20g Rubbermaid Brute Tote

[kylevan]

I bought 2 totes for water changes and I'm wondering how I can label these in gallons so I can make my water changes easier anyone ever use label these kind of totes I want to label them by 5 gallon increments can't find anything on how to make it easier

 

[walnuts923]

get a five gallon bucket like the ones from home depot fill it up then poor into brute and label

 

[Bob Escher]

I agree or if your not positive the hard way!! One gallon milk jugs fill with tap water to make it fast just cleaned out good with prime
Make sure you mark them with non solvable ink or magic marker if you want to mark them in increments

 

[kylevan]

I have a Home Depot homers bucket. So filling that completely to the top is 5 gallons? There isn't a marking on the bucket that indicates 5 gallons like one of the rings around the side? I know all buckets are different and some have those

 

[Bob Escher]

I know I use the Home Depot lowes buckets as well I generally fill them up to the first line so I don't spill anything ( even though I use a pump to pump the water out) but take a milk jug filled up completely and then you know you got five gallons for sure. I generally use three bucket to do a water change which I think is about 13 gallons or less. I'm going to buy one of this 20 gallon ones myself as I'm getting tired of doing five Gal buckets or 3 1/2 gal water jugs from the store ( the ones used on water fountains) but then again I won't get my weight lifting excercises )


How's it coming otherwise?
Where are you at? Are you guys out now or still in?
You can PM if you want

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have a Home Depot homers bucket. So filling that completely to the top is 5 gallons? There isn't a marking on the bucket that indicates 5 gallons like one of the rings around the side? I know all buckets are different and some have those

Try this out. And I'll use an Instant Ocean bucket as the example, since that is what I have. The bucket is tapered top to bottom, measuring 10 inches on the bottom and 11 1/4 on the top. I'll split the difference and say the average diameter is 10 5/8 inches.
There are 231 cubic inches of water in a gallon, so five gallons would have (231 X 5 =) 1155 cubic inches.

To determine the area of a cylinder, the formula is A = r2 x h x π , where h = height and r = radius.

Our radius is half the diameter of 10 5/8 inches, so 5 5/16 (5.3125).

Using the formula A = r2 x h x π
and now solving for h,
h = A / (r2 x π)

Using our example:
h = 1155 / 88.81
h = 13.02

So with my Instant Ocean bucket, if I measure 13 inches up from inside the bucket, and mark with a Sharpie, that's exactly 5 gallons.

Hope this helps

 

[October Sky]

Try this out. And I'll use an Instant Ocean bucket as the example, since that is what I have. The bucket is tapered top to bottom, measuring 10 inches on the bottom and 11 1/4 on the top. I'll split the difference and say the average diameter is 10 5/8 inches.
There are 231 cubic inches of water in a gallon, so five gallons would have (231 X 5 =) 1155 cubic inches.

To determine the area of a cylinder, the formula is A = r2 x h x π , where h = height and r = radius.

Our radius is half the diameter of 10 5/8 inches, so 5 5/16 (5.3125).

Using the formula A = r2 x h x π
and now solving for h,
h = A / (r2 x π)

Using our example:
h = 1155 / 88.81
h = 13.02

So with my Instant Ocean bucket, if I measure 13 inches up from inside the bucket, and mark with a Sharpie, that's exactly 5 gallons.

Hope this helps

The bottom of Brute cans have an indented molding, and the sides to too. Also, I used gallons of tap water to measure my home depot cans (making 1 gallon, 2 gallon, 3... marks) and where the 5th gallon is is just arbitrarily towards the top. Finally, Lowes 5 gallon buckets are different than Home Depots. So I think the best method is use 1 gallons jugs all the way, or use 1 gallon jugs to determine the 5 gallon mark on your 5 gallon bucket, then use that bucket.

 

[taintstick]

Go get yourself one of these jugs from your LFS. It has marks for each gallon. It's a 5g jug. Perfect for what your looking for.

 

[kylevan]

To taintstick what do those run the wallet?

 

[taintstick]

To taintstick what do those run the wallet?

$7

 

[October Sky]

I bought a 6 gallon water jug from Ocean State Job Lot a few months ago for under $8. I use it for the purpose of carrying water. I don't trust the plastic to not leach, so I don't store water in it. But I mix in my Brute and pump it to the 6 gallon (with funnel attachment) and then use the jug to pour it into my tank without causing too much a mess. It's almost identical to the white jug tainstick posted, but it's blue and I don't recall it having gallon markings beyond the 6 gallon fill line.

 

[mikee002]

I got a food safe bucket from Gordon's food service. Has markings in qts and liters. Not cheap though... Think I paid around $20 for bucket and lid. Thought it was worth it at the time for accuracy of mixing water. Might be other restaurant supply stores that it can be had for less at.

 

[taintstick]

Haha speaking of all this I just went to my LFS and saw they got a shipment of the same jugs. Maybe 30 total in two stacks haha and yup $7 a pop still.