Water change station
- Thread starter Balz3352
- Start date
Sorry my pics are sideways. Not sure why my phone does this.
I have some ideas for you.
My saltwater changes are everyother Sunday. The mixing pump mixes the salt throughout the week in a continuous loop via ball valves so that I always have some ready to go in case of an emergency and I always have an additional 100 gallons on stand by for a total of just under 20% of the systems total water volume.
I ran a 3' piece of pvc with a ton of wholes fir a spray bar affect that mixes all of the salt in about 30 minutes.
Everything below is in less then 10 minutes with no buckets at all.
I trigger a toggle switch that ramps up all of my system's mp40s to 100% (via the apex) in every tank on a random mode for 5 minutes to stir up any detritus and shuts off the heaters (the heaters are in the sump that I am depleting of water and I have one in the sw mix tank).
-During the 5 minutes I check the system and sw mix tank salinity and temperatures manually to ensure that the apex is reading all four probes correctly.
-I open a ball valve from the main return pump that depletes 95 gallons from the system in 73 sec. and then I close it.
-I open a ball valve from the sw mix tank that fills the sump with 95 gallons via the same sw mixing pump and then I close it .
- I open up a ball valve and move the fresh water into the sw mix tank, add the salt and turn the circulation ball valve back into the on position.
I have another 55 gallon plastic barrel that the apex fills automatically in the middle of the week for top off.
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Balz3352;635357 said:
JJ 2 questions.
1. How does the 3 foot spray bar look. Is it running the diameter of the tank across the bottom or down?
Full shot
I placed a flex tube nozzle at the end to ensure that most of the flow was at the bottom. I didn't want salt to sit at the bottom of the tank.
I drilled quite a few wholes in different directions (dont drill an upwards whole at the top of the spray bar).
2. How do you have apex filling the barrel?
1. How does the 3 foot spray bar look. Is it running the diameter of the tank across the bottom or down?
Full shot
I placed a flex tube nozzle at the end to ensure that most of the flow was at the bottom. I didn't want salt to sit at the bottom of the tank.
I drilled quite a few wholes in different directions (dont drill an upwards whole at the top of the spray bar).
2. How do you have apex filling the barrel?
You can only turn on an apex switch for 24 hours at a time if you want it to be once a week so I used the auto shut off switch on the rodi and the one way restrictor from brs.com. After one of the reserve tanks is full, the float valves create a pressured shut off of the rodi. After the 24 hour period is over, the apex closes the solenoid which maintains the back pressure.
No problem bro. I wouldn't change anything on this system unless I can figure out how to get the apex to pour the correct amount of salt (which I am working on now). Once I figure that out, the apex will do my water changes for me.
Top off for example:
-Apex turns the solenoid open.
-Rodi relieves pressure and starts filling up resevoir.
-resevoir is full and applies upwards pressure on float valve inside of resevoir.
-because of the auto shut off kit, the rodi shuts off.
-after 24 hours of starting, the apex closes the solenoid.
-resevoir can now be emptied from gravity feeding the sump throughout the week.
-rodi will not fill up the resevoir throughout the week because the solenoid is in the off position and maintains the pressure.
Without the solenoid, the rodi will constantly fill up the resevoir everytime it fills up the sump (bouncing) and crushing your di resin.[/QUOTE]
Top off for example:
-Apex turns the solenoid open.
-Rodi relieves pressure and starts filling up resevoir.
-resevoir is full and applies upwards pressure on float valve inside of resevoir.
-because of the auto shut off kit, the rodi shuts off.
-after 24 hours of starting, the apex closes the solenoid.
-resevoir can now be emptied from gravity feeding the sump throughout the week.
-rodi will not fill up the resevoir throughout the week because the solenoid is in the off position and maintains the pressure.
Without the solenoid, the rodi will constantly fill up the resevoir everytime it fills up the sump (bouncing) and crushing your di resin.[/QUOTE]
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The cheap-man's elbow grease version. But perhaps one day I'll have something cool like what's been shared in this thread.
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Mine is in disarray currently as I work toward the new build. But mine is going to be a 250g cube. It will be positioned so that the overflow in the tank in directly over the side of my sump. The old return line and drain holes in the overflow will be used for a spigot and a basic closed loop for circulation. A pump in the sump will then make for some easy no bucket water changes.
Although one feature I want to add to it but not sure how yet, is I want to make the float valve adjustable. In other words, When making a new batch of water, I can slide it up and down to control how much water i make. So that if I dont want to make 200g of water I can just slide it down to 50g and just make what I need.
Most likely I will make 200g each time as that will make it easy to mix salt, but I want to add the option to be able to choose how much.
Although one feature I want to add to it but not sure how yet, is I want to make the float valve adjustable. In other words, When making a new batch of water, I can slide it up and down to control how much water i make. So that if I dont want to make 200g of water I can just slide it down to 50g and just make what I need.
Most likely I will make 200g each time as that will make it easy to mix salt, but I want to add the option to be able to choose how much.
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