Sorry this is alot of thoughts in one long post but its full of my past mistakes and what i think is good advise.
I use the 100 gallon size commercial storage bins like you see on a pressure washing company truck. and five 50 gallon plastic barrels with lids "like giant pickle barrels" i have acquired and i have to 50 gallon square acrylic boxes with lids for the other SW system inside. there in a remote room and water is pumped for auto water changes and ato from that system independent of the other bigger system.
I also have about 10 of the 5 gallon jugs with rod for manual top off or emergency type stuff for buddies or a quick batch of salt water,
i would at a minimum get two 50 gallon brutes on wheels. And probably a larger commercial 100 gallon plastic type container as soon as funds are available. i try not to mix my ato Kalk bins i have two, with salt water bins which is all the rest. The point is once your get the RODI system purged of creeper TDS that occurs after they have been off for a few days from the membrane and carbon n so forth, then start making good water you wanna keep it going as long as possible and make all you can store. the longer it runs the better the output becomes for the first hour or so at least. then shut it down "out of the sun and extreme temperature" and seal it off till you need it again for the next round.
I usually start it up purge it out and confirm 0 tads and the right tads at various stages in my system, then i make 300 gallons of rodi, then do all my Sw changes and fill small buckets n so forth while the water change SW completes then fill everything with rodi for ATO rations. once its all gone, i start all over. I store just a bit over 500 gallons as rations till there gone then do about 200 gallons of water changes with what was made form last round pending what i have left in all the bins, and then make another 500 total. about 700-800 gallons each time i start up my system every few months if i play it right and do the Sw changed during my initial filling rounds as I'm making RODI. that may my freshest rod is used for SW mix. which BTW should be tired and created according to some manufactures before you add salt. since RODI can have extreme ph's because its so unstable. i sometimes add a very small bit of kalk powder in just before i start the mix of SW to get the ph in the right range to except the salt mix. But most companys have already accounted for this with buffer. It does create a slightly higher end ph as well as ALK level, and a bit less precipitation i think. and depending on what your current tank parameters are ALK wise, you may want your chosen Sw mix to be a bit higher or lower when u add it to the tank. Referred to adjusting your new Sw to match the system water. Many folks don't bother with this step, but for the hard core ACRO guys its smart insurance to guard against a ALK burn on the acros.
Rinse everything with just plain RODI before each use. I dip everything i use day to day in RODI in a bucket By the tank. My test kit vials, my nets, my filter sponges, n so forth. that is just a rinse bucket that i dump every few days. ill even rinse my hands in it if i know i just washed dishes or worked not he truck don't put you hands in the tank. In a 40 gallon that alone could crash the tank depending where your hands have been.
all brand new bins or equipment I soak with a pump in it circulating on first first use, before you put it into use. i almost once dropped a skimmer back into use, after i had just soaked in murtic acid to clean it the day before and stopped just in-time after i noticed a dead bug in the bottom, then reached in and the water burned my hands. It was still murtic acid in the bottom.. wow that was close... never do that again. it all gets rinsed...
I do use a hand held TDS meter 30$ ish to confirm TDS at certain intervals and locations to be sure nothing is compromised or leaching into my supply vats. so far i have had no issues once i have rinsed the stuff real well the first round. you'll commonly find 3-5 tds in a clean bin the day after you make the water. which is due to limitations in the testing equipment and co2, and not necessarily some bad things creeping into your water.
SOME FRAG plug manufactures require you to cure the plugs prior to initial use as well!!! and this hand held tds meter is great use there as well as you change the soak water a few times a day till you get down to something under say 10 TDS.
remember pure RODI is actually a bit corrosive and will break down deposits from old crap left in vats due to its volatile ph and inability to buffer it self well.. So a good rinse after each time you finish a vat off, it is smart. A gallon of rodi and a good swirl and a dump n wipe down before you completely top it off with all new water is cheap insurance.
Everything starts with the quality of your water IMO. If you got crap in your rodi, the SW hobby will never work right for you.
On my personal system, I have auto flush, which i consider a must have if you make more than 50 gallons at a time, and i have a t fitting on the output from PRE filter and carbon filter and before the membrane. So when I change those first two stages, i can just dump 10 gallons of water right out, and not actually have to remove my membrane and di stages from the housings. So you don't ruin them with carbon fines or anything which will happen they must be flushed when replaced or they trash the stages further down the line.. many many folks make a huge mistake here on this key step. and remember 0 TDS doesnt mean there is nothing it he water. many things removed by carbon and membrane's don't even register on TDS meters anyway. " you can possible but not likely, trash your system, and still see "0" tds on your final stage and not even know it you blew your Di resin in the first hour of running it from the crap thats on a brand new membrane from the manufacture process, or more likely ruin your membrane from the carbon block fines.
I also do the same "t dump valve "thing at the exit of the membrane to the DI portion of my system. So i may purge the first gallon of water i make each round of filling that comes off the membrane as its usual very high in TDS "FROM the TDS CREEP at he membrane location and carbon block location". and it does waste measurable capacity of my DI resin that would other wise be getting 1-0 tads water form my membrane after a few good minute of running. Then once its flushed and shows 2-3 TDS off the membrane usually a few minutes, i shut the t and put everything thru the stages as usual.
this is all over kill, but affords me longer life and I'm sure i have the best water i can make. I use all the basic TDS lil meter things that come with all the systems to check the various stages. one after the carbon block. one after the membrane, one after the max cap and on on the exit of the Final DI resin.
I have robbed off old systems and added a redundant carbon block and silica buster di resin at those locations because i make so much i may actually miss when a certain stage expires and end up with some bad water unknowingly so then the second back up redundant stage offers me short term protection till i trash the dead stage and install a new one. basically rotating them down the line.
-Carbon is something I'm not 100% trusting. and why i run two units in a row for a back up.
-I think adding a drinking water system to your RODI is up to you. But to be honest, IMO, most municipal water is far better for you, than the air you breath in a city environment and for me its not the first place I'd look to improve my personal health exposure. Unless you live in FLINT of course.
