Mixing Station Upgrade

[lnevo]

Saw the thread earlier about trying to automate as much as possible...Today I did my first bucket-less water change thanks to my new mixing station setup. Since my station was down for a bit of time during the upgrade I did about twice my usual volume and not a single bucket used!

 

First the rundown, The tank is a 65g with a 20g sump. Using an online calculator I've estimated my true volume at 72g. If you don't already know, I'm an avid ReefAngel user. A while ago I programmed my controller to do an uninterrupted water change using my reactor pump to drain water out and I use an auxiliary outlet to enable a secondary pump as an ATO with my new SW. With this setup, I get the added benefit of rinsing my media since it's running through my reactors. Typically I do weekly water changes of 20%. I change my carbon every other WC and my GFO every 6 weeks.

 

Anyway back to the routine...so the program I setup has a timer to drain the output into a bucket and while it's running, I would run up and down the stairs with new SW to keep the new water reservoir full. It's has worked great for quite a while, but it takes quite a number of trips up and down a very steep staircase and carrying lots of buckets to the toilet to dump out the old water. So, I though to myself, how can I make this easier... what if I could drain the water right into the toilet and get a strong enough pump so I could fill all my new water into a large tub instead of using 5g buckets.

 

This is what it looked like setup. I have a video I can upload later but for now just pretend water is draining on the left and refilling like an ATO on the right.

 

 

Here is the mixing station before shot:

 

 

The 35g brute on the left is my RO/DI storage which has the float valve installed too low, so I only get enough to fill the 20g brute and get a bucket and a half extra to fill my 5g ATO reservoir. I'm in the process of fixing that...I had a submerged pump in that container to fill the SW container and another pump and heater in the SW container to mix and heat my SW. The pumps were pretty big Rio's but they only had 6 feet of head.

 

Here's the after:

 

 

It only took about 16 trips to ACE and a few orders from us plastic, BRS and a few others to get right, Also a few trips to AV because the first two pumps I brought home were all having issues. I had to replace the bulkheads during the process and also tried out unseals to add the level gauge. I'm planning on adding a level gauge to the RO/DI side and I need to add an elbows inside both containers so I can get out every last drop I also plan on redoing the output into the containers with a transition to vinyl tubing to hopefully reduce the pump vibration and make it a bit quieter. If I had to do it over again, I would use uniseals for everything, they were so nice and easy to install.

 

Originally I was going to use RV/Marine garden hose to connect to the faucet bibs but the ones that arrived were not the ones I ordered and had an anti-microbial treatment, I wasn't comfortable with that so I just returned it and found a great deal on clear vinyl tubing, I ordered a 100' roll of 1/2" ID 5/8" OD tubing for under $40. It came to $56.25 after shipping. If you need clear tubing definitely check out flexpvc.com.

 

 

It was the perfect amount to make one hose from the basement up to the tank and another from the tank to the bathroom. I used a bunch of 1/2" HB to garden hose pipe thread adapters so I can connect them to the mixing station, each other, and my reactor output which I have tee'd with ball valves to run to either the drain or the small filter sock my reactors came with. You can see the tee and valves in the WC shot with the buckets.

 

I'm pretty impressed with how it came out, it really made it a breeze to get 30g of water upstairs. The carbon made getting everything started a pain, maybe I need to pre soak it so that it doesn't clog up so easily in the beginning, once I got the output flow going, it really went smooth. I may need to upgrade the reactor pump. It was meant for one reactor and I plumbed two together... Once I get the new routine down, it should pretty much go unattended after the setup. Looking forward to my next WC now

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

Not bad at all. VERY NICE. lol.

[s2nhle]

Very nice. I am planning to build mine next month.

[adamgoldberg]

Sorry, what?  I don't understand (maybe I'm too new to this). Any chance you could make a drawing of what you're doing?

[lnevo]

Depending on what valve is open I can mix in either barrel or pump water from one barrel to the other. I'm not sure a drawing would doffer much from the picture of the plumbing. Maybe you can elaborate what part doesn't make sense for you and I can walk you through it..

[mr.x-ray]

Is the float switch on the 35g from the ro/di above the max level of the smaller container? If not I hope you have a water sensor to shut down ro from filling if you forget to close or don't close all the way or for some reason the red valve fails on the bottom of little container.

The over all idea is great though. Like the level gauge too. I think I would replace the little container with another 35g.

[adamgoldberg]

 

Well, maybe I don't get it properly.  Valves 4 and 7 are spigots, the rest are ball valves (as shown in the picture, I think).

 

To do nothing, close all valves.

 

To move fresh water to the salt/mix vessel, you open 6, 3, 2, and energize the pump in the bottom of the fresh vessel.

To move fresh water to the ATO, you open 6, 7 and energize the pump in the bottom of the fresh vessel.

To move salt water to the sump, you open 5, 7, and energize the pump in the bottom of the SW vessel.

To agitate the salt/mix vessel, you open 5, 3, 2, and energize the pump in the bottom of the SW vessel.

 

What's the spigot #4 for?

 

Did I get this all correct??

 

[lnevo]

Is the float switch on the 35g from the ro/di above the max level of the smaller container? If not I hope you have a water sensor to shut down ro from filling if you forget to close or don't close all the way or for some reason the red valve fails on the bottom of little container.

The over all idea is great though. Like the level gauge too. I think I would replace the little container with another 35g.

 

The first valve I had installed was level with the 20g, but I added another float valve to get more RO/DI with a 3 way valve to choose between them. So I could still have a spill if I'm not careful. However there are 3 ball valves that would all have to be open in order for this to be an issue and there is only one scenario where all 3 woudl be open... which is if I needed to fill both containers from the RO/DI. I have the option with the 3 way valve to dispense from the lower float valve which would then stop when both vessels are full.

Edited November 6, 2013 by lnevo

[lnevo]

 

Well, maybe I don't get it properly.  Valves 4 and 7 are spigots, the rest are ball valves (as shown in the picture, I think).

 

To do nothing, close all valves.

 

To move fresh water to the salt/mix vessel, you open 6, 3, 2, and energize the pump in the bottom of the fresh vessel.

To move fresh water to the ATO, you open 6, 7 and energize the pump in the bottom of the fresh vessel.

To move salt water to the sump, you open 5, 7, and energize the pump in the bottom of the SW vessel.

To agitate the salt/mix vessel, you open 5, 3, 2, and energize the pump in the bottom of the SW vessel.

 

What's the spigot #4 for?

 

Did I get this all correct??

 

You got most of it correct...

 

Spigot #4 is the pressurized output from the pump. I use that output to pump water upstairs during my water change.

 

To move fresh water to the salt/mix vessel I open 6,3,2 like you said.

To move fresh water to the ATO, I open 6, 7 but no pump is involved, gravity only and I fill a 5g bucket, so you were mostly correct

To move salt water to the sump, I open 5, 4 and close 3.

To agitate salt I open 5,3,2.

 

One thing you are missing is a ball valve (I'll call it #8) just to the right of spigot 7. This allows me to access RO/DI water while agitation is happening simultaneously. It is also the backup valve to make sure when filling the RO/DI container that it's not also filling up the salt/mixing container.

 

I would need 5, 6 and 8 open in order for RO/DI to fill the second container and not just the first. If I wanted to do that I have the option because there are two float valve options to fill the RO/DI container...

[adamgoldberg]

If #4 is pump-pressurized, but #7 isn't ... I guess I don't understand where the pump is.  Where's the pump(s)?

 

Edit: ok, I see the pump.  Lemme think about this some more.

Edited November 6, 2013 by adamgoldberg

[lnevo]

Yeah, 5+6 feed the pump input. The pipe where 4 is located is the pump output

Edited November 6, 2013 by lnevo

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

Still a " future build ", of mine as well. Love the idea, and design.

[lnevo]

Thanks. I highly recommend uniseals vs bulkheads for this application when you're ready of course..