Ro & Sw Containers...

[lljdma06]

I went to Kmart today and saw some containers that may work for storing RO and SW. All have lids so that's a non issue. I can either go a very inexpensive route, or go expensive.

The inexpensive route.

The above all have lids and range from $5-$10. They also all hold about 15-20g of water and it's pretty easy to hook up powerheads. Heaters may pose a problem though, unless the plastic is heat resistant. They are also unwieldy. Definitely cannot move them once filled with water.

The more expensive route.

5g

About 13g

Same

With wheels...

Essentially the above are coolers with well-fitting lids and draining spouts on the bottom. Mount them on a surface and dispensing water becomes darn pretty easy. More difficult to hook up powerheads and heaters, though, but the water is better protected. They range from $20-$45 and don't have the same capacity as the other containers. It's still going to weigh a lot more with water than it usually does when filled with ice so that may not help me.

There are, of course, the 5g utility buckets, which are great and have always served me well, but my waterchanges are significantly larger than 5g, so it really isn't feasible to purchase pumps and heaters for each bucket. Though looking at the cost of the coolers, buying each component may not be too bad. I'd need at least three buckets. When I looked at the trashbins, they were just very flimsy, or they were way too big. I don't need to store 33g, just 15g or so.

If I've not made any sense, I completely understand. I'm trying to think about the best option, and perhaps I've missed something in my thinking. So posting it here will help me sort it out.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Liz

 

[Uriel]

If the cheaper option is similar to the quality of cheap plastic tubs we get in the UK I think you will struggle to fill them more than half full without them bowing alot and looking like there going to split. What about a water butt or the 25l jerry can or fermentation bin (5-33l). Old Salt Bucket if you buy the big 25kg ish buckets of salt.

Camping / RV shop for camping water containers ?

 

[lljdma06]

If the cheaper option is similar to the quality of cheap plastic tubs we get in the UK I think you will struggle to fill them more than half full without them bowing alot and looking like there going to split. What about a water butt or the 25l jerry can or fermentation bin (5-33l). Old Salt Bucket if you buy the big 25kg ish buckets of salt.

Camping / RV shop for camping water containers ?

Yes, it's similar, which is why I'm more inclined to bite the bullet and use the coolers. The Water butt idea looks very good, but I have to find a US maker.

I don't have old Saltmix buckets, remember new at this. Also those are 5g here, and that's the same as the Home Depot buckets.

Liz

 

[HappyGeorge]

I use food grade 25l containers from Japan that one of my LFS must import directly as no-one else seems to have them, they have a large hole in the top about 6 inch across so when you take the top off you can drop the p/head and heater in the top. I have 2 heaters and one powerhead that I switch over when the salts mixed (I don't mix for 24 hours I do about 3 as I can't see that continuing to mix after the salts gone is a bit pointless tried mixing equal quantities of water for 3 hours and one for 20 hours with the same p/head and heater and there was no difference, same as there was no difference in measured salinity between water straight from the RO unit at 18° and heated to 27°).
As already stated any large container will likely deform as it is going to be far heavier than the manufacturer would expect the contents to be, you also need to consider Free Surface Movement, or the liklehood of sloshing with that big a surface area the water is going to move a great deal and if you need to move them you're going to get wet.
I am a little confused over the quantity you need, isn't your tank 36G? I would have thought you can easily service that with 10G of containers. I use 3x25l and that does my changes and my top ups on a total of about 1000l, but one is only used for waster water as it has a tiny lid, I do have to fill 2 of the containers again each week for top up though, but preferable to having a load of water sitting about.
Not sure where you would get them though.

 

[bae1994]

Food grade barrels would be fine too like olive drums or a camping water drum etc I would avoid the storage boxes I used 3-4 of them for reshapes when my 100 gallon was marine I put lr in them and filled with water and it was dodgy they looked to be about to explode any second and if you moved them I'm sure they would of

I wouldn't suggest it I'd got for the drink things ( which look awesome wish uk had them so easily available the orange one reminds me of water boy )

Or find a stronger container for water

 

[HappyGeorge]

Just had a quick look and can't find a match for what I have on US sites. The food grade containers are considerably dearer than the expensive option you're looking at, over here they are the equivalent of about 20USD. As Bae says I would go for the orange one, two handles (which of course may not be able to hold 20kg of weight) and a spout, and as a bonus it's insulated, wouldn't need 2 heaters as its heat loss will be minuscule.

 

[lljdma06]

Hi HappyGeorge, to answer your question, the macro/seagrass portion of the tank will need 50% waterchanges either every 2 weeks or one, depending on whether I'm dosing Ca++ & Carbonate. If I dose, I can do it every two weeks. Even with allowing for significant displacement, it'll still be more than 10g. Now, I'll ask if I can choose to divide that waterchange into a weekly 25% & then just always dose. Then we're talking about 7-8g which is more doable. Especially for a girly girl like me.

Yes, some macros, especially the one's I plan to use, suck up THAT much Ca++.

A thought, for storing RO, I could use the big 5g drums for bottled water, right? These have a cap. I get bottled water delivered to my house.

 

[bae1994]

Yep bottles should be fine just replace them every so often as they degrade apparently

If you have you're water delivered do you have a tap with pressure for the ro water to be Plumbed into ?

If not you'll need a ro booster pump

Also I would say 25% weekly would be better than 50% every other week as it would put less stress on the inhabitants and it's generally better to do smaller watcher changes more often than larger water changes less frequent

Just what I've found as stats are maintained rather than fluctuating every other week but I've never seriously kept macros So that may be were it differs

I had some red bamboo algae which was great

Atb bae

 

[lljdma06]

Yep bottles should be fine just replace them every so often as they degrade apparently

If you have you're water delivered do you have a tap with pressure for the ro water to be Plumbed into ?

If not you'll need a ro booster pump

Also I would say 25% weekly would be better than 50% every other week as it would put less stress on the inhabitants and it's generally better to do smaller watcher changes more often than larger water changes less frequent

Just what I've found as stats are maintained rather than fluctuating every other week but I've never seriously kept macros So that may be were it differs

I had some red bamboo algae which was great

Atb bae

The nice thing is that I have a regular supply of bottles, so I can replace them as they degrade. I'll see if I can opt for 25% weekly and then just dose. Tapwater pressure is fine and there are plenty of faucets in my house, we just don't drink the tapwater in Miami. It's not the best for drinking.

 

[bae1994]

Makes sence lol we don't have the water problem here but the bottles sound ideal