Pressurized RO Tank - Safe for DI water?

[Nano_Addict]

Hello!

 

I'm in the process of setting up a larger (55 gal) tank and water change station.  I have very limited space for water storage which means I will likely only be able to store fresh water and not the fully mixed saltwater. 

 

My question is, has anyone used a pressurized RO tank like the one shown in the link below to store RO/DI water?  What I'm really wondering about is whether it's safe to store DI water in a metal container.  I can't seem to find any information that looks reliable after a few google searches.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ISPRING-20-Gal-Metal-Reverse-Osmosis-Water-Storage-Tank-T20M/206869113

 

Thanks!

[Nano_Addict]

bump!

[jservedio]

Yes, it's safe for DI water as well, but the bigger question is why do you want to have a pressurized reservoir at all - especially one that's so small and expensive? You don't want to be drinking your DI water (it doesn't taste good - use RO for that), so you don't need it to be pressurized to dispense it. If you are just storing DI water and aren't going to be storing ASW as well (as in not doing a 2-tank system), just get a cheap, unpressurized food-grade water storage tank. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, can be drilled for bulkheads if you want to add a 2nd tank at some point in the future, and are way less expensive. A 20-55g water storage tank from ULINE or similar is only going to be $50-80 depending on shape, size, and color.

[Nano_Addict]

1 hour ago, jservedio said:

Yes, it's safe for DI water as well, but the bigger question is why do you want to have a pressurized reservoir at all - especially one that's so small and expensive? You don't want to be drinking your DI water (it doesn't taste good - use RO for that), so you don't need it to be pressurized to dispense it. If you are just storing DI water and aren't going to be storing ASW as well (as in not doing a 2-tank system), just get a cheap, unpressurized food-grade water storage tank. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, can be drilled for bulkheads if you want to add a 2nd tank at some point in the future, and are way less expensive. A 20-55g water storage tank from ULINE or similar is only going to be $50-80 depending on shape, size, and color.

Hmmm you make several good points, perhaps I'm overthinking the setup entirely.  My thought around the pressurized tank was that it would be nice to be able to send water over a distance (20ish ft) without the use of a pump since I don't have an electrical outlet near where the water station will be. I do have a separate pressurized tank for my RO only water.

 

 When you mention the ULINE containers, I'm assuming you're talking about these? https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19418/Drums/Plastic-Drum-15-Gallon-Closed-Top-Natural  The container needs to be small in order to fit into the space I have, so I'm limited to probably no more than 20 gallons, which on a 55 gallon tank is more than enough for ATO and water changes.

 

I've also found these tanks, but the price for shipping is absurd.  Only nice thing is that they come drilled and threaded for a bulkhead. https://www.plastic-mart.com/product/8579/20-gallon-plastic-water-tank

[jservedio]

23 hours ago, Nano_Addict said:

Hmmm you make several good points, perhaps I'm overthinking the setup entirely.  My thought around the pressurized tank was that it would be nice to be able to send water over a distance (20ish ft) without the use of a pump since I don't have an electrical outlet near where the water station will be. I do have a separate pressurized tank for my RO only water.

 

 When you mention the ULINE containers, I'm assuming you're talking about these? https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19418/Drums/Plastic-Drum-15-Gallon-Closed-Top-Natural  The container needs to be small in order to fit into the space I have, so I'm limited to probably no more than 20 gallons, which on a 55 gallon tank is more than enough for ATO and water changes.

 

I've also found these tanks, but the price for shipping is absurd.  Only nice thing is that they come drilled and threaded for a bulkhead. https://www.plastic-mart.com/product/8579/20-gallon-plastic-water-tank

So I've got a 50g tank with a 20g sump and only do 5g water changes specifically so I can still do it with a single 5g bucket because I don't have a mixing station either. I go through about 7g a week in ATO and another 5g every 1-2 weeks for a water change, so a 15-20g container will give you at least a week of water, maybe even two. It's not exactly a lot of water to be moving, so if possible you might as well just use gravity instead of a pump and save yourself a ton of money and hassle.

 

Also, if you don't have a sump, you should get quite a bit more time out of 15-20g since your 55g tank without a sump would only have about half the surface area of my lagoon, so you should get a lot less evaporation. If you add a hood, even less evaporation considering your weather is pretty much the same as mine here in NC.

 

I was actually thinking of these https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-11861/Drums/Plastic-Drum-30-Gallon-Closed-Top-Blue because they are only 3" wider than the pressurized system you linked to and 1" shorter, so unless you were really stuffing it in somewhere, takes up roughly the same space. I have a ULINE account for my business so they are the default place for me to get stuff like this, but the Plastic Mart container is probably better. Just remember, with commercial supply warehouses like Plastic Mart you don't have to ship stuff - they have warehouses in a lot of states and probably one in Virginia - consider calling them to see if you can pick it up so you don't have to pay like $50 in shipping.

[Nano_Addict]

@jservedio Thanks for all the info!  Uline definitely seems the way to go.  I'll have to look into warehouses around here and see what I can find.