ok, in prep for my new 300 gallon tank, I just finished building my water storage and delivery system. It includes the valves and an outlet hose to put out of hte garage into the gravel driveway to drain water during a water change. Kind of proud of how it turned out, even thought I do have a MS in Engineering.
First up is the parts list:
65 GPD RO system Bought off of ksl from a guy in Hyrum, up near Logan. came with the entire system, 2 barrels, floats, auto shut off valve system if there is back pressure and no water leaving sytem, it kills the flow.
6 55 gallon food grade barrels ( currently 2 spare getting ready for my new tank) I have tried different style barrels. I got two nice black twist off lid ones that are tall and skinny that I got from the guy in Hyrum I bought the RO system from and 4 blue food grade barrels that have the lid that comes off completely. There is a girl named Lisa in Pleasant Grove that gets these barrels and she steam cleans them and sells them for $20 each. She has the fixed lid ones with the bungs, but the removabel lid ones are the one you want. They are so easy to put a bulkhead in and and a float in, and you can remove the lid to clean or to put in salt to mix up water.
Floats to shut off water when barrel is full The two barrels I got with the RO had them in it, and i bought 4 more from bulkreefsupply.com. I think the were around 12 bucks each. Metal base and white tube float.
Bulkheads - 6 1/2 bulkheads bought from bulkreefsupply.com. used to put in the barrels low on the barrel to drain the water from.
1/2 PVC pipe, elbows, unions, shutoff valves, Ts, etc I live 2 blocks from Lowes, 4 blocks from the Home Depot, both here in Riverton. Flip a coin, pick which ever you like the best and go there. I bought the thin wall 1/2 since this is NOT going to be a high pressure system. Contractor packs are your friend and save you a few bucks. You need lots of elbows and Ts. Don't forget the LARGE bottle of PVC glue!!
Tubing Bought a big roll of it at Lowes. size depends on your RO system and what size tubing it has coming out. My house one for drinking water uses the 3/8 (iirc) the bigger, and my fish one uses the small tubing ( 1/8" iirc???) anyway you need enough of it to run from your RO sytem to the barrels, then enough to go to each of hte barrels.
Tubing Fittings you will need a bunch of slip on T connectors to split the flow between the barrels. I got mine at Lowes.
TOOLS Drill, rachet type pipe cutter, concrete drill bits, hammer, pliers, and whatever else you need to make it happen.
Next will be the design parameters.
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The design parameters.
My current 90 gallon tank is in our basement in my office/ den, just outside of our bedroom. When I started this disease....I mean hobby, I put the one barel i was using for RO water in the pantry here in the basement. Was messy, still had to haul water in jugs, etc. Not very efficient.
Things the wife (read BOSS) wanted in the new water system 1. no dripping salt water on her carpet! 2. no dripping RO water on her carpet!!! 3. Did I mention it had to prevent her carpet from getting wet??? 4. The ability to fill the aquarium easily without lifting buckets. 5. The ability to drain the tank for water changes without dragging hoses to drain it into the shower drain in our bedroom. 6. The ability for me to automate the water system so that either her or our 18 year old daughter could do it if I was away from home for work and it needed to happen. 7. A way to top off the water as it evaporates from the tank that didn't involve 5 gallon clear water jugs.
Things I wanted in the design 1. I wanted to use the return pump as the pump to push the water from the sump to outside for draining water for a water change. I have a nice REEFLOW Dart Gold, rated at 4300 gph. I don't need the expense of a second pump. 2. I wanted a small pump in the garage to push the water a little faster if needed. I settled for a 12 volt 300 gph pump I got at harbor freight. Tested it today and pumped 50 gallons of water from my other tanks to one tank in around 20 minutes or so with me messing with valves and testing stuff. Not bad. Doesn't need to be super fast, just enough balls to push water between barrels if needed and to push the water from the garage into the basement to the tank. 3. Only one 1/2 pvc pipe running from the garage to the sump, and this line be plumbed for both filling and draining. 4. Enough unions to allow disassembly of entire system into small pieces if needed for repairs, or upgrading things. 5. Enough shut off valves to isolate every component 6. All of the things my wife wants, well, because I want her to be happy with my disease...I mean hobby. She loves having the fish tank and the easier it is to maintain and the less mess, the better.
Next up is the pics of the system so far ( minus the plumbing at the tanke itself, that is next week!!)
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next pic my mixing/staging drums. These are right where the piping runs into the basement. You see the 3/4 inch garden hose on the hanger. That is the hose to put in the gravel driveway next to the house for the salt water being disposed of can be disposed of, and hopefully, kill some weeds at the same time!! notice these are blue barrels with the white removable lids. These ARE the ones you want!!! Once I tune the system and find out exactly how much water I actually go through with the 300 tank, I may cut down the number of barrels I am using. Or, I my just start selling RO water at a stupid low rate to all of you so you don't have to pay a lot for water, and it keeps my system fresh with water.
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ok, update to my water system. I now have a fill/pump out line plumbed to my sump. I built a flow diverter by drilling a lot of holes in a piece of pvc pipe, both up and back. This flows into the part of the sump where the skimmer sits and the overflows feed the sump. That way any new water I put in goes in that section, through the refugium, then to the pump to the tank. The flow diverter should help mix the water better also. When Eric and I do the plumbing to the tank the Reeflow pump will be set up to turn two valves and pump the water out of the sump into the driveway.
I had to change one design. I put one of my mixing barrels and there was a valve on either side of the line going into the tank, so I had no way to close off that tank. duh!! Fixed that today and then put a gravity flow and backflow/bypass by my pump so I can run using only gravity if I need to or want to, and I could also pump into the 4 barrels before the pump.
I will try to post pics and do a flow diagram of what all I set up. That way it is easier for someone to get ideas of what I have done. What I have done ate up a ton of garage room, so 6 55 gallon barrels, and all the plumbing. Way overkill maybe even for my 300 gallon tank. But I did want to stay 200 gallons ahead for water changes and have two staging tanks, one for mixing salt and one for R/O water only.
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bmac2 wrote:
I had to change one design. I put one of my mixing barrels and there was a valve on either side of the line going into the tank, so I had no way to close off that tank. duh!! Fixed that today and then put a gravity flow and backflow/bypass by my pump so I can run using only gravity if I need to or want to, and I could also pump into the 4 barrels before the pump.
I will try to post pics and do a flow diagram of what all I set up. That way it is easier for someone to get ideas of what I have done. What I have done ate up a ton of garage room, so 6 55 gallon barrels, and all the plumbing. Way overkill maybe even for my 300 gallon tank. But I did want to stay 200 gallons ahead for water changes and have two staging tanks, one for mixing salt and one for R/O water only.
| I'm not certain on how your set up works, but I would agree on the overkill. Over 300G water storage / mixing capacity for a 300G tank? Our RO membrane is capable of 75G a day which is the most I've ever used for a single water change on our 400G system. Having upgraded from a 90G of 15+ years, I will say as much fun as we've had with the larger system, the overall scheme of things can be daunting at times. Over the years I have come to appreciate the age old advice of "KISS"
Edited by DLindquist - October 31 2012 at 10:16pm
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