Ok, so like many of you, I have a fairly big tank (155g) and anything that can make my water changes easier, I look into. I wanted a system/design that would allow me to have RO and Saltwater on hand at all times, incase I needed either. After consulting many people on this forum (and thanks to everyone for their ideas) I put together this design; not bad for a first time carpenter 
I think I reached my maximum upload limit here, so I posted them to my own gallery which is here:
http://www.robertfahey.com/gallery/WSU
I made a donation to AA, so maybe they haven't gotten it yet, but at any rate, that's my new system and it's saved me lots of time and headaches of lugging buckets around and trash barrels.
So here's how the system works:
The top tank will always house RO water. Seeing as how my tank looses about 2-3 gallons of water a day (evaporation), I am adding that back on a 2 day basis. So I want to keep plenty of RO water handy. So I usually keep about 50g in the top tank.
Now if I need saltwater for my WC's, then I simply shut off the return valve on the y-fitting that goes back into the top tank and turn on the valve that goes to the bottom tank. I use a Quiet One Pump 4000 to transfer the water from both tanks and they also act as powerheads with hoses attached to circulate the water. In the event of a power failure, I can still syphon water from the top to the bottom due to gravity, so this makes like easy. So my bottom drum houses the saltwater that I need for my WC's and I can pump it from the drum to my tank using a Quiet One Pump 4000.
I've also housed a heater in each tank along with a thermometer. The heaters are the same ones that I use for my tank, so in the event that I have a heater go on my main tank, I can use one of these as a backup.
Each tank has a cut-out big enough to put a pump in and for me to get my hand all the way down bottom incase something falls in there. I also saved the cut-out piece and put stainless steel hinge on it to act as a small door for the drum, minimizing debri(sp?) from getting into the tanks.
All in all, things seemed to have worked out well. It took my about a month to finish mainly doing the work on the weekends. The hardest part was finding the right fittings for the Hot water heater and Y-fitting, but it's amazing what LOWES carries . The unit stands about 96" tall and is 38" x 38" at the base. I used pressure treated wood almost everywhere I could incase I blew a valve or fitting or worse a hole in the drum! I've got the detailed specs on paper if anyone is looking to build something similar.
I think I reached my maximum upload limit here, so I posted them to my own gallery which is here:
http://www.robertfahey.com/gallery/WSU
I made a donation to AA, so maybe they haven't gotten it yet, but at any rate, that's my new system and it's saved me lots of time and headaches of lugging buckets around and trash barrels.
So here's how the system works:
The top tank will always house RO water. Seeing as how my tank looses about 2-3 gallons of water a day (evaporation), I am adding that back on a 2 day basis. So I want to keep plenty of RO water handy. So I usually keep about 50g in the top tank.
Now if I need saltwater for my WC's, then I simply shut off the return valve on the y-fitting that goes back into the top tank and turn on the valve that goes to the bottom tank. I use a Quiet One Pump 4000 to transfer the water from both tanks and they also act as powerheads with hoses attached to circulate the water. In the event of a power failure, I can still syphon water from the top to the bottom due to gravity, so this makes like easy. So my bottom drum houses the saltwater that I need for my WC's and I can pump it from the drum to my tank using a Quiet One Pump 4000.
I've also housed a heater in each tank along with a thermometer. The heaters are the same ones that I use for my tank, so in the event that I have a heater go on my main tank, I can use one of these as a backup.
Each tank has a cut-out big enough to put a pump in and for me to get my hand all the way down bottom incase something falls in there. I also saved the cut-out piece and put stainless steel hinge on it to act as a small door for the drum, minimizing debri(sp?) from getting into the tanks.
All in all, things seemed to have worked out well. It took my about a month to finish mainly doing the work on the weekends. The hardest part was finding the right fittings for the Hot water heater and Y-fitting, but it's amazing what LOWES carries
. The unit stands about 96" tall and is 38" x 38" at the base. I used pressure treated wood almost everywhere I could incase I blew a valve or fitting or worse a hole in the drum! I've got the detailed specs on paper if anyone is looking to build something similar.
