What should i do?

[Twilton]

I currently have my pico set up at home, were across the road I can go to the LFS and get RO water, it's good quality and iv alway used it.

 

The problem is that when I move my tank to my student accommodation this is 3hours away from my hometown. So i need to sort something out water wise.

 

Im not allowed to add a RO unit into the house because of the landlady which is fair enough.

 

Iv heard about people using distilled water but really dont want to change to this.

 

Im just wondering how long can RO water be kept? I store it usually out of light in a 25l container with an air tight lid and is used up after 2-3weeks. However when i move i can take enough water for 2months or so, But just dont know how long it will last? Stagnent water etc..

 

I dont have a LFS near my accommodation at all.

 

Any suggestions and or advice would be really helpful thankyou!

[ferissp]

So you were using SW mixed at your LFS and now you can't- or you were mixing your own?

 

If you were mixing your own:

 

Go to the grocery store. By 2.5g or 1 gallon jugs of purified/distilled/baby water. Just make sure it isn't spring water and doesn't say on it something about added minerals for flavor. It is not that expensive. Especially for a PICO.

 

If you were buying pre-mixed saltwater:

 

3 options

 

Get some POTABLE water containers from a marine store. This is the 'right' thing to do. These are meant to carry drinkable water for long periods of time and look just like gas cans. They should have a tight fitting lid and typically don't allow light to pass through the plastic so algae and bacteria can't form. Get these filled with your water from the LFS.

 

I used to buy my premixed SW from the LFS and had them put it in 5 gallon regular bought-from-lowes gas cans (plastic). You can store in these but you should store in a cool dark place (no matter what container) and check for phosphates and nitrates regularly to make sure there is no seepage from the container. I used to store for a few weeks. I don't see why longer would be a problem.

 

Third option is to find someone locally with a large tank - search on here, ask around, etc. Sometimes they will sell some premixed or RO/DI water.

[AZDesertRat]

RO/DI will keep almost forever if its kept capped or sealed. Mixed saltwater, at least forme, starts to smell after a couple weeks at the most so I mix mine right ahead of time and only keep RO/DI on hand.

 

For a Pico you don't need much of either so buy a couple jugs or a jug and a bucket for mixing the saltwater in and fill the jug once a month or whenever you need to. WalMart and any camping or outdoor store will sell blue rectangular jugs that hold anywhere from 3 to 7 gallons and are food safe. Easy to fill and transport.

[Twilton]

Thankyou very much with your reply.

 

Sorry I was so vague with my question haha. I never bought pre mixted salf water I mix my own. The gas tank you are on about are the container I was meaning with the parm sized lid with air tight seal on. I didn't know wether it would be ok to store it in these for long periods of time that was all .

 

When it comes to changing my water, the night before I pour it into a 5 gallon bucket with a powerhead and heater and then leave it until morning when I do the change, after checking the salinty etc...

 

So just to comfirm - I can store plain RO water in these containers for up to two months without it going bad? Kept in a cool dark cuboard?

 

Thankyou very much for your reply again mate

[AZDesertRat]

I've stored RO/DI for 6 months or more with no problems as long as it is capped or sealed in a food safe container. Most HDPE containers are fine and I have seen many use plastic gas cans since its made of the same stuff and Tupperware or Rubbermaid, they just didn't spend the time and money to get it food rated since its very expensive and time consuming and it was never intended to carry water in the first place. Same plastic though. My buddy owns a plastic molding business and before selling the rights to a large corp. he made stuff for all the major plastics companies under comntract, it all came off the same line and used the same plastic mix.

[Twilton]

Fair enough then .

 

Thankyou very much for all your help, thats really taken a worry away