melev

sweet, got you a bottle straight out the distillery. be sure to post pics of the new storage tank as well

I will. For now, it is on the side of the house out of the way until the construction is done.

Hmmm. . . I don't see a tax sticker on that bottle, LOL. BTW did you get a good deal on vodka for dosing in your tank as well? Very cool though, that tank should do real nice for your water changes. But it's gonna take a while to get enough fresh water generated to even start making saltwater.

Have you thought about making a kind of closed loop for the tank to mix/aerate the water in the tank and then open a valve and be able to pump directly to your sump? I imagine that it would be much more effective than a powerhead in that size of a tank. Just drill a hole near the top and put a uniseal in. Maybe put a 90 inside with a 6" piece of pvc off from it to give the tank a "swirl" effect to help mix the water.

Yeah, it wasn't a purchased bottle. He let me have it to sample it, but I know I can purchase it at any local liquor store now, retailing at $20. I've got it in the freezer to get it nice and cold, and need to pick up some limes mañana. It was weird watching him fill it up from a tiny tap on the side of the giant upright poly container, then screw on the cap and hand it to me.

Yes, the tank will be recirculating to mix it up well. I don't know if I'll add an airstone or not, but could. I don't really want to skim it, after all. I may use my back up Dart pump as the salt mixing pump, which would double as a way to pump water back into the sump after a water change.

Score 1 for a nice bottle of Vodka. Have to keep it around for everyone when they get done moving your new monster tank in. . . they will probably need it and a keg of beer too, lol.

I would figure that an airstone shouldn't be necessary, You will probably run that pump for at least an hour just to mix well and you can run it again for 20 or 30 mins before doing a water change. Maybe even put a venturi of some sort into the recirculation line so add some fresh air into the tank so that when you mix/aerate the tank. Are you going to attempt to keep the tank warm so you can just do changes or do you plan to try and preheat the water in some way only before doing a change? I doubt that will be an issue durring the summer but when it is colder there will probably be a pretty good difference in water temp.

One of the reasons for the vat being in the fishroom is so the water is close in temperature. Hopefully it'll never get too hot, but it may cool off too much and need some heaters. If it was in the garage, the vat would need a chiller to be usable.

To keep the water viable, it'll have to maintain circulation. I probably could definitely use a smaller pump, like the Sequence Snapper for example. Or drop in a Tunze or two, if the cord was long enough.

Nice! Now you need to buy a tank from the Crown Royal plant. :-)

Yeah, very nice "get" there Marc, and a great size for holding SW. Is it rated for liquid density? I would also install a 200g purified water tank. I have one that I never installed!

Awesome deal!

So, is that drinking Vodka, or dosing Vodka? Or have you yet to determine that.

Updating blog entry above with new image.

Can the top be removed so we can get a "mermaid" photo?

No way one would fit.

Marc, i know you remember the St. Jude's Reef tank build with Spazz? In post# 49, it shows a Salt Mixing station. Its a Acrylic Box that's attached to the recirculate pump for the Salt Water holding tank.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...7&pp=25&page=2

You will need one of these to prevent you from Climbing up a latter to make salt water. (otherwise you will just procrastinate about climbing to dump salt to make water.....)

Have you though about doing something like this to Aid in your ease? you would only need some excess Acrylic (you might have some) and some extra plumbing and Valves.

What do you think? maybe??

I remember that, actually. How it works has me a little confused though. Think we can figure it out?

the output goes to the top of your tank. (storage)
the input has a Tee. with a valve on both sides. one comes straight from the bottom of the mixing tank. the other comes from the bottom of the Storage tank
there is a Tee on the Storage tank with a valve to regulate the flow into the salt mixing tank.

you open the exhaust valve to the pump.
Close the intake valve to the Mixing tank
Open the intake valve to the pump and bottom of the storage tank.
turn pump on. (this just creates a closed loop.)

now, open the valve to goes from the storage tank to the Mixing tank. (crack it open.)
now, open the valve to the intake of the mixing pump. (valve connecting the pump to the salt mixing tank)
if you have the water entering the mixing tank equal to the water getting sucked to the pump, the open the salt and pour!

(i would do the regulating of the flow with the pump intake valve connected to the holding tank) this will allow more suction going to the salt mixing tank and vice versa)

let it mix and make sure there is no salt in the mixing tank, and close the two valves (the water going to the mixing tank, and then the intake going to the pump from the mixing tank. )
(if you put a 90 on the suction side, then there will be very little water left in the mixing tank. (less to drain or let get stagnate unless you put a drain valve or bulkhead, but then your wasting a few gallons))

let the pump run for a little while with the intake and exhaust just running on the holding tank and your done!

i hope i didn't complicate that too much for you.

also, does your holding tank smell like new plastic, or Fresh "De Los Vodka" !!!! (Yum!!)

Looks like a pretty complicated way to mix the salt in. . .

A kinda low tech solution may be to just use a 5 gallon bucket and a small in sump pump and a piece of line routed into the tank. Fill the bucket about 3/4 with water and pour a bunch of salt in. Turn the pump on and drain the bucket. As long as you know how much you are wanting to mix up you should be able to do get it really close to the proper levels. Come out of the bottom of the tank into a "T" before the pump and put a valve so that you can add water to your bucket to test salinity levels and so that you are not just adding more water to the mix every time. I guess if you wanted to build an acrylic tank that is tall with an open top to sit beside the main saltwater storage tank you could use that instead of a bucket but still the same principal.

If you wanted to use your mixing pump you would need to install a couple valves to control the flow of water between tanks which is probably what they did in the above pic but may be easier to keep it simple

your right, it seems complicated, but its really not that bad.
if you have a 3rd pump, you can Tee the output to mix the salt in the mixing tank, and the other output goes to the holding tnak. and have a tee with valve from the bottom of the holding tank that can dump in the mixing tank. but this is a 3rd pump, and you would have to pour slowly because it is a smaller pump. (unless you go with a bigger pump)

there are plenty of options.
you will just have to read over and over and see if you like the idea or if you would like this simpler idea with a 3rd pump.

I have another idea in mind, but it does involve a ladder. I'm thinking about boxing out an area over the vat in the ceiling to get more clearance. Think of it as a raised ceiling between two trusses. Honestly, I only have to bring the salt up there once a month, I'm thinking. Even with only 200g of water, I'd only need to carry up around 4 to 5 bags of salt.

However, I will think about your mixing station idea. I just hate tying up more of the floor space in the fishroom. The vat is already taking up 31" x 31" or the full corner to the left of the door in the long wall. It is where I was going to put my sink.

as long as you stay with the bag salt, then its not too bad. and you can probably do it with a step stool.

the St. Jude tanks were 10+ ft in the air plus the height of the tanks so it was a necessary. your lucky enough to only be a few feet above your head.