Barrel for r/o system

[Trickdout69]

I'm having trouble trying to find a new 55g plastic barrel. I can find alot locally but they were used to carry concentrate for beverage companies. Is this safe to use? I have a mixed reef tank and don't want to risk harming the fish. Any info would be great

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, they are safe. Any food grade barrel is safe to use. I've got one that had Soy Sauce in it. Clean it out well, use some vinegar on the thing let dry and your ready to go.

 

[Reef Pets]

You can get them new from uline or use a 55 gallon brute trash can from lowes/home depot.

 

[joeyhatch11]

I use a 32 gallon brute from home depot. Only $30 with lid and works awesome. I use one for making ro/di and another for mixing my salt water.

 

[Mike in CT]

Food quality brutes are hard to beat!
Can even get wheels to move them around.

 

[leemajors]

i found some local here in georgia for 101 ea very nice

 

[caldone]

Brute trash can from Lowes has always worked well for me

 

[leemajors]

 

[mcarroll]

Hard to beat a used food-grade barrel, especially if it's free or close to free.

If you're paying money on the other hand, I think these tanks are a lot more space efficient (gallons/sq ft.) than trash cans or barrels.

For example, a 40 gallon tank from those guys sits on 18" of floor space. 100 gallons sits on 24". In contrast, 24" of space only gets you 40 gallons of Brute.

I have a big Brute on rollers right now (since forever) and I'm not knocking them, but I do plan on replacing it with one or two of these tanks soon. Trying to decide on a single 100 or two 40's.

-Matt

 

[ruppertb]

I have 4 55gallon barrels linked together for my ro system. Check out my build thread. Mine were free from a cheese factory that had balsamic vinegar in them.

 

[Loki]

I have two that had chlorine in them and have had no ill effects.

 

[Trickdout69]

Does it have to be food grade or will normal cans be fine

 

[mcarroll]

There are potentially unwanted additives in the plastic even in new merchandise.

With used, it depends heavily what was in it that wasn't food grade.

For example, chlorine barrels are a pretty unique find IMO...and good because chlorine will dissipate on its own. Most chems are not like that.

Buying food grade just eliminates a whole range of concerns and question marks.

-Matt

 

[Saltyg]

I used a brine tank, people throw them away all the time. Or you can buy a new one for less than 50 bucks at least where I live.

 

[LOVETHISHOBBY]

I got mine free from a car wash. It had car soap in it. I just sprayed them out with a power washer and they were good to go.

 

[mcarroll]

I used a brine tank, people throw them away all the time. Or you can buy a new one for less than 50 bucks at least where I live.

The link I posted was for brine tanks (same thing?), but an online source local to FL.

Where do you find them local to you?

-Matt

 

[Mr E Wrasse]

Rev turned me on to water tanks, plastic tanks, septic tanks a few years ago

 

[tanktoyman]

I have been using 3x 55 gallon drums that had soft drink syrup in them for years. They sale them at our local flea market for $15 each.

 

[AJS]

I picked up 55 gal. picklel barrels form a local Army Navy surplus store for $15. each with lids.

 

[BBoley24]

I got mine from a famous shop here in PA called Dellalos... 13 bucks with lid. Had olives in it.