Dirty water containers

[MattPLaw]

Hello all.
I have been keeping my reef tank for about 5 months now. I do not have room in my house to mix my own water so I purchased (4x) five gallon jugs to do weekly water changes. I have been purchasing water from my LFS but after 5 months of using these clear jugs they have gotten surprisingly dirty on the inside.

They are kept in the garage out of the light, and they are kept closed when in storage.

Why Are they getting so dirty?
How should I clean them?
I am terrified of poisoning my tank.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Dan_P]

Hello all.
I have been keeping my reef tank for about 5 months now. I do not have room in my house to mix my own water so I purchased (4x) five gallon jugs to do weekly water changes. I have been purchasing water from my LFS but after 5 months of using these clear jugs they have gotten surprisingly dirty on the inside.

They are kept in the garage out of the light, and they are kept closed when in storage.

Why Are they getting so dirty?
How should I clean them?
I am terrified of poisoning my tank.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

This might just be the residue obtained from artificial seawater. If you made and stored artificial seawater, the container would develop a brown oily film and possibly a light crusty coating. Whatever is building up on the insides of the jugs has likely been introduced into the aquarium.

 

[VintageReefer]

You should store them with the lid off so they don’t develop mildew inside

I have the same style jugs for 10 years and they look brand new

When you siphon dirty water out don’t use those. Use a 5g Home Depot bucket and then dump the dirty water down the toilet and spread it out with your shower sprayer

 

[MattPLaw]

You should store them with the lid off so they don’t develop mildew inside

I have the same style jugs for 10 years and they look brand new

When you siphon dirty water out don’t use those. Use a 5g Home Depot bucket and then dump the dirty water down the toilet and spread it out with your shower sprayer

I've been only using then for clean new saltwater, so I thought keeping the lids on now contamination would get inside and the little bit of saltwater would not evaporate and get crusty.
So when there is water in then store with lid on, when they are empty rinse out with clean water and store open? Is that correct?

 

[VintageReefer]

Yes when they are full of water store with lid on tight.

When they are empty just rinse out and store with the cap off

 

[harpham]

Yes when they are full of water store with lid on tight.

When they are empty just rinse out and store with the cap off

When you say “rinse out”, what water would you use to rinse out containers?

I’ve just bought 5x new 25l containers, ready to fill up my new tank, however I’m conscious of any contaminants (they were sold as new, however I’m keen to just rinse them out if I can to make sure).

 

[landlubber]

When you say “rinse out”, what water would you use to rinse out containers?

I’ve just bought 5x new 25l containers, ready to fill up my new tank, however I’m conscious of any contaminants (they were sold as new, however I’m keen to just rinse them out if I can to make sure).

tap water is fine. If you really have concerns you can splash a little bleach in and allow them to fully dry ahead of refilling.
As for the water containers, regardless of what you do water containers will develop bio-film. just make a point of cleaning/wiping them out periodically.

 

[harpham]

tap water is fine. If you really have concerns you can splash a little bleach in and allow them to fully dry ahead of refilling

Perfect thank you.

It’s my first tank that’s about to be delivered, so I’m overthinking/worrying about anything for the initial setup process, so I just want any avoidance of doubt to be dealt with!

 

[VintageReefer]

Perfect thank you.

It’s my first tank that’s about to be delivered, so I’m overthinking/worrying about anything for the initial setup process, so I just want any avoidance of doubt to be dealt with!

Tap water rinse, shake/pour out all you can, air dry