Cali Kid Corals

What does your mixing station look like?

MarcosDelgado0

MarcosDelgado0

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Currently I just use a 32 Gallon Brute with a float valve to fill it up with RODI. The day before a water change, I add salt and throw a heater and powerhead in there. I use Sicce ultra zero pump to drain my tank, then use the same pump to move water from the brute to the tank. I’ve seen some people keep two brutes, one for RODI and one for Mixed Saltwater. What is the benefit of doing this? Usually I just keep two 5 Gallon Jugs of RODI on hand to use for my dart frogs and ATO reservoirs.
 
I am doing the same, just a smaller scale -10g brute. Some folks use separate container likely because it can take a while to fill up RODI . You can keep RODI almost indefinitely but most folks don’t keep new saltwater for very long.

In my case I have a 600gph RODI. It will fill up my 10g brute in minutes. Add salt, let it mix for a few hours and I’m all set.
 
newfly said:
I am doing the same, just a smaller scale -10g brute. Some folks use separate container likely because it can take a while to fill up RODI . You can keep RODI almost indefinitely but most folks don’t keep new saltwater for very long.

In my case I have a 600gph RODI. It will fill up my 10g brute in minutes. Add salt, let it mix for a few hours and I’m all set.
Click to expand...
Yeah I just can’t think what I would need to keep so much RODI on hand for. I ordered a 20 Gallon Brute online already but the more I think about it I’m not sure I need it lol. My plan was to keep the 32Gal Brute filled with RODI and move RODI to the 20Gal Brute to mix saltwater in since I only do 15Gal water changes at a time. The only pro I can see is I have RODI on hand and don’t have to wait but I have a 200GPD RODI so it doesn’t take too long to fill up and I have a float valve with an auto shutoff so I usually just set it and forget it.
 
IMG_20200112_125215836.jpg

I have a T off the cold water line into the water heater that goes up and over thru a cable management system which then turns into the red line with a ball valve to turn on / off the system. The waste water goes out thru the black line into my water heater overflow tubing to the side of the house where we have a 40G brute to capture and use it for watering the yard / plants.
The blue line carries the RODI up to my 22g brute with a float valve. The middle 22 g brute is used as my mixing container and the bottom one is for extra water storage.
 
Klems said:
View attachment 52974
I have a T off the cold water line into the water heater that goes up and over thru a cable management system which then turns into the red line with a ball valve to turn on / off the system. The waste water goes out thru the black line into my water heater overflow tubing to the side of the house where we have a 40G brute to capture and use it for watering the yard / plants.
The blue line carries the RODI up to my 22g brute with a float valve. The middle 22 g brute is used as my mixing container and the bottom one is for extra water storage.
Click to expand...
This is the dream. One day lol
 
I had a brute. I recently switched to 20gallon aquariums from Petco. I think we're all overthinking this, and cheap Petco aquariums are 100% the way to go. They're better then the plastic containers in almost every single way.

  • Clear: you can see if the salt dissolved yet, the water height, if salt is still sitting on the bottom, if your pump and heaters are working
  • Glass: not going to leach anything. The right plastics won't either, including in theory the brutes, but glass 100% won't
  • You can use standard aquarium stuff on it. I stuck a cheap stick on thermometer on there and can easily see if the water has hit the target temp. I put a cheap stick on salinity float gauge on there so I can double check if I added salt yet or not (I once almost did a water change with fresh, because I got distracted).
  • Pretty easy to drill: 10 gallons and less are hard to drill, 20 gallon+ are relatively easy
  • Cheap: go to FB marketplace, or petco sales, and get them way cheaper than a brute or Rubbermaid
  • Reusable: ever in a pinch need a tank? You've got one
They make great RO and saltwater reservoirs
 
richiev said:
I had a brute. I recently switched to 20gallon aquariums from Petco. I think we're all overthinking this, and cheap Petco aquariums are 100% the way to go. They're better then the plastic containers in almost every single way.

  • Clear: you can see if the salt dissolved yet, the water height, if salt is still sitting on the bottom, if your pump and heaters are working
  • Glass: not going to leach anything. The right plastics won't either, including in theory the brutes, but glass 100% won't
  • You can use standard aquarium stuff on it. I stuck a cheap stick on thermometer on there and can easily see if the water has hit the target temp. I put a cheap stick on salinity float gauge on there so I can double check if I added salt yet or not (I once almost did a water change with fresh, because I got distracted).
  • Pretty easy to drill: 10 gallons and less are hard to drill, 20 gallon+ are relatively easy
  • Cheap: go to FB marketplace, or petco sales, and get them way cheaper than a brute or Rubbermaid
  • Reusable: ever in a pinch need a tank? You've got one
They make great RO and saltwater reservoirs
Click to expand...
Yeah I think I didn’t think it through lol. I saw the cool setups and wanted to do something similar. But thinking about it, I only have a 45Gal tank so it doesn’t make too much sense to move water from one brute to another to then move it to my tank. I think the 10Gal of RODI I keep on hand in the jugs is ok. Now I have to figure out how to return the brute and dolly lol. Do you ever store saltwater btw? Or just mix what you need
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
Yeah I think I didn’t think it through lol. I saw the cool setups and wanted to do something similar. But thinking about it, I only have a 45Gal tank so it doesn’t make too much sense to move water from one brute to another to then move it to my tank. I think the 10Gal of RODI I keep on hand in the jugs is ok. Now I have to figure out how to return the brute and dolly lol. Do you ever store saltwater btw? Or just mix what you need
Click to expand...
I do store it. This doesn't make sense, but I am having a much more stable saltwater mix in my aquariums versus my brute. Somehow in my brute my alk would constantly drop. It'd go from 8+ down to 7 or below in a week or so. My alk is rock stable in these aquariums.

I can't explain why. It likely was something else that happened, but I didn't change anything else at the time. It was even the same salt bucket.

Generally though, I think it's fine to store saltwater, but it's valuable to test it before you use it either way. My process:

1. Fill with RO
2. Turn on pump
3. Add salt, making sure I don't dump it all at once and don't over add salt
4. Use a piece of PVC to stir any settled salt
5. Do a very quick salinity test, trying to make sure I'm in the ballpark, knowing the numbers will move as it mixes
6. Add more salt or RO depending on 5, repeat
7. Wait awhile, turn on heater, retest salinity, repeat as needed
8. After it's fully mixed, do an alk test. Add alk if needed, and if it's really high I add a bit of acid to neutralize some
9. If I had to do stuff in 8, and numbers were way off, alk test again

10. Use it
 
richiev said:
I had a brute. I recently switched to 20gallon aquariums from Petco. I think we're all overthinking this, and cheap Petco aquariums are 100% the way to go. They're better then the plastic containers in almost every single way.

  • Clear: you can see if the salt dissolved yet, the water height, if salt is still sitting on the bottom, if your pump and heaters are working
  • Glass: not going to leach anything. The right plastics won't either, including in theory the brutes, but glass 100% won't
  • You can use standard aquarium stuff on it. I stuck a cheap stick on thermometer on there and can easily see if the water has hit the target temp. I put a cheap stick on salinity float gauge on there so I can double check if I added salt yet or not (I once almost did a water change with fresh, because I got distracted).
  • Pretty easy to drill: 10 gallons and less are hard to drill, 20 gallon+ are relatively easy
  • Cheap: go to FB marketplace, or petco sales, and get them way cheaper than a brute or Rubbermaid
  • Reusable: ever in a pinch need a tank? You've got one
They make great RO and saltwater reservoirs
Click to expand...
Interesting. How do you manage evaporation with these that contain saltwater?
 
Last edited:
I just setup another a new salt mixing container yesterday. Previous iterations of my salt reservoir were heavy duty plastic storage tubs. They just weren't working for me so I decided to upgrade!

It's a 55 gal barrel that I cut the top off. Flip the lid over and it sits perfectly on the rim to act as a seal. This is positioned in my garage next to my washer/dryer setup.

My RODI is stored in the same type of barrel on the other side of the washer/dryer. I personally need to have a separate RODI reservoir that will never be used for anything to ensure I have pristine water for my freshwater shrimp. Generally speaking, I think it's best to have the RODI clean from any possible contaminants, including salt. That way I know I'm starting with clean source water, every time.

That isn't necessary for everyone's needs. But I think it's important to remember that water storage in general, is an important aspect of our daily living we should all consider. I prefer to have RODI full and ready for personal use if there was ever an emergency.

My plan is to always have salt water mixed and ready. Turn on the heater the night before water changes and done. Then refill, mix, and store. I'm sure I'll be modifying that plan as I progress and gain more experience.
 

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ReyDeFarts said:
I just setup another a new salt mixing container yesterday. Previous iterations of my salt reservoir were heavy duty plastic storage tubs. They just weren't working for me so I decided to upgrade!

It's a 55 gal barrel that I cut the top off. Flip the lid over and it sits perfectly on the rim to act as a seal. This is positioned in my garage next to my washer/dryer setup.

My RODI is stored in the same type of barrel on the other side of the washer/dryer. I personally need to have a separate RODI reservoir that will never be used for anything to ensure I have pristine water for my freshwater shrimp. Generally speaking, I think it's best to have the RODI clean from any possible contaminants, including salt. That way I know I'm starting with clean source water, every time.

That isn't necessary for everyone's needs. But I think it's important to remember that water storage in general, is an important aspect of our daily living we should all consider. I prefer to have RODI full and ready for personal use if there was ever an emergency.

My plan is to always have salt water mixed and ready. Turn on the heater the night before water changes and done. Then refill, mix, and store. I'm sure I'll be modifying that plan as I progress and gain more experience.
Click to expand...
Nice setup! Where did you get that part you have connected to the tubing?
 
ReyDeFarts said:
I just setup another a new salt mixing container yesterday. Previous iterations of my salt reservoir were heavy duty plastic storage tubs. They just weren't working for me so I decided to upgrade!

It's a 55 gal barrel that I cut the top off. Flip the lid over and it sits perfectly on the rim to act as a seal. This is positioned in my garage next to my washer/dryer setup.

My RODI is stored in the same type of barrel on the other side of the washer/dryer. I personally need to have a separate RODI reservoir that will never be used for anything to ensure I have pristine water for my freshwater shrimp. Generally speaking, I think it's best to have the RODI clean from any possible contaminants, including salt. That way I know I'm starting with clean source water, every time.

That isn't necessary for everyone's needs. But I think it's important to remember that water storage in general, is an important aspect of our daily living we should all consider. I prefer to have RODI full and ready for personal use if there was ever an emergency.

My plan is to always have salt water mixed and ready. Turn on the heater the night before water changes and done. Then refill, mix, and store. I'm sure I'll be modifying that plan as I progress and gain more experience.
Click to expand...
These containers are made of food-grade plastic, Andy?
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
Nice setup! Where did you get that part you have connected to the tubing?
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the black fitting connected to the PVC? If that's the one you're referring to, it's a 1/2" MPT to a 5
/8" ID tubing adapter. I used one from my various pump purchases over the years. Should be able to easily find it at a good plumbing supply shop.

Alexander1312 said:
These containers are made of food-grade plastic, Andy?
Click to expand...

These are NSF60 standard barrels in the water treatment industry. 100% safe. These had 12.5% sodium hypochlorite. Doesn't require too much rinsing compared to using the same barrels commonly found in the food industry for things like soy sauce, pickles, etc. They are able to withstand potent acids without deterioration.

richiev said:
If you buy them at Petco they come with the glass lid.
Click to expand...
Since when did PetCo include lids on their tanks? When they have their 50% off sale, the lids are are always more expensive than the tanks for the 10 & 20 gal anyways. I've never seen them come with lids.
 
Here's mine, practically identical to @Srt4eric ! I put some extra valves at the bottom for taking out gravity-fed quantities of water which has been pretty handy for random water needs. The main hose reaches my tank in the house which has made water changes so much easier!

IMG_8725.jpg
 
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