44 gallon brute trashcan saltwater mixing

[markyrich]

If you are just going to make salt in it, any powerhead will work.

I use the powerhead shown down below to keep it mixed. I also have a heater and a small filter to minimize hair etc that gets in the Brute. I use a rechargeable pump to get the water to my display tank because it's about 12 feet up

Acquaer Battery Powered Water Pump 1/6HP 18V Cordless Submersible Utility Water Pump with 3/4"Garden Hose Adapter Ebay has it for about $70 open box. It's about $129 on Amazon. Home Depot has it for right at $100.​

I have been using it for about 3 months with no problems.
Also with the brute there are some videos on youtube to show best how to use a brute including; drilling a hole for your wires (pump etc.) I have mine connected to my R.O. system) You can find plenty of videos showing you how to set this up using a float system to fill and shut off automatically. (It's fairly cheap) and saves a lot of time having to pour the water from the R.O.

 

[Fred A.]

Hello I have a 44gallon brute trashcan that holds approximately 40 gallons, I wanna use it to mix saltwater, what pump do people usually use for this set up? Thanks in advance, I'm new to the hobby and also new to reef2reef

I too use the 45 gallon brute. It's simple to mix the salt, I use a long piece of 1" pvc pipe from home depot to stir/mix the salt in the water. Then, as others have said, any powerhead suctioned near the top of the bin will provide surface agitation until you're ready to do the water change. I use a Rio submersible pump (but any submersible should work if its powerful enough) attached to a garden hose to pump the old water out of my aquarium (save the old water in case you need some of it) and the same pump to pump the new water from the brute back to the aquarium. Pretty easy.

 

[ReefAtlas]

Hello I have a 44gallon brute trashcan that holds approximately 40 gallons, I wanna use it to mix saltwater, what pump do people usually use for this set up? Thanks in advance, I'm new to the hobby and also new to reef2reef

I use both the 44 and 55 gallon brutes. I use a 5' piece of 3/4" CPVC pipe as a stir stick to get most of the mixing done in less than a minute or two. Fill the brute to the line that I set thru trial and error with RO, then add full bag of instant ocean and stir to get a good tornado going. I usually do this a couple days before water change and let it sit until the morning of water changes. I then add a heater and a small 300GPH return pump to the bottom to heat and finalize the mixing. I have some left over NUVO Micro30 pumps I use for this. The Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 would be a good size option for this too. Let the pump settle to the bottom, plug it in, and they basically push against the bottom ridge in the can and get a good flow going keeping the bottom of the brute swirled clean.

There are two different style wheels that I know of for the cans. I really like the dolly style made for 55 gallon brutes. It works for both 44 and 55 and is rated for full weight of 55 gallons of water unlike the wheels that twist on the bottom. Hope this helps. These options have worked very well for me for many years.

 

[Joe.D]

I use a Sicce Syncra pump and just leave it on the bottom pointed straight up. I have found that it puts off enough heat that a heater isn't needed. It runs 24X7 since I do AWCs all week long.

I too use a Sicce Syncra. I leave it in the Brute and use it to mix and then to pump the saltwater into my tank. To remove water from the tank, I siphon 2 - 5 gallon buckets out and dump in toilet. I used the same 5 gallon buckets filed twice to mark the inside of my Brute. This way I know I’m 10 gallons out and 10 gallons in.

I tried Python initially and have 2 problems with it from my use. The amount of water out was more of an estimate - even with a mark on the side of my tank. Plus, you’re wasting water from your sink to pump it out. I figure I waste enough water making RODI (though I do collect some to water plants around the house). So, to siphon 10 gallons and carry to the toilet isn’t that big of a deal. If I could run a line easily to my tank, I’d do automatic water changes, but it wouldn’t be a cost effective setup with where my tank is and where I’d have to get water to/from.

I actually use 2 Brutes, one for saltwater and one for RODI. Each has its own pump. I’ll fill up the RODI with 40 gallons as it gets used with water changes and ATO top offs. I only mix up the saltwater as I need it - 10 gallons per week. Would rather not have that sitting there as long though I’ve seen where you can keep it for a few weeks.

 

[Foomanj]

Hello I have a 44gallon brute trashcan that holds approximately 40 gallons, I wanna use it to mix saltwater, what pump do people usually use for this set up? Thanks in advance, I'm new to the hobby and also new to reef2reef

Just get a cheap submersible water pump that you can attach a hose to. Use it without the hose to circulate the water, then attach the hose to it to fill the tank back up. Then use it to drain the wastewater to the sink. Why by two different pumps?

https://a.co/d/jhfexTj