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Ionics black tank

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spruce

spruce

The Sprucefather
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Location
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Stupid question for those who own an Ionics tank I'm sure.

How to you clean it out?

Also, how do you know how much water is in the tank?

 
Hello Spruce, I have black tank facelift compact and just unscrew the lid to see water lvl. 

 
scottish cleaning service said:
Talking about tanks, what is the best tank out there at the moment? I will be looking for a tank with baffles. Any experience most welcome.
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that's a long subject mate,as the people with the wyvale tanks will say they are brilliant and at a low cost and others will say grippa (but have internal baffles that I am sure may cause some issues)some may say wcw,i know where I would go for one but it all depends on what you want to spend,how you value your safety,you'll need to do a fair bit of research on this and not rely on feedback from forums 

 
kevinc250 said:
that's a long subject mate,as the people with the wyvale tanks will say they are brilliant and at a low cost and others will say grippa (but have internal baffles that I am sure may cause some issues)some may say wcw,i know where I would go for one but it all depends on what you want to spend,how you value your safety,you'll need to do a fair bit of research on this and not rely on feedback from forums 
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Brodex look good but expensive.

 
scottish cleaning service said:
Brodex look good but expensive.
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... and probably best stayed away from. Their aftersales service isn't the best. I would be very skeptical of a company that keeps going bust and resurrects itself again from the ashes. If you study their systems closely, you will see their in van systems only have 1 prefilter. Brodex fit a sediment filter in that. They don't supply a carbon block filter as they say its not necessary. So from day one the r/o membranes won't last as the chlorine in your water will attack it. Premature failure will mean an early replacement which they hope you will buy from them as you don't know any better.

I've dealt with them once and never again. My experience was that they were a dishonest company to deal with. If you want a good product with excellent after sales service and advice then you have to look in Grippatank's direction.

Personally, I have no issue with Wyedale tanks. As @kevinc250says they are basic and cheap and no patch on the latest tank designs. But I believe that the most important aspect of the tank is having a decent steel frame secured through the floor correctly.

.

 
You cannot clean them out Spruce. I had a customer whose resin tubes burst and resin entered into the tank. The only way to clean it is cutting it open and welding it again.

 
spruce said:
... and probably best stayed away from. Their aftersales service isn't the best. I would be very skeptical of a company that keeps going bust and resurrects itself again from the ashes. If you study their systems closely, you will see their in van systems only have 1 prefilter. Brodex fit a sediment filter in that. They don't supply a carbon block filter as they say its not necessary. So from day one the r/o membranes won't last as the chlorine in your water will attack it. Premature failure will mean an early replacement which they hope you will buy from them as you don't know any better.

I've dealt with them once and never again. My experience was that they were a dishonest company to deal with. If you want a good product with excellent after sales service and advice then you have to look in Grippatank's direction.

Personally, I have no issue with Wyedale tanks. As @kevinc250says they are basic and cheap and no patch on the latest tank designs. But I believe that the most important aspect of the tank is having a decent steel frame secured through the floor correctly.

.
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Thought there was something dodgy with Brodex because no one seems to have them!

 
scottish cleaning service said:
Thought there was something dodgy with Brodex because no one seems to have them!
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One of the cleaning businesses in Middlesbrough used to run a few vans with Brodex systems in them.

The controller on the first van went and the owner phoned Brodex for one. I seem to remember that Brodex wanted £85.00 + VAT + delivery for one but they didn't have stock. At that time they were using Varistream. They blamed the supplier/importer for not having stock. We phoned Williamson pumps the UK supplier back then and they did have stock but Brodex account was on stop.

We purchased a new Varistream controller from Daqua for £64.00 including VAT and delivery, removed the PC board from it and fitted it into the existing Brodex controller - job done, money saved and van back on the road.

Then shortly after that the Shurflo pump in the other van failed. Brodex wanted £120.00 + VAT and delivery. Brodex were very rude when we asked them to reconsider their price seeing as we could get one for £68.00 including VAT. We got it from Daqua.

In the early days before Gardiners we got a text from Brodex offering their Ali Prolong pole complete ex stock at a special price of £x. I purchased 2 but asked for a different brush head as the oval Vikan was just too heavy. No problem was the reply and my credit card was charged. After numerous telephone calls my ex stock poles eventually arrived 3 weeks later with the Vikan oval brushes. The invoice was included and bore no resembulance to the price quoted on their text. I phoned up and complained and I was told that they never offered the pole at that price and didn't believe the price I said they had quoted me. Eventually, after sending them a copy of the text they conceded but wouldn't change the brush head. The salesman who agreed to that had been fired for other misdemeanours.  :1f603:

They promised to credit the difference but all they did was to further bill my credit card for another 2 poles at the agreed price. But they failed to credit back the money of the first bill. It took 6 weeks and dozens of telephone calls before they did it. It probably cost me more than the poles did in telephone calls and stress of listening to their lies and excuses trying to get a refund.

Then the fools phoned up a few days later and ask how I enjoyed my shopping experience.10 years later I still get the odd text offering me equipment. I've blocked the number now on my phone as they wouldn't unsubscribe me from their contact list.

.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mine have a gauge in the top of the tank showing tank contents I personally don’t find it very accurate , as for cleaning it out unless you have a lid fitted you cannot do it very easily I had a big inspection lid fitted by Grippatank and now it’s easy to get into the tank , however I don’t feel it’s nessasery to clean it out as it’s black it goes to form green algy in it water tds is 000 coming out and it looks clean so haven’t botherd 

 
Didn't think one would need to clean out a tank with pure water in it?

As for Brodex, it seems they had the monopoly of this expanding business and became

bigger than the customer. Eventually some customers get together and decide to start their own supply business and offer good aftersales. That's why they keep going bust, poor management team with big egos. They attract the newbies but don't get follow on trade. Forums like these highlight the cowboys very quickly and word of mouth does the rest. Grippatank on the other hand don't get any negative comments so they must be doing something right. In business the number one rule is the customer is always right until you prove otherwise. Without the customer then you have no business to worry about!

 
Most tanks will need a clean out at some point, either from exposure to sunlight causing algae growth, or resin particles which build up and start blocking pump filters or brush jets, or just general debris that gets picked up from filler nozzles and that kind of thing.

 
High-tower said:
Most tanks will need a clean out at some point, either from exposure to sunlight causing algae growth, or resin particles which build up and start blocking pump filters or brush jets, or just general debris that gets picked up from filler nozzles and that kind of thing.
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Never had resin in my tanks in 20 years ? No green algy either it’s a black tank algy needs sunlight to grow , water going into the tank is going through an array of filters so no debris to flush out : worst case scenario is there will be a bio film inside the tank if wanting to remove this a week bleach mix is the best way to do it then flush the tank thoroughly job done 

 
Add 50 litres of water to tank.  (dash of bleach if you're worried about algae.  

Park van on a slope so the 'low point' of the tank is where the filler cap is. 

Use a shop vac to suck out content. 

Re fill with pure and off you go. 

 
Pjj said:
Never had resin in my tanks in 20 years ? No green algy either it’s a black tank algy needs sunlight to grow , water going into the tank is going through an array of filters so no debris to flush out : worst case scenario is there will be a bio film inside the tank if wanting to remove this a week bleach mix is the best way to do it then flush the tank thoroughly job done 
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good for you. sometimes things aren't so perfect, occasionally a riser in a DI doesn't seat correctly and small particles can get through. not all tanks are black or protected from sunlight. Ive only cleaned my tanks once or twice in a decade, but its something that occasionally needs doing.

 

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