brown stuff in mixing trashcan

[BoricuaMojao]

I have a brute trashcan that I use to mix my water.

I had only RO water aereating there for about a week. It developed some kind of brown scum on the surface.

I thought that it may had been something that fell into it from the air and I just skimmed it out with a paper towel.

I added the salt, and left it mixing for another week, and the same thing happened. There a brownish scum on the water's surface and the trashcan's surface.

I checked it for nitrates and it registers zero. I suspect it may be phosphates, but have no test kit.

Does this sound plausible to anybody? brown algae maybe?

BM

 

[Juck]

Probably something bacterial,,, nuke your Brute with bleach/water and see if it happens again,,, if it does,, it's probably coming through your RO/DI somehow.

 

[daywn]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=871921

 

[onehundred20]

great threads, now i have to go smell my trashcan and use this saltwater i mixed yesterday lol.

 

[waterfaller1]

That's weird..Cootiebug said the same thing happened to him recently.

 

[BoricuaMojao]

thanks

thanks

my container doesn't smell though.

This container in particular I had not used in about a year. It had been full of tap water since last hurricane season . That water never developed anything.

I had been mixing water in 5 gallon buckets. But now I needed more water, so I dumped the water from the brute, rinsed it with fresh tap, washed it with vinegar and then rinsed with RO.

I am still suspecting my RO water coming in with phosphates, but I am not sure if that is plausible.

BM

 

[cschweitzer]

Do you have a TDS meter for your RO? If not, I recommend it. Tells you the total dissolved solutions.

 

[BoricuaMojao]

yup

yup

Total dissolved solids have not changed in my RO effluent.

That's part of my puzzle right now.

BM

 

[Aquaman]

Are you keeping the lid tightly closed on the can while the RO water is in it? Where are you keeping this can? I doubt its bacterial, more likely is the water is leaching chemicals out of the trash can.
RO water is Extreamely aggresive since it has no minerals or Dissolved organics in it, It reacts with everything around it to reach a balance. RO will pull stuff right out of the air and leach chemicals from the can itself.
Even though the can maybe new or fairly new if the trash cans are not designed for processing food and I doubt its labeled as such then they are not manufactured to the same specs as a container that is labeled "Food grade"
With all that said I use a gray trash can and have for years and other than a slight film that develops if water sits in it for too long i've never had a issue so it could be there were a batch manufactured that had issues.

 

[BoricuaMojao]

Aquaman

Aquaman

The Brute I have hept it with a loose lid right beside my tank. It even keeps the same temperature as my tank.

I think I am just going to chuck this batch and try again, but using the water soon, without letting it sit in the can too long for it to potentially leach anything.


BM

 

[orb]

i get the same brown stuff in my mixing container. it's also a brute trashcan. i use tropic marin salt. it's not in the container with the fresh water. both are stored in the garage. i've never worried about it, and havent seen any problems using the water without removing that stuff. i have noticed that there is more scum if i add all the salt then add water. rather than adding the water and slowly adding in salt while water is mixing.

 

[Aquaman]

Hmm, I don't use my brute to mix saltwater, I've always used the 5 gallon buckets that IO salt came in. Perhaps theirs a corrolation between the RO water and mixing in salt that reacts to the container.