Cleaning new Water Containers

[NewRobert]

Hi all,

Another newbie question. I bought these 4 25l containers to store my water in that comes out of my ro/di unit that I will be using for water changes.

I also got these buckets which I plan to use half for ready salt mix water and the other half for reminilarised water for my freshwater aquariums.

My question is 2 fold:

1. Can I store these outside on my balcony or will the sun and other elements cause some problems? I do plan to reheat the water before adding it into my tanks.

2. What process besides rinsing them out with tap water should I use to clean them? The open buckets are easy to wash with some dish soap (not even sure if that would even be the right thing to use), the closed containers are a bit more difficult.

Please advise as I really don't want to start my first marine tank with some poisonous water from the get go, a little nervous here.

Sump arrives tomorrow and would like to get some things going over the weekend.

Thank you kindly!

 

[shwareefer]

No soap ever. Just straight tap water and a new clean sponge. Going forward keep everything separate for aquarium use only. Anything that can't come clean with straight elbow grease and water or has had any unknown non-food ingredient in it, don't use it.

 

[andrewey]

You can likely rinse both out with regular water. If you need to rinse them out, you can use a solution with vinegar or bleach and water (not combined) to clean. Make sure to air dry or rinse well before reusing.

 

[Greg Goby]

I usually wash my containers using citric acid and RO water. In the case of your small opening buckets, I would put about a half gallon of RO water in there with a double dose of citric acid, shake really well, pour out and rinse a couple of times with RO. The larger containers you can wash with dawn and tap water and give them a decent rinse with RO when you're done.

I personally started with similar small opening buckets and eventually moved to wider mouth ones. In addition to being a pain to clean inside (and inside the handle) it was difficult to find heaters and pumps that would fit in the opening when I wanted to mix saltwater.

 

[jsvand5]

You guys are way more dedicated than me apparently. I dump them into my top off container and put them right back into use. If there was saltwater in them I rinse them out with tap water first (if I even remember to do that).

 

[NewRobert]

Just a bump on this.

Would there be any problem with me storing the containers with RO/DI water that I made outside where they would get sunlight? Having a bit of a problem with space inside the house and would like to stick them on the balcony

Thank you

 

[Bosreef]

Just a bump on this.

Would there be any problem with me storing the containers with RO/DI water that I made outside where they would get sunlight? Having a bit of a problem with space inside the house and would like to stick them on the balcony

Thank you

Clear one no (potential for allergy growth)
Buckets... what climate you live in won't be hard to heat the water but will be hard to cool it.

 

[Billdogg]

You guys are way more dedicated than me apparently. I dump them into my top off container and put them right back into use. If there was saltwater in them I rinse them out with tap water first (if I even remember to do that).

^^^This^^^

My water storage barrel is a 55g drum that held either photographic developer or fixer. I rinsed it well and put it in service. 30+ years and counting, no problems yet!

 

[Ippyroy]

I wouldn't store them outside unless you have a tarp or something to put over them.

 

[NewRobert]

Ok, thank you all. I have sacrificed some garage real estate for the time being until I can build some kind of cabinet for the balcony to store them in instead.

If that seems too much of a pita, I may look into a water tank that has been specifically designed for outdoor storage.

My RO/DI system is downstairs underneath the kitchen sink (as we also use the RO water for drinking water), this may give me the push needed to run a waterline upstairs to the balcony to store the water there and have a second drum for salt mix water ready to go.

Clear one no (potential for allergy growth)
Buckets... what climate you live in won't be hard to heat the water but will be hard to cool it.

I know I am in Africa but even then, we're going through below freezing temperatures at night during the winter so will most likely have to anyway look at a bigger storage container so that I can heat the water to temperature. I will have to do 80l / 20gallon water changes soon and not looking forward to the bucket-trek up the staircase.

Thank you all for your feedback