Appropriate Water Storage

[Playdope]

Hello,

I just bought 2 trash cans - 1 to store top off fresh RO/DI water, and the other to store my SW for water changes.

Until recently, I was confident these would be suitable containers for storing water, until recently the idea that there may be certain oils and additives in the plastic to keep away odors was brought to my attention.

I have an HDPE blue-grey color 50 gal trash can for water storage, and I'm a little concerned as to whether it is OK for storage.

Anyone know more about this? When I called rubbermaid they said the most they could do is refer me to the recycle number on the bottom of the product.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[NHMARINE]

I too was alittle concerned with some of the chemicals or residue that could be present on these type's of containers. I mean these are for trash right?.........so as far as the manufacturer, all bets are off as far what's left on the surface after manufacturing.
On the other hand you have alot of people who use similar stuff and have no problems.
I on the other hand decided to play it safe and purchased a 55 Gal poly FDA approved storage drum (Food Grade) from my local Agway Store for $18.00........no worries :wink:
Here is a picture of my set up.

 

[Playdope]

Yeh, I see it. I'm wondering where I could get a 50+ gal food-safe storage container on wheels though? I am in an apartment, and I need to be able to move the container to where the ro/di is, and then to where the tank is.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[Anonymous]

There are dollies that you can buy for the large drum, but they are not as cheap as the rubbermaid alternative.

Can't you use hose and pump to move the water rather than move the whole trash bin to where the tank is?

 

[Playdope]

Welp, as of now...

I periodically hook the ro/di to a facet adapter hookup on the kitchem sink, and I unhook the unit when i'm done with it, and move it. I bring the trashcan out when I do this, and put it away in a closet when I'm done.

After making the water, I roll the trash can about 15 feet straight accross from the sink to the tank, and do what I need to, then leave remainder water in the can and put it back into the closet.

I'm not sure how to make this easier on myself. To be honest, it has been a HUGE hassle, and the girlfriend has been a bit upset about me constantly taking over the kitchen sink. I tried hooking the faucet adapter to the bathroom sink, but it doesn't fit . I am really bad with plumbing, and really dont know if I should be doing any pipe tapping.

All I could really think of is ... tapping the plumbing bellow the sink in the bathroom, then running a reaaaaaaaaally long output line off of the ro/di unit ... from the bathroom to the tank (15-20 ft.).

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[myreeef]

Instead of tapping the water lines, I bought an adaptor from HomeDepot. The adaptor is a tee connector for a bathroom sink. I don't know if all bathroom sinks are done the same, but in my case there is a shut-off valve for both the hot and cold running to the sink (use the cold). From there a flexible hose connects the valve to the sink.

The connector that that I used is male on one end female on the other, the tee is for a 1/4" hose and it has a shut-off valve of it's own.

What I did is shut off the cold water, unhook the flexible hose from the valve, thread the connector to the valve, thread the flex hose to the connector and finally attach the 1/4" RO input hose to the tee part of the connector.

In your case, you'll have to use sizes that are appropriate for your sink and RO unit. If you are having problems with adaptor sizes for the sink, you could always shut off the valve to the sink, remove the flex hose and take the flex hose to HomeDepot with you to make sure everything fits and thread properly. Don't forget to buy the white tape (made with kevlar or something like that) to seal things.

Distance or length of hosing doesn't seem to be a problem, at least not for me! I have 25 feet of 1/4" hose between my sink and the input of my RO/DI and I have another 25 feet of hose between the output of my RO/DI and my storage container.

Fittings that are before the RO/DI can be made of copper. But it is very important that all fitting after the RO/DI not be copper, as it will leach into your water. And copper is not good for you reef.

I'll try to see if I can take a picture of the fitting I used and post it later if you want.

 

[Playdope]

That would be great to get some visuals. I still feel a little uneasy about taking apart the sink

As for trash cans (water storage) being "food safe" - how many of you have had no long term problems using trash cans that are not "food safe"? I have 2 rubbermaid trashcans that aren't "food safe", and I didn't realize this might be a concern. Wondering if this isn't really something I need to be concerned with.

NHMARINE was smart and just got the food safe ones, but now that I already have the trash cans I have, I wanted to know if I could use them, and/or if there was anyway to somehow cure them to not be harmfull if they are.

Jon

 

[Anonymous]

What state do you live in? Vegas has these water places that have good water. I go down and put it in 5 gal jugs. I use to use trash cans but it got to be a pain. Try moving or lifting a full trash can or preventing the dirt getting inside. I have a 100 and a 60 gal.I do water changes every 2 weeks and top off every other day.

 

[NHMARINE]

Jon,

Yes, like Reefkeeper said, go to home depot and purchase the tee you need, shut the water off and tie in.

As far as the trash cans go I would be alittle nervous using them in an apartment, I have read in some post's that they have split before :!:
That might not be a good thing if you have someone below you.
Also have you filled one up? they get kinda distorted, and then to try and move it around............I don't know.

This site has what you need for about $90 delivered to you're door (if you cant find one local for $18 )

Might be the best $90 you spend

http://www.bascousa.com/containers/waterbarrels.html

 

[Mouse]

I use rain butts, i gave it a damn good clean out though. Id have thought it was the same plastic as the trash cans, has a very slight oily feel to it, allthough it's not sufficient to produce residue. I think their ok, but the food grade stuff sounds better, chances are its the same plastic, just different manufacturing processes.

 

[Playdope]

This plumbing of the RO/DI under the sink may be easier than I thought. Pretty much everything under my sink matches the description of myreef's sink.

I have the hot and cold water braided lines - each with a valve. I am a little unsure of which T fitting I need to get at Home Depot.

I'm also not sure what other parts I will need to connect to the T fitting so that the RO/DI tubing will connect to the T.

Also, how do you run a setup like this...... when you want to just use the sink VS. when you want to make RO/DI filtered water?

Is this the typical way people do the under-sink plumbing to RO/DI units?

Many thanks!
Jon

 

[Anonymous]

>...Is this the typical way people do the under-sink plumbing to RO/DI units?

Yes.

This is the type of tee you need to get. Many styles, but this one will work: Check HD.

 

[Playdope]

Just found the T tool + valve in the bag that came with my RO/DI unit! Whoohoo! Bad news is that the hose and fitting that I have for my cold water line are smaller than the T valve I have... so I need to go to HD to find some sort of adapter.

Jon

 

[Anonymous]

>...

It is a self-tapping valve?

 

[myreeef]

There is probably many ways to skin this cat... but here is one. You can see the mess under the bathroom sink and you can see that I wasn't professional in hooking it all up. Even so, it is completely functional and has never leaked.

 

[hillbilly]

I used the cheap, plastic trash cans for water storage for 2 years or more with no problems. They were not even a name brand. I finally replaced them with a regular fancy water storage container, after one of my trash cans sprang a leak.

 

[tgfrench]

Make a good friend of someone with a swimming pool and get one of their chemical cans. the 100 lb. cans come in atleast 15 gal size they are sturdy and have screw down lids. I found mine through a friend that runs a metal finishing plant and they are the best and they were free. Only problem i've found with these cans is getting to the top of the list for the freebies.

terry

 

[sawyerc]

A didn't read the whole thread carefully, but I just went through the same thing. Sorry if I say something that someone already said. A few suggestions that may be useful here: go to your local Sears/Home Depot/ Insert store chain here, and look for an icemaker hook up set. It comes with 25 feet of polypropeline tubing (the standard 1/4 inch RO tubing) and a few brass fittings too hook up to your water main. This is designed for plumbing morons so I'm sure you could figure it out without flooding your house. It looks like the picture that Myreef posted. Cost= 7.99 or so. As for the storage tubs, I've used sterilite and rubbermaid tubs before without evident problems. I would be careful moving a trash can filled with water around. There would be lots of forces on the seems which could eventually lead to unhappy and wet downstairs neighbors. Perhaps you can instead run the 1/4 inch polypropeline tubing to your aquarium and put the RO and tub in the stand (if it fits). Leave a heater and powerhead inside the tub and then pump the SW up to the tank when it's all mixed. Never carry a bucket again.

My aquarium is right above my machine room so I put the RODI down there with the mixing tub. There are lots of cold water spiggots with garden hose threads down there with the plumbing. I chose one and attached my RODI with the included garden hose adapter. Then I pump water from there to my basement sump, but you could just use a powerful pump to pump up through the floor to the aquarium.

... for what it's worth.

 

[myreeef]

Make a good friend of someone with a swimming pool and get one of their chemical cans. the 100 lb. cans come in atleast 15 gal size they are sturdy and have screw down lids. I found mine through a friend that runs a metal finishing plant and they are the best and they were free. Only problem i've found with these cans is getting to the top of the list for the freebies.

terry

I would be careful about using something that stored chemicals! First, the material used may not be foodsafe and second the chemicals may have leached into the plastic. If those chemicals leach out into your RO/DI water (even slowly over time), you will be adding more of these chemicals to your tank each time you add water. I have a friend who has done this, and he doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects ... yet.

IMHO: this is too high of a risk for the investment I have in my tank!

 

[tgfrench]

these cans held granulated hydrochloride which is basically pool chlorine. The cans are HDPE 2 which is a high quality material. They are clean and with another washing and letting them sit with water for a week i've found no residual elements with testing.