Why Have a FW Barrel in a Mixing Station?

[acroholic]

Guys,
One thing that has always made me scratch my head is why most folk's mixing stations have two containers? Of course you need one for fresh salt water, but why the one for RODI?

Does the RODI container serve as the ATO reservoir? I have a 15-20 gallon ATO reservoir on each of my reef systems for evaporation, but have never understood the need for an RODI container at a mixing station?

Or is the RODI container a backup to make more fresh salt water if needed?

Or is the second one salt water also and not RODI?

I have a single 160 gallon container that I fill with RODI, then mix up to 1.026 SG for my 465 gallon system. Then I just use that until it is empty and do it again. I have never had the need for a second RODI container.

Same thing on my 100 gallon reef, except I use a 32 gallon Brute and an internal pump instead of the external Pan World on the other. But both of my mixing stations are single container.

If I ever need a gallon or two of fresh RODI, I just pull from one of the two ATO reservoirs I have.

I have never had a need for a large quantity of RODI just sitting in a container other than my ATO reservoirs.

Just trying to understand why anyone keeps a large volume of RODI on hand like that?

Here is my single 160 gallon container SW mixing station:

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[frag freak]

Prolly because most rodi units are slow and if they need water at any given time its ready... for whatever you might need it for.

???

 

[rjrgroup]

I have always wondered the same thing. I have a small ATO and a much larger salt mixing container.

 

[bobz]

how do you supply the RO to your ATO reservoir? Or are you using multiple RO/DI units? In my case, as I do keep a second Brute for RO, it's just easier to keep my RO unit plumbed to the brute then pump water over to the ATO reservoir for the top off for the 210 system. Other wise I would need to T off of the RO line. Just more convenient for me...
bob

 

[hnguyen]

I'm sitting up my mixing station with two 50 gallon (give or take) brutes. Their both going to be fresh salt water premixed and ready to go at a minutes notice. I worry more about having new salt water on hand then RODI water. I'd like to wait at least a day before using newly mixed salt water to prevent it from clouding up my tank. I can filter a gallon of RODI water per minute so that's not a problem for me at all, but salt is a different story.

 

[newbie20]

Hnguyen;941566 wrote: I'm sitting up my mixing station with two 50 gallon (give or take) brutes. Their both going to be fresh salt water premixed and ready to go at a minutes notice. I worry more about having new salt water on hand then RODI water. I'd like to wait at least a day before using newly mixed salt water to prevent it from clouding up my tank. I can filter a gallon of RODI water per minute so that's not a problem for me at all, but salt is a different story.

One gallon of RODI per minute?! How do you do that? I thought I was doing good with a 100 gallon per day unit, but that's nothing compared to your 86,400 gallon per day production. What's your secret?

 

[acroholic]

bobz;941564 wrote: how do you supply the RO to your ATO reservoir? Or are you using multiple RO/DI units? In my case, as I do keep a second Brute for RO, it's just easier to keep my RO unit plumbed to the brute then pump water over to the ATO reservoir for the top off for the 210 system. Other wise I would need to T off of the RO line. Just more convenient for me...
bob

I have a single 150 gpd RODI, BRS water saver type with two 75 gpd membranes. The output from the DI goes to a tee, then each of the two outputs from the tee has a tee, for four total outputs (1 to 465 gallon reef ATO, 1 to 465 reef WC container, 1 to 100 gallon reef ATO, 1 to 100 reef WC container). Each of the 4 lines has an inline valve. So if I want to put RODI in the 465 ref ATO, I open that line and close the other three, or any other combination.

I feed my RODI with an irrigation timer. I don't trust float valves personally. So I make volumes of RODI based on time the sprinkler valve is open.

 

[rjrgroup]

Newbie20;941575 wrote: One gallon of RODI per minute?! How do you do that? I thought I was doing good with a 100 gallon per day unit, but that's nothing compared to your 86,400 gallon per day production. What's your secret?

That would 1,440 gpd.

 

[acroholic]

Newbie20;941575 wrote: One gallon of RODI per minute?! How do you do that? I thought I was doing good with a 100 gallon per day unit, but that's nothing compared to your 86,400 gallon per day production. What's your secret?

Wondering the same here. What type unit do you have. The only one I am familiar with that has that kind of volume capacity, other than an industrial unit, is a General Electric Merlin RO system.

 

[hnguyen]

Acroholic;941579 wrote: Wondering the same here. What type unit do you have. The only one I am familiar with that has that kind of volume capacity, other than an industrial unit, is a General Electric Merlin RO system.

That's the one I have Dave, You asked me about it on a post awhile back. It's just over 800 gallon per day to be exact. You can find a picture of it on my build thread, it produces a strong stream on the product water line. I filled my 90 gallon with 40 breeder sump in about 3 hours.

 

[newbie20]

rjrgroup;941578 wrote: That would 1,440 gpd.

Sorry....did it per second. Not quite as dramatic, but still very impressive.

 

[acroholic]

Hnguyen;941566 wrote: I'm sitting up my mixing station with two 50 gallon (give or take) brutes. Their both going to be fresh salt water premixed and ready to go at a minutes notice. I worry more about having new salt water on hand then RODI water. I'd like to wait at least a day before using newly mixed salt water to prevent it from clouding up my tank. I can filter a gallon of RODI water per minute so that's not a problem for me at all, but salt is a different story.

I can see two brute SW containers in a setup, as sometimes it is easier to have them side by side instead of having one large container that is really tall. I had space in the basement for one large one, but even on the floor it comes up to just under my chin.

edit: it is also a real PIA to pull apart for cleaning, just from the sheer size of it.

 

[hnguyen]

Acroholic;941582 wrote: I can see two brute SW containers in a setup, as sometimes it is easier to have them side by side instead of having one large container that is really tall. I had space in the basement for one large one, but even on the floor it comes up to just under my chin.

I really wanted to do one container like you did Dave but I had the Brutes on hand and I wasn't planning on using it for anything else so I figured why waste them when I can put them to good use.

 

[acroholic]

Hnguyen;941580 wrote: That's the one I have Dave, You asked me about it on a post awhile back. It's just over 800 gallon per day to be exact. You can find a picture of it on my build thread, it produces a strong stream on the product water line. I filled my 90 gallon with 40 breeder sump in about 3 hours.

Forgive my poor memory. Don't you need a higher volume of DI media with one of those units than you would vs say, a standard 75 GPD BRS type unit?

 

[acroholic]

Hnguyen;941583 wrote: I really wanted to do one container like you did Dave but I had the Brutes on hand and I wasn't planning on using it for anything else so I figured why waste them when I can put them to good use.

Main reason I have the single one is that James77, if you remember him, was selling his 600 gallon reef tank system and I bought this container from him. Otherwise, I would probably have a two SW container setup like you do.

 

[hnguyen]

Acroholic;941584 wrote: Forgive my poor memory. Don't you need a higher volume of DI media with one of those units than you would vs say, a standard 75 GPD BRS type unit?

Yes I do, I also needed a DI canister that can handle 1+ gallons per minute as to not bogg down my RO unit. Even my booster pump is three times bigger then your normal pump. It's made by the same compnay and looks exactly the same, just much bigger with larger fittings. My water-in line iss 5/8" and product water line is 3/8". Without the booster pump, I'm pushing 42 psi and get a nice flow out of my product line. With the booster pump on I get a straight stream out of the product line. It also runs off of two HUGE RO membrane that cost about about $130 a piece. Worth every penny IMO if I can make water on the go like that. I let my friend borrow it a few months back to fill his 210 display with 60 gallon sump and he filled it in about 7 hours.

 

[oz]

2 large containers gives you the flexibility to do much larger water changes (double) on a single system if needed but only when needed. You don't have to keep both containers full 24x7 but just allows for more flexibility when you need it (and water ready for emergencies too I guess). Also helps if you need to drain a large sump or replace a tank in a system (water storage).

With constant WCs via perstaltic pump, it's not as necessary for Dave.

 

[hnguyen]

As OZ stated, I went with two because I want lots of salt water ready for anything. I've come across two different times where I needed about 30 gallons of salt water and didn't have enough on hand. I have no problem filtering the ro water, its waiting for the salt to dissolve and clear up before I can use it. Now with these two, I can easily keep 50-100 gallons of premixed salt on hand. That should be enough for any emergency.


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[rjrgroup]

I should state that I have a 40 gallon breeder with a 55 gallon mixing tank. Worse case scenario, I can do a 100% WC and still have enough to spill a little...lol

 

[dawgface]

I keep salt and water separate but full at all times. This keeps me proactive and limit ever having to wait for the drip from my RO/DI unit. Truly it is a redundancy in the event that I ever need to remove something harmful and need to do a series of massive WC. Hopefully I'll never use it and it is just an extra precaution.