Hi Guys,
I've gotten tired of my 5 gallon buckets of LFS RO/DI taking up so much space in my utility closet/fish supply room so I'm trying to figure out the best way to store my water.
I can't install my own RO/DI unit anywhere and it doesn't look like I'll get a decent return of investment on a smaller, portable one (29 gallon tank: 5 gallon WC/week max + ~5 gallons RO/DI top-off every two weeks = 30 gallons/month). Thus, I get my RO/DI from my LFS in 5 gallon buckets because they are the largest containers I can easily carry up the stairs to my apartment. I try to do this once a month, which means I have anywhere from 4-6 buckets taking up all of the space I have.
My thoughts are to use a large rubbermaid container (~20 gallons) to hold as much water as it can and to build a shelf/box around it where I can store salt and extra buckets.
Should I use this to store my RO/DI water and then mix my SW as needed? If so, is it OK to leave the RO/DI water stagnant (covered tightly) or should I have a pump or powerhead to generate flow (the pump would also be used to fill 5 gallon buckets to mix SW and for top-off water)? How long can I let this water sit for and if I leave it stagnant, can I leave the pump in there while it's not on?
The other option would be to use the large container for bulk mixing of SW for each month and to keep a few buckets of RO/DI off to the side for top-offs. I know if I went with this option, I would need to keep it circulating,but how long can I leave the SW mix in the container before I have to start worrying about bacterial growth or other uglies? I saw this thread, but it didn't seem to come to a conclusion.
Also, I'm using regular IO salt mix for now (want to switch to Kent at the end of this bucket), so I want to keep the build up of gunk limited to one or two containers.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I've gotten tired of my 5 gallon buckets of LFS RO/DI taking up so much space in my utility closet/fish supply room so I'm trying to figure out the best way to store my water.
I can't install my own RO/DI unit anywhere and it doesn't look like I'll get a decent return of investment on a smaller, portable one (29 gallon tank: 5 gallon WC/week max + ~5 gallons RO/DI top-off every two weeks = 30 gallons/month). Thus, I get my RO/DI from my LFS in 5 gallon buckets because they are the largest containers I can easily carry up the stairs to my apartment. I try to do this once a month, which means I have anywhere from 4-6 buckets taking up all of the space I have.
My thoughts are to use a large rubbermaid container (~20 gallons) to hold as much water as it can and to build a shelf/box around it where I can store salt and extra buckets.
Should I use this to store my RO/DI water and then mix my SW as needed? If so, is it OK to leave the RO/DI water stagnant (covered tightly) or should I have a pump or powerhead to generate flow (the pump would also be used to fill 5 gallon buckets to mix SW and for top-off water)? How long can I let this water sit for and if I leave it stagnant, can I leave the pump in there while it's not on?
The other option would be to use the large container for bulk mixing of SW for each month and to keep a few buckets of RO/DI off to the side for top-offs. I know if I went with this option, I would need to keep it circulating,but how long can I leave the SW mix in the container before I have to start worrying about bacterial growth or other uglies? I saw this thread, but it didn't seem to come to a conclusion.
Also, I'm using regular IO salt mix for now (want to switch to Kent at the end of this bucket), so I want to keep the build up of gunk limited to one or two containers.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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