r/o starage barrel

Diemaker

Active Member
I have 2 80 gallon food grade storage barrels that i've found i'm getting a TDS reading of 20ppm. I've tested my r/o water with 2 different readers and have a reading of zero. I'm not sure if there just need a quick vinegar bath or they are leaching from the plastic. I thought i read somewhere a long time ago to run kalk mix in the mixing barrel and this will help with any leaching. Thoughts on this
 
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DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
http://m.wikihow.com/Identify-Food-Grade-Buckets

This link may have some info. Food Grade plastic is not supposed to leach anything, that's what I thought anyway.
I'm sure you paid a lot for containers that size....Have they been used for anything except water storage?
Another member is having similar issues right now also:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/where-is-all-this-tds-coming-from.94310/

I think I may need to be re-testing mine :ponder2:
Sometimes I make up my WC water a day or 2 in advance & I always keep 10g RO-Di water pulled up.
 

Diemaker

Active Member
I did pay a few bucks for these and they have never had anything in them other then R/O water. I haven't cleaned them yet and that could be the problem but i'm sure i've heard of ppl using kalk mixed with water for a few days to help seal them up.
 

blackbeltmom

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
Marc Levenson spoke to our reef club Saturday. He spoke on this exact thing. It is probably not that your container is leaching, it is that you need to clean your water containers at least once a year or you will get TDS readings like this. He recommends cleaning it muriatic acid. I think he also said you could use bleach and water.
 

jaws789832

Member
Wow, once a year? I do mine about once every 2 months (4 water changes). It's funny I do a lot of stuff in this hobby by sense of smell. If my tank smells different I check numbers and if my water containers smell of anything it's time to clean them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Diemaker

Active Member
ok so I cleaned my water barrels with vinegar and mixed up a batch of new salt water. i've noticed that after about a week or so I'm getting a brown scum in the barrel and in the feed line from my auto water changer line. The line pulling the water out and down the drain is clean and fine.

There's not really any light getting to the barrel as they are in my basement and I have very small windows down there. The containers are the white food grade plastic. Not sure if I have some sort of alge growing in there are covers on the tanks. Should I try to wrap them in a blanket so they are completely dark?

I have check my tds and it's zero and di resin is new also using i/o r/c if that matters anyone else having this problem?
 

Diemaker

Active Member
so finally got to the bottom of this problem. This is issue with reef crystals it has somthing to do with the binding agents and causes no problems
 
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