RO storage

Steelheader09 · Feb 8, 2017

I finally got an RO unit. My nitrates have been horrendous for years. Fish dont mind but won't try coral in it. Downside of farm country source water. So i am gonna start doing RO water changes. What should I get to store RO water in? Can i buy a cheap trashmaster 32gl trashcan from walmart or do i need to drop $30 on a brute?

mcarroll · Feb 8, 2017

Lots folks with coral end up having to dose nitrates – don't believe everything you read about keeping a tank at zero nitrates/zero phosphates with coral! INCORRECT.

You do have to watch out for overstocking and overfeeding, but that's done by stocking the tank slowly and by keeping stock levels low. Aside from runaway nutrient situations, most tanks do fine – "better" in fact – with some dissolved nutrients in the water. (Our tanks tend to be relatively very poor in plankton, so higher than natural seawater levels of nutrients probably helps to balance that out a little.)

I'd use a Brute only because they're of known toughness...I'm not sure I've ever heard of one breaking.

I wouldn't risk it on something cheaper.

Plus from the money angle, it's only $30 for the life of your reef. My Brute is at least 15 years old. That's only $0.006 (thousandths) a day! $2 a year!! Don't be too cheap!

mcarroll · Feb 8, 2017

Do consider looking up olive or pickle barrels on craigslist....you might snag 55 gallons of storage for about the same price. Maybe less if you're lucky.

Steelheader09 · Feb 8, 2017

I possibly can snag hydrogen peroxide barrels on ocasion as well. Just not sure about chemical leeching.

Steelheader09 · Feb 8, 2017

Thanks for the tip. I found a guy selling food grade barrels 44mins away.

cromag27 · Feb 8, 2017

Keep in mind that the longer you store rodi water, the more prone it is to be contaminated by airborne pollutants.

mcarroll · Feb 8, 2017

cromag08 said:
Keep in mind that the longer you store rodi water, the more prone it is to be contaminated by airborne pollutants.

...meaning: You need a container than can be reasonably well-covered after you put it all together! An open-top barrel would not be ideal

It doesn't need to be hermetically sealed either though. Any closed-top recycled food-grade barrel you find should work OK.

Just don't have an air pump bubbling air through your RODI constantly like I did for a while in my laundry room. I didn't really have any side-effects that I noticed, but i'm sure the water had more dissolved in it than I would have liked. I removed the air pump as soon as I thought about this. (It wasn't even on there for a real purpose in my case.)

Steelheader09 · Feb 8, 2017

I see. I found a guy selling brand new food grade barrels with lids and bungs for $30. Thanks for the tip!

Daniel@R2R · Feb 9, 2017

Good tips. I need to get something to store my RODI water. I'm tired of making 5 gallons every time I need some.

Steelheader09 · Feb 9, 2017

Me too. Im picking up my barrel tomorrow and have a 800gph powerhead on order to mix it.

Flippers4pups · Feb 9, 2017

I've used brutes for years, the grey ones. I'm just now switching over to ace roto-mold water tanks. Switched my ATO top off to a cone 16 gallon one last year. Well built and has a very nice screw on lid. I'm going to switch my 32 gallon brutes over to 25 gallon ace roto-mold cylinder tanks this year.