Blog Comments

Agreed set it up now! You'll go through so many things that you'll wanna change 'on your next tank' and then when you move, you'll have a chance to set up the tank the way you want.

Agreed, do it now and worry about the move later. Being in the military I move around quite a bit but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the hobby. I;m definitely not enjoying it as much as Marc but once I retire I will be able to do what he's doing and go crazy but until then, I tear down and rebuild every few years.

I would set it up soon, instead of waiting until March. Enjoy the tank, learn the kinks and overcome the obstacles. That way when you move and have to reset, you'll have experience under your belt and can make minor modifications for the renewed set up.

Or you can go crazy and rip your garage to shreds down to the foundation...

Chbix, I say set up the tank. You will get a lot of enjoyment out of it before you have to move it. And, the tank will be matured so after the move they will be little to none recycle time. Just the pain of the actual move. So, I pain day for a long time of enjoyment starting now. Go for it! ;-).

You said "Future Wife" its not too late, keep the tank ditch the girlfriend. Way easier in the long run.

That sucks!!! Have moved many full tanks in the past and even the small one can be a pain.....

Will you be converting them to high brackish water or even full marine?

Sorry to hear about the jumper. A 55 gal is minimum size for adult GS puffs anyway.

Cheers!

PS: Would love some pictures!!!

Agreed, I have a 55 Acrylic as well and it bows slightly but nothing worry about. Order some Novus to rub out them scratches with, It was invaluable when I got my tank, it sounds like yours in the same condition as mine. The kit is only like 12 bucks.

Hang in there man, The end result is always the goal. Iam going to make my own lighting in my thread, I have about 18 ice cap reseptacles and 10 Ice cap reflectors, I am only using a total for 6 lights, If your intersted follow my thread and any left overs we could work out a deal.

I would say that it's normal. I have a 500 gallon acrylic tank that is 32 inchs tall and it bows out probably 1/2 inch or so. It's been like that since day one and I've had it set up for about 4 years now. I would say that it's okay.

Yes, some deflection is normal. If you'd like to post some pictures, we can say for sure what is going on.

The 12 step program is for quitters.

That is probably fine. Try to keep the output tubing for the good water less than 40' from the RO unit. And if the line freezes, water won't pass through the tubing until it has thawed.

I live in Northern Nevada so it does snow and we get below freezing. The garage is fully insulated although it does get cold because there is obviously no heat going into the garage.

I think im gonna end up splitting off of the wash line using exactly what you have shown there. Just gotta figure out how to pipe it into the garage, may end up drilling a hole through the wall from the wash room into the garage.

Where do you live, chbix? Does your garage encounter extreme heat or extreme cold? The RO/DI system works best in temperate conditions, such as those we keep indoors. If it has to be in the garage, it should be fully insulated to avoid freezing it as it will burst fittings, ruin the membrane, and crack acrylic housings.

I wouldn't mess with the PEX tubing. Instead, you might opt to hook it up over your washing machine using a Y adapter to split the cold water line to the washer and to the RO/DI system.

Growing up at one point in time we had one 120 gallon five 55 gallon tanks, six 29 gallon, and eight 10 gallon tanks in our living room and a room full of stuff we had gotten a hold of in the basement. . . all freshwater btw. Everything got sold off at one point and we ended up having a pair of moluccan cockatoos a pair of umbrella cockatoos, about 50 pairs of lovebirds, 75 pairs of cockatiels and a bunch of other stuff we were basically running an aviary. Throughout all the birds and tanks we had anywhere from 3 to 15 small poodles and at one point 3 rottweilers. I have removed dew claws, docked tails, hand fed baby birds that were 2 days old and tube fed them as well ( instead of letting the bird decide it's eating pace a syringe and catheter is used to place the food directly into the crop). The 1994 explosion of an anhydrous ammonia plant about 6 miles from where I lived pretty much messed up my lings and killed off over half of the birds. . . that was our intervention.

Now I have my 38 gallon tank, a 29 that is not setup and a 55 gallon tank and 55 gallon sump that I can't wait to build, LOL. Some people never learn. (smacks self on forehead)

That pipe is likely PEX. . . http://www.pexinfo.com/ It is very tough stuff, I worked with it in a building with enough water pressure to put water 11 stories up with just city water and still spray 30 feet in the air from a garden hose. I don't think a saddle valves would be a good idea, I don't even think it would fully pierce the line. If there is a regulator you should probably go before it rather than after, you do not want to have reduced pressure. The outlets on normal washing machines are standard garden hose threads.

If you do have to work with the PEX lines home depot has the fittings that can be used or you can get a type of fitting that is called a "SharkBite" that will allow you to cut and rejoin the PEX and do whatever else that you need. Otherwise you will have to buy fittings a pex crimping tool and rings to crimp the lines.

I found a good water line under my water heater in my garage, but it has a pressure regulator before it goes to my washing machine. Anyone know if I should go before or after the regulator to splice in? Also its a blue colored pipe, not metal not PVC but feels like a type of plastic. Can I use one of the saddle type fittings on that?

One more question, does anyone know if the outlets on the washing machine water lines are the same as a regular hose? They look the same thread type maybe just a bit less threads, was gonna hook up my pressure gauge and see what the pressure is coming out at the faucet to help me decide where ti splice in but I cant find it so thought I would ask.

This way I can keep the whole RO DI unit in the garage with bins. I think I may just use a solenoid on a timer and run it maybe an hour or two a day.

The system has to pressurize for the ASOV to turn off the water going into the unit, which shuts off the output. You can't stop the waste line; it has to be the good water line. Since the waste ratio is 4:1, you'd need to really be on top of it to avoid the waste barrels overflowing. Note I said barrels, as in plural. You can plumb them together with uniseals or bulkheads, but it would take four of them to match one equal-sized barrel of pure water.

Water needs to be stored in sealed containers to be clean, and I'd try to use it within 30 days or less. If you plan to use collection barrels for good water, plan on cleaning them with bleach water (10 parts water to 1 part bleach) every three months to keep them pure and to avoid reintroducing TDS into your 0 TDS water.

how do you have it set up on a timer?