Cheap mixing containers?

[reelfishy]

Getting a little ahead of myself since my 67 gallon is far from seing any water but thought I'd plan ahead.

What do you all use to for a mixing container?

 

[Fig]

Brute trash can

 

[unbreakable]

grey brute trash can here too from Lowe's

 

[herozero]

container store. tons of (you guessed it) containers.

 

[shumoco]

I use a couple of 30-some-odd gallon containers that I got from Wal-Mart. 13 bucks each, lids included. One has a float valve and is constantly topped off with RO. I pump RO to the other one with an MJ1200 and a hose to mix salt. The "salt can" has 2 or 3 cheap powerheads and a heater in it. I use the same MJ with tube to transfer saltwater to a container for water changes. Keep the lids on and RO and salt water stays clean. Leave the lid off and the salt gets all murky. If draining the salt water can, be sure and unplug the heater or the glass will crack.

 

[flyingace2005]

I went to the local cooking supply store that sells to resturants and factories. They sold me a bunch of used 55gal plastic drums that were used to store vinegar. I would check around and see if there is anything like this in your area.

 

[flyingace2005]

Hey fig whatsup?

 

[reelfishy]

Brute trash cans, plastic drums and Shumoco are you talking about those rubbermaids at wal-mart? That is what I was thinking about using as well but didnt know if it was sturdy enough.

 

[herozero]

my rubbermaid (25g) bows terribly when it is full. brute cans or commercial grade bulk food containers will hold up.

 

[reelfishy]

It bows? hmmm.... Guess I need to spend some extra dough.

 

[shumoco]

Here's a pick of the label on the trashcan. My cans don't bow, I agree that alot of them do, though.

 

[sedor]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15634085#post15634085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shumoco
I use a couple of 30-some-odd gallon containers that I got from Wal-Mart. 13 bucks each, lids included. One has a float valve and is constantly topped off with RO. I pump RO to the other one with an MJ1200 and a hose to mix salt. The "salt can" has 2 or 3 cheap powerheads and a heater in it. I use the same MJ with tube to transfer saltwater to a container for water changes. Keep the lids on and RO and salt water stays clean. Leave the lid off and the salt gets all murky. If draining the salt water can, be sure and unplug the heater or the glass will crack.

I was recently reading some topics about auto RO units with float valves and I thought I would share a little info even though you already probably know this. When using float valves with your RO unit you don't want to have the valve set where the RO unit will turn on for a couple minutes as every tiny bit of water leaves the bucket (like our top off units do). RO units are made to run consistently for hours at a time and by squirting spurts of water into your bucket, it won't be doing a very good job of cleaning the water.

 

[shumoco]

Ryandlf, the smallest amount that I remove at a time is 5 gallons, I do this to manually refill my ATO. I've always thought that having an RO plumbed into an ATO is a very bad idea. I had a skimmer overflow, which dumped about 8 gallons of RO into my tank. My tank is a 110 with about 15 in the sump, and even the 8 gallons caused a big enough swing to kill off both of my two-year old cleaner shrimp. It was a sad day. If the RO had been plumbed in, the whole tank would have been fresh water and my house would have flooded. Instead I just had a good 8 to 10 gallons in the stand and on the floor. Still not good, but not catastrophic. Good advice, though.

 

[reelfishy]

Thanks for the pic Shumoco.

 

[jbud2418]

I use a 55 gallon drum it works great you will just have to cut the top out.

 

[reelfishy]

when you guys do water changes do you poor the new water in the display or sump? My previous tank was a NC24 so this will be my first set up with a sump.

 

[Slakker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15639032#post15639032 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reelfishy
when you guys do water changes do you poor the new water in the display or sump? My previous tank was a NC24 so this will be my first set up with a sump.

I was confused on this at first when i set up my 58 system, but i always add water to the sump, that way it has at least some chance to get blended in before meeting up with your fish and corals.