Hi guys, I'm new here and new to aquariums as well. Although my tank is not setup yet, I have of course been doing months of research.

My question is, what is the best way to clean a slightly used Rubbermaid container for mixing salt water in? I bought it new for that purpose, but had to put a bunch of things in it when I moved. No chemicals or liquids or anything, just random stuff around my room. How can I make sure to have this clean enough my mix water in again? Thank you.

A brush and some hot water should be sufficient providing you are POSITIVE nothing you put in there would have left a residue. It's critical that you don't use any sort of soap though.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=143007

id use some vinegar too. Vinegar cleans well and is safe

I mix up half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and go to work

+ 1 on white vinegar and water mixture

It's also a great cleaner to use around the house- and cheap too!

Whatever you use, just make sure to rinse thoroughly, then rinse again.

I just rinse with warm water, and use a wet CLEAN cloth or paper towel to wipe it down with inside. I do this, fill it up with RO/DI and then test the TDS. If it's @ 0, then I know the bucket is clean.

Funny you should bring this up. I just read an story about using a Rubbemaid container for mixing salt or using it to store Ro/DI water. I used to buy my water from my lfs but it had phosphate in it and I had a problem with hair algae so I got a RO/DI system from The Filter Guys to make my own water. The hair algae is gone but some of my corals have closed up like my Duncans, some Acan and clove polyps. Any way the story goes that the resin they use to make the can in molding could leach out chemicals. Go http://forum.marinedepot.com/Forum9-1.aspx and look for the title "Beware Rubbermaid trash cans". It sure makes sense to me. I just went out an bought a 30 gal. can made with FDA approved resin. I making my first batch of water right now. It's a little more cost than a $20.00 trash can but I lost a lot more in coral. I'm not sure that's what happened but some of the coral that shrunk up I took back to my lfs and after awhile they started to open back up. My water test are fine. I can say that my problems started after I started using the black can to store my water. Any one else have this prolem

That makes sense. This is why I solely use plastic paint style buckets, either the ones from Home Depot or similar. My current 8g RO/DI top-off reservoir is a never been used salt bucket from Teco. Never been used in that it was purely for display purposes, but never actually had salt in it. The bucket is a marbely dark gray color and has a nice ratchet style lid. My RO/DI is 0 TDS going in, and the half gallon that's left when my ATO no longer pumps out when empty, it STILL 0 TDS before I add fresh water in. I always test both to make sure nothing funny is going on. Using black vinyl tubing to deliver the water is always best too as clear can promote algae growth into the delivery line.

When I used to get my water from my lfs I would transport it in those 5 gallon bottles then one you use for a water cooler. When I switch to my own water I would only store my unsalted water in that Rubbermaid can and I would put the salt in those 5 gal. bottles and add water to it then add it to my tank. I'm going to use the water from my new storage can one that was made with FDA approved resin tonight for a water change and hopefully ( I know it's going to take time to see) some of my coral will open back up. I took a couple of Duncans and a Torch coral to my lfs to put back in their tank to see if they open, the same tank I got them from.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...ht=plasticizers

Bottom line is that it's never a bad idea to rinse and scrub any containers with bleach, vinegar, DI, then seawater before use. In an ideal world just use glass containers for all water mixing and holding.

It is also important to note that not all Rubbermaid trash cans are made equal. The BRUTE style are the ones typically suggested for SW and have been used w/o problems by thousands of people for years. I am not sure what type of can you bought but the BRUTE cans are not made in black. Their lower grade rubbish/garden cans will definitely cause problems and degrade in saltwater.

i use a light bleach solution for mine. like a 20:1 solution (19 parts water to 1 part bleach) bleach is the only thing that will kill bacteria and mold, both things that love warm and wet places. i got 55g and 20g drums i use to hold water and use for water changes.
vinegar is good to, but you'll need a good bit to clean with and it is too weak to really kill bacteria effectively and it wont kill mold.

I read the threads about BRUTE cans leaching chemicals too. The problem is that its difficult to find a large size container like the BRUTE that is reasonably priced AND FDA approved for food. Had a talk w/a guy at my lfs and they keep the salt water they sell in huge 800gal I think drums but those are food grade and made of the milky semi transparent plastic. He told me that he got them from US Plastics but the shipping was killer because of the size. I went to check out what all I can find at US Plastics and sure enough they have a ton of stuff but shipping really sucks on those things. BUT... they too sell the BRUTE cans from Rubbermaid in multiple colors, which peaked my interest because I thought it would be cool to get two, on for fresh one for salt/mix in different colors. After reading details on the products though it turnes out that only the Gray (the same ones sold @ Home Depot), White and I think one other color were FDA something something certified, which looked sort of like less "poisonous" to an untrained eye like mine. The BRUTES in the other colors apparently didn't have that same certifications, which means that they were more "poisonous". And I say "poisonous" really just to make a point here mainly. On the other hand, the BRUTEs are not really food containers, they are for trash removal... so I am not sure what that FDA certification really means.

spacey

Actually I think I am beginning to dissipate my dislike/bias against the BRUTE's ...

http://www.beer-wine.com/products/32-gallo...on-bucket-cover

Above is the white BRUTE. On US Plastics it says that Grey and White are FDA certified... and those guys are selling the white ones as beer/wine fermetation vessels. This sounds like food grade to me...

spacey