Water storage plan?

[Yellow17165161]

Hi again,

So I bought a 32 gallon brute container, as I couldn’t figure out how to easily do the initial fill on my 32.5 g tank.

After this initial fill, I think I’m planning on 10% changes weekly? Should I fill the brute with fresh water and add salt to 5 gallon buckets when needed, or fill the brute with saltwater?


I’m planning on storing the brute in my closet when not in use, so no way to heat or aerate it all the time. Only before changes.

Maybe I should not keep it fully filled to allow the water to be used quicker, or do bigger changes?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Auquanut]

Some salts are better for long term storage than others. If I were in your place, I would store the RO/DI and just mix/heat what you need for each W/C.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

You could just use buckets. I’ve got a 50 and just use 5 gal buckets. My rodi system is only 50 gal/day, so it takes a bit to fill a bucket. I keep one bucket for ATO res refills, then I make one or two more for WC water. I used to keep a brute full but it was a pain to deal with if I had to move it out of the bathtub it was in.

 

[mike550]

I'm not a fan of trying to store saltwater for longer periods of time. Consider making 10G RODI and then mixing 5G into saltwater. You'll have 5G of RODI for stuff like top off and can always make it into saltwater if you need some quickly.

 

[Yellow17165161]

Thanks! I’ve decided to just skip the storage box and return the container. I’ll just store the water in a few 5 gallon buckets and use as needed

 

[Saltyreef]

I store all my DI water in closable 5 gallon jugs.
Buckets will work but youll need lids, and theyre not fun taking on and off believe me.
I save the buckets for mixing and transfering water to and from tank.

Now,
Ill likely get a 20 gallon brute, for letting the c02 in my RO water dissapate for a day or 2 before pushing it thru my DI resin with a submersable pump. I only have time to make about 20 gallons of DI water at a time anyways....

 

[Yellow17165161]

Hi again, so I’ve been adding water with a 5 gallon buckets + 3 gallon bucket. I have one concern, so I forgot to turn on the powerhead in the tank while adding water, each bucket of water was freshly made salt water from my slow rodi system. I mixed each bucket for about an hour with a pump.

So each bucket took about 3-4 hours to make. So The saltwater stood still in the tank for about 12 hours in total, with some movement each time I added water. The water looks cloudy now, about 6 hours after I added the last bucket. No issues with have left the water stagnant right? I mixed up the sand bed in case salt accumulated there.

 

[Saltyreef]

Mixing the sand bed wasnt a good idea. Thats why your tank is cloudy.

Is your system a sump system? Was there a return pump flowing atleast?

8-10 hours of no flow and things will begin to die.

As long as the salt was mixed fully per instructions, after its in the tank its good 2 go. The lack of flow causes other issues.

 

[Yellow17165161]

It’s starting to clear up now, I spent 2 days rinsing there sand before hand, still so cloudy. It’s an AIO so it was completely stagnant because the pump needed the water to be filled to the top. Good thing there was nothing living in the tank yet, caribsea liferock plus dry sand. About to start the cycling process

 

[Saltyreef]

All good then

 

[Bob Weigant]

Here is what I do , I have 4 30 gallon brutes filled with RO and another one I use for mixing my saltwater. It turns 24/7 ( in case of an emergency I want to be ready ).