worlds.

When you do go to glue it all up, use clear pvc glue and primer for a clean look.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

Few suggestions:
Eliminate the two 90s you have after the pump. Re-position the plumbing/pump so you can connect straight down into the pump. This reduces the number of connections/joints/failure points, will make it quieter, and increases flow.

Get rid of the soft hose connections and hard plumb it with pvc. You shouldn't need the soft hose for noise/vibration reduction with that DC pump. This eliminates several more failure points, and looks much cleaner. If it does vibrate you can get a piece of neoprene to sit the pump on. Also get rid of any brass fittings.

Put another ball valve on the salt reservoir inlet. This way you can completely isolate it if you want to dispense RO water without risk of diluting your salt mix.

Sch80 pvc has a smaller inner diameter than sch40, you are loosing flow by using the sch80 pipe. Not a big deal on a mixing station, and the sch80 definitely looks better. Consider colored pvc for the best of both worlds.

When you do go to glue it all up, use clear pvc glue and primer for a clean look.

I'll look into the 90's. I tried to position it on the shelft across but couldn't get it to line up perfectly. So I moved it forward and added the 90's. I'll give it another shot.

How do you hard plumb to a barbed fitting? That's all the pump came with.

I did install another ball valve on the inlet of the SW tank. I noticed that with the "old" configuration I couldn't drain the RO tank without closing off the inlet to the SW tank.

I've got all schedule 80 for the display tank and sump but it's bigger ID. I've got 2 drains, the primary is 1-1/2" and the backup drain is 1". The return line is also 1".

I'm all about a clean look and used all clear primer and glue.

Thanks for the tips!!!

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

@Eye H8 Empty V - Here's a link you may find interesting:

Let’s Mix it Up! Designing and Using a Water Mixing Station

Let’s Mix it Up! Designing and Using a Water Mixing Station Let’s Mix it Up! There is one undeniable fact in this hobby – WE ALL NEED WATER! In fact, two types of water. Clean fresh water (FW) run through a quality RODI system and the obvious saltwater (SW). Secondly, we all know what a...

www.reef2reef.com

There are plenty of ways to put together a mixing station both with valves and/or automation. To me the availability of high quality water is important (and the importance of not flooding the place is important to someone else in my house ).

IMO I think it is very helpful to be able to get RO water quickly from your storage container to refill the auto-top of container(s) and more.

Although it is definitely not necessary now, you may want to include into your plan what automation that you may choose to add in the future for control and redundancy.

I wish I could do an AWC system but our garage is technically detached and about 75ft form the DT/Sump. I'm not sure what other kind of automation you can perform with a SW mixing station. I'm open to suggestions though!

 

[Bret]

I'll look into the 90's. I tried to position it on the shelft across but couldn't get it to line up perfectly. So I moved it forward and added the 90's. I'll give it another shot.

How do you hard plumb to a barbed fitting? That's all the pump came with.

I did install another ball valve on the inlet of the SW tank. I noticed that with the "old" configuration I couldn't drain the RO tank without closing off the inlet to the SW tank.

I've got all schedule 80 for the display tank and sump but it's bigger ID. I've got 2 drains, the primary is 1-1/2" and the backup drain is 1". The return line is also 1".

I'm all about a clean look and used all clear primer and glue.

Thanks for the tips!!!

I think if you place the pump between your racks, against the back of the wall, you should be able to adjust the horizontal lengths of pvc coming out of the tanks so the vertical section meets the pump (maybe not, hard to tell in the photos). Those pumps usually come with both barbed and slip fitting adapters. You could try reaching out to the manufacturer to get a replacement slip fitting, or ask around here if anyone has one they are not going to use.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

I would lose the braided hose. It becomes more and more stiff over time and terrible to work with and, it's completely not necessary. Get some silicone hose or just plain old black pvc hose from lowe's. You have already bought the sch80 pipe and it's completely a waste of money in anything on a home scale. Sch40 is honestly overkill but the most common therefore the most affordable.

But, the plumbing looks good.

Make sure you have an easy way to clean them out once in a while. I can't stress this enough. I had a buddy who made a 250 x 2 system and couldn't wash them easily. After about a year, he went down to 55 x 2 because he didn't need that much water and it was a pain to wash the bigger ones.

All of the ball vales have unions. So in the case I have to remove the tanks, I can break down a lot of the plumbing easily.

 

[Bret]

I wish I could do an AWC system but our garage is technically detached and about 75ft form the DT/Sump. I'm not sure what other kind of automation you can perform with a SW mixing station. I'm open to suggestions though!

You could totally still set up AWC. Mine is about 50' away and lines run through the attic. Since you are detached, you may have to go underground, but definitely still possible

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

You could totally still set up AWC. Mine is about 50' away and lines run through the attic. Since you are detached, you may have to go underground, but definitely still possible

I'm not sure how I could do that. We're on a poured monolithic slab and their isn't any attic access from the garage to the main house. Trust me I know I ran CAT6 cables everywhere for cameras. I'm sure there's a way to get it done but it would require cutting a lot of drywall and penetrating exterior walls.

 

[alain Bouchard]

my 2 cents: I would never use brass (copper/zinc alloy) fitting anywhere near my tank/SW.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

my 2 cents: I would never use brass (copper/zinc alloy) fitting anywhere near my tank/SW.

Those were just to check for lengths. I've got some PVC ones on the way!

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

I think if you place the pump between your racks, against the back of the wall, you should be able to adjust the horizontal lengths of pvc coming out of the tanks so the vertical section meets the pump (maybe not, hard to tell in the photos). Those pumps usually come with both barbed and slip fitting adapters. You could try reaching out to the manufacturer to get a replacement slip fitting, or ask around here if anyone has one they are not going to use.

I purchased the pump on amazon and asked if there are slip fittings. Thanks for the suggestion, I'm going search R2R. It's a Jebao DCQ-1000 if anyone has a resource.