Brute Barrel with bleach

OnPointCorals · Jun 13, 2017

I just bought a new brute barrel for saltwater mixing. Inside was pretty dirty and some sort of film so I decided to give it a bleach scrubbing and bath. I have it outside soaking overnight.

What do I need to do at this point to make it aquarium safe?

Thanks all.

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 13, 2017

Rinse well and place in the sun.

OnPointCorals · Jun 13, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Rinse well and place in the sun.

Thanks for the response. If I go out tomorrow morning and rinse it and leave it out in the sun all day will it be safe to mix salt in tomorrow night?

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 13, 2017

Possibly. If it still smells like bleach I wouldn't.
My water containers usually dry in a day. I dilute the bleach a bit in a spray bottle rather than using it full strength.

The wash removes possible organics and the bleach kills the possibility of bacterial growth. So if it still smells of bleach it possible there a build up of dirt still holding it.

bif24701 · Jun 13, 2017

Seachem Prime or Safe will eliminate the chlorine, use a lot.

OnPointCorals · Jun 13, 2017

bif24701 said:
Seachem Prime or Safe will eliminate the chlorine, use a lot.

Ok that's sounds good.

My plan is to go out tomorrow morning drain and rinse the barrel. Leave it in the yard all day in the sun. I'll come home fill it with water add a bottle of prime and what scrub it ?

Then drain and ready to go?

bif24701 · Jun 13, 2017

addictreef said:
Ok that's sounds good.

My plan is to go out tomorrow morning drain and rinse the barrel. Leave it in the yard all day in the sun. I'll come home fill it with water add a bottle of prime and what scrub it ?

Then drain and ready to go?

Don't even need to scrub, fill with RO, add Prime and mix then drain and dry again and I would say you are safe. This of course is all over kill. If it where me and I scrubbed it, got it clean, rinse with fresh water (tap water ok) drain then let it dry 24. Hours. Ready for use.

My work threw out 55 gallon Brutes, I used Dawn, brush and a hose. Done. Lol.

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 13, 2017

Yea. It's prettty easy to just use a little soap and a little bleach and leave it in sun

Soap freak folks out though. I use an unscented one, but only on used gear. I only sterileise my mixing containers and rodi containers with diluted bleach on a regular basis.

OnPointCorals · Jun 13, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Soap freak folks out though. I use an unscented one

Yes I agree for some reason I feel more comfortable using bleach than soap. Doesn't really make sense.

mcarroll · Jun 13, 2017

addictreef said:
Yes I agree for some reason I feel more comfortable using bleach than soap. Doesn't really make sense.

If you don't know what the film was, I would reconsider using the barrel at all – not worth any degree of risk IMO. Use the one you have for garbage or sell it at a garage sale.

A new Brute is cheap. $40 at a big-box store.

A recycled 50-gallon food-grade barrel (olives, pickles, syrups, oils, et al) is even cheaper. I got my pickle barrels for $20-$30 each...look on craigslist.

bif24701 · Jun 13, 2017

mcarroll said:
If you don't know what the film was, I would reconsider using the barrel at all – not worth any degree of risk IMO. Use the one you have for garbage or sell it at a garage sale.

A new Brute is cheap. $40 at a big-box store.

A recycled 50-gallon food-grade barrel (olives, pickles, syrups, oils, et al) is even cheaper. I got my pickle barrels for $20-$30 each...look on craigslist.

If you didn't get the film off I would not use it either.

OnPointCorals · Jun 13, 2017

bif24701 said:
If you didn't get the film off I would not use it either.

The film is totally gone. The barrel looked squeaky clean this morning and is baking in the sun now.

I'm hoping to mix salt in it tonight. I'll check to make sure the chlorine smell is totally gone.

rog2961 · Jun 13, 2017

i was dosing bleach to get rid of dinos, you'll be fine unless your doing a wc on a 20 gallon tanks

bif24701 · Jun 13, 2017

rog2961 said:
i was dosing bleach to get rid of dinos, you'll be fine unless your doing a wc on a 20 gallon tanks

Did it work?

rog2961 · Jun 13, 2017

yup, but im also fallow

mcarroll · Jun 13, 2017

rog2961 said:
yup, but im also fallow

So did you remove livestock and do a total bleach nuke, or what "recipe" did you follow?

Not to be a damp washcloth, but it'll be interesting to see if anything comes back when a bio-load is added. I would be VERY cautious and slow about introducing all larger animals....no more than one at a time with a month or more in between.....IMO.

rog2961 · Jun 13, 2017

I did the normal bleach dose with the calculation in the thread and went more or less depending on how bad the dinos are. It's actually the opposite, my dinos always show when the po4 gets down to 0. All my problems started when i pulled the fish out. Now im just dosing nitrates and phosphates to control them. I've noticed I can control which type of algae I can get with different ratios of N and P.
Thus far I can make cyano, chrysophytes and dinos appear at will.

Borg · Apr 11, 2020

I cleaned 6 -55 gallon barrels today.
what else am I supposed to do on self qt? lol

heres what I did...

fill 55 gallon barrel with tap water.
added 1 cup bleach, unscented.
dropped a old mag- pump to the bottom.
let it run for 2 hrs.
drained into another barrel
fill drained barrel with tap water again. Added 1/4 cup dechlorinator.
let run 2 hrs.
drain the barrel. dried with clean towel.

these barrels originally had grapefruit juice in it for a week.