Water Storage - Salt and Top Off

[Mitch9192]

I was curious how everyone stores their water; both top off water (RODI) and premixed saltwater.

At minimum I like to mix my saltwater the day before, but most of the time I keep saltwater laying around for emergencies and when I was doing a a lot of drip acclimation. The reason I am curious what everyone else is doing is that I am noticing buildup in my older saltwater. I tested it and noticed that it had a little over .25ppm (I think that is right, the first measurable about with an API test kit) of Ammonia. Everything else was zero, including phosphate. Obviously this water is trash, but how does everyone else store and mix their water? I am currently using Coralife salt mix.

Mitch

 

[C4rN4gE]

I went out and got a couple of the 55 gallon food grade barrels, and cleaned them out real good. like gallons of bleach and the giant bottle of dawn. I have them stacked in my garage in a triangle design - the back bottom barrel is empty, and just used to hold the barrel on top of it. That top barrel is my DI water with a float valve installed on the top. At the bottom of that barrel I installed a bulkhead with a ball balve and a length of flex pvc into the lid of my barrel that is in front. This barrel has a cheap quietone 2200 installed so that it circulates my water around when I add salt. I recently replumbed this one, as before I had the return going up and over the lid, and this would prevent me from removing the lid to add salt. So I got another bulkhead and now have the return going into the side of the barrel as high as I could get it. On the return line I added a ball valve and a length of flex pvc so that I can just pump the water into my 5 gallon jugs when needed. I constantly have fresh and salt available, the DI resin isnt pounded because I control when the water is run, the float valve just provides the means to stop it, and I use gravity for most of my needs. (Oh and I take the DI lid off to relieve pressure whenever I fill/empty the DI barrel. )

 

[coralreefer]

I'm old school with trash cans in the garage. I got the rubbermaid ones and put the wheels on the bottom so I can roll them around as needed. I mix the salt in the garage. Roll it inside the front door to do a water change.

I am about to install a tank that can be gravity fed into my ATO reservoir.

 

[Mitch9192]

@coralreefer wrote:

Are you mixing and doing your water change the same day or do you prepare it in advanced?

I forgot to include that I am currently using a dark, 20 gallon Rubbermaid container with a power head for mixing and a heater to reduce temperature change in my tank.

So you guys are keeping saltwater for an extended time with no problems?

 

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

I'm using 2 55 gallon drums. One is RO water with a float valve. The other is a SW barrel. We mix it up in advance with no problems. We have a heater and powerhead in there for recirculation. We have a pump in each barrel to be able to pump the water. Here is a picture....sorry it's dark.

 

[melev]

I keep 250g of mixed saltwater at the ready at all times. Once I start doing regular water changes, that volume will vary but I don't expect to ever be without saltwater. Even 50g is easy with this beast.

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I keep 45g of RO water on hand when this container is full, and it is lasting about 10 to 11 days as evaporation occurs.

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[Mitch9192]

Well it doesn't seem like anyone else is having the same problem. I will try sanitizing and maybe look into a new way of storing my water.

 

[melev]

Your storage container will get dirty over time. Ever notice the containers at the LFS? They get brown inside.

To clean yours out, mix up some bleach water at a 10:1 ratio (10 parts water, one part bleach) and scrub the container well using brushes, sponges, rags... get it completely cleaned up. Rinse it out well, let it air dry outside for 24 hours. Now it is ready to use, safe and clean.

For the containers like I have or what you see at the LFS, pour in some muriatic acid and let it soak on one area, then rotate the container slightly to cover the next section, then rotate and rotate and rotate. It'll look brand new again. Rinse it out well, let it air dry.

This needs to be done about twice a year.

 

[fperkins]

@Marc wrote:

+ 1 on Marc's method, although after conversation with some friends at a chemical factory up north, I won't use Chlorox brand bleach on my aquarium equipment (I bleach fry and grow out tanks pretty often, as well as buckets, tongs, pumps, heaters, etc).

The Chlorox folks add too much "other stuff", and it is way harder to keep up with what they add.

I find a cheap store brand bleach relieves a lot of concern regarding additives.

Another alternative is the HTH pool powders. This is a calcium hypochlorite product (versus sodium hypochlorite in bleach). It is a bit more challenging to use but there are posts (http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/List_of_Guidelines_for_Health_Emergency_Cleaning_and_disinfecting_water_storage_tanks.pdf) of how to mix / use. I think it does a better job of disinfecting, but usually reserve it for the once a year stuff.