Ready to start a new build on my Mixing station!

[KStatefan]

What did they hit you for shipping

Free shipping on mine

 

[Tony Hight]

I know you can drain your tank with this Marine and RV hose but I haven't figured it out, so I use to remove 10 gallons from my tank I have it marked on my tank with suction cups and use the Pythonon that connected to my sink in my garage. As far as the fitting I am using the Banjo Fitting that I got at BRS. 1/2" Female Thread Cam Lever Quick Connect Adapter - A to 1/2" Male Thread Cam Lever Coupling - B. These Banjo Fitting are a must on a mixing station in my opinion. If you happen to know how to take out the water with the same hose i USE TO add the fresh salt water, please let me know b/c hooking up or siphoning out 10 gallons is a real pain in the butt.

http://aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com/search?w=banjo




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I was thinking add one more quick connect for hose where circled below. With your valves in their current position the suction would come from the lower quick connect which you would run to the tank. You'd put another hose on the upper for the waste. Once drained you pull the waste hose and attach the rv to the upper and refill. Only issue I see is first drain you need to get water in the hose so the pump can prime. After that the hose should always have water from the last change.

What do you think?

 

[siggy]

Postman brought me a gift, i just orderd it this week . This guy has them in stock

 

[Big G]

@Big G - Question, how do you remove your salt water from your tank with your mixing station?

In between the two tanks there is a Jabeo pump. The right tank is my RO/DI water and the left tank is where I mix. I have a hose bib connection just above the pump. Works great. One pump does all the work: it pushes the RO water into the mix tank; it mixes the salt and water; and it pumps the water about 50' through a garden hose into my display tank. As a matter of fact, I'm doing a water change right now (salt mixing in the tank). Here's a couple of pics:

 

[FLSharkvictim]

In between the two tanks there is a Jabeo pump. The right tank is my RO/DI water and the left tank is where I mix. I have a hose bib connection just above the pump. Works great. One pump does all the work: it pushes the RO water into the mix tank; it mixes the salt and water; and it pumps the water about 50' through a garden hose into my display tank. As a matter of fact, I'm doing a water change right now (salt mixing in the tank). Here's a couple of pics:View attachment 547055View attachment 547056View attachment 547057

@Big G - HOW DOES THE pump get primed when removing water out of your tank? Also, where does the old salt water go when removing it?

 

[Big G]

@Big G - HOW DOES THE pump get primed when removing water out of your tank? Also, where does the old salt water go when removing it?

I don't use the mixing station to remove water from the DT. I use a small Tiger 120 gph submersible pump with 1/2" x 50' plastic tubing to remove water. Works great.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Right, I am going to run a sperate pump to draw the water out of my tank using this custom gadget I made out of 1/2'' Sch 40 pipe with a Cepex Ball Vale on it.. It exactly removes 10 gallons out of my tank! Then I will have it plumbed so ones the water comes out of my tank it will go from the mag PUMP ULLING IT OUT & hard plumb a pipe from the MAG DRIVE right into my sink in the garage that sits about 3 ft from the mixing station. After that, I will switch over my Marine and RV have connected to my PX40 Pump to fill it up.

 

[Sealion]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5]@Sealion[/SIZE][/FONT] wow, that's a crap load of plumbing! Why so much if you don't mind me asking mate? if you would just put your pump between the two storage containers you could have gotten away with all that extra plumbing. If works out for ya then so be it.. Also, if I were you I would ditch the water hose you have in your mixing station! I have heard many horror stories when using a not food grade drinking water hose's. That's why you see a lot of people using the Marine and Rv Food Grade drinking water hose. Actually, there are many articles of a people using a normal green water house like you have and it killed everything in their tank b/c they spray certain chemicals to make those green water hoses and it's is very toxic to your reef tank. Regular green hoses contain lead from the plasticizers used to make them flexible which is very toxic. Back your Mixing station I think you're using way too much plumbing when you can just use a lot fewer ball valves and make your mixing station look like my old mixing station and get the same effect.

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The green hose I'm using is just to remove the old water. I have food grade hose to transfer the new water in.

 

[Sealion]

After looking at all of the different set ups. It comes down to the fact we have all come to a working solution for each one of us. Yes mine may have a litt more plumbing, but I think I have more room than others. I made sure that everything that goes into the tanks is safe to drink if I was going to do so.

 

[tankaholic]

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[FLSharkvictim]

I'm not understanding the need for the two check valves? I know what the check valves are for but why on a mixing station? If you run your hose any good length, you're going to want to be able to drain the water back into the tanks.
I have a mixing station and I don't think I've ever seen check valves on any mixing stations. The cam levers are awesome, works great on mine. I have a 40 ft hose and a three ft hose, the cam levers makes switching between the two hoses a breeze.

@Mike810 - I am only going to be using just 1 Check at a time. When I go to unassemble the one that's connected I will have an extra one for an immediate drop in replacement, while the other one is soaking in 2 part for cleaning. The real main purpose is to prevent accidental contamination to my RODI Barrel. As you can see I have a Cepex Ball Valve which is the main prevention, but right after it, I wanted to add a True Union check valve for redundancy, YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH. Does that make better sense?
Almost ready to complete all of the dry fittings. I got my Uniseals 3/4'' and I will be installing two on each side at the top of each barrel along with a 2 Cepex Ball valves. Just waiting on my 32mm drill bit to install my Uniseals and then it time to add my PANWORLD PUMP and then let the gluing began.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Following

 

[Big G]

Following

Looking good.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

UPDATE:
Ok, pretty much everything has been dry fitted except for the pipe that will go through my 3/4'' Uniseal. I am just waiting on the 32mm drill bit, then it will be time to go over everything one more time and then comes the fun stuff primer and glue.

 

[Joek866]

Does anyone have a schematic for these type of setups, I'd like to build and also understand the flow?

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Just bought a Neptune DOS system which will be used as a fully Automated water changes! Water changes with the DOS are super easy. All you do is run your DOS from your mixing station Then, with the Apex Fusion wizard just tell it an amount of water you want to change over what length of time and the hours of the day you want it to happen and it figures it all out for you. It will perform an automatic, continuous water change for you. It gets better. If you have our dual optical water sensing accessory Apex Fusion will send you an email or text message letting you know it is time to add more water to your RODI container. Less time pumping, siphoning, and sloshing water and more time enjoying a great aquarium.

 

[MaddyP]

Great find on the containers! I've just ordered two myself. I'll be doing something similar, running a DOS as well, but with automated ball valves controlled by my Apex. Water transfer from one tank to another will be fully automated, I'll only have to add salt once a month.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Great find on the containers! I've just ordered two myself. I'll be doing something similar, running a DOS as well, but with automated ball valves controlled by my Apex. Water transfer from one tank to another will be fully automated, I'll only have to add salt once a month.

@MaddyP - Care to share a pix of the automated ball valves that you're going to go with?

 

[MaddyP]

@MaddyP - Care to share a pix of the automated ball valves that you're going to go with?

Sure! Below is the 3-way I'm planning to use as well as a video of a 2-way I wired up for a demo. I decided to go with a 3-way because it would only require one valve where if I were to use 2-ways, it would require two which complicates the programming somewhat.

Notice the white lines atop the 3-way, these depict flow direction and will rotate 90deg counter clockwise when activated.

 

[Sealion]

Now that's something I don't think my finance department will okay. I do like the idea of automatic valves