Water storage

[mikeross]

I was wondering what everyone is doing for water storage?

My setup will hold about 230 gallons of water, 13 gallons in each of the 14 bins and about 50 gallons in my 100 gall res.

I planned to have 5 55gal containers all plumbed together to store water.. My water comes out of the tap @ 50ppm so i am using straight tap water. Can i just leave air stones in the water over night and ph it before I do a rez change?

I assume you guys arent completely cleaning out your systems during res changes or are the bins completely empty before you add the new water?

I under stand how most are plumbing there systems for quick drainage but once your refill the system with new water do you let it run for a couple hours then drain that new water and add fresh water to mix nutes in? seems like a lot of water and I personally have no way of storing that much water.

any insight on your guys res change method is much appreciated.

 

[Giddeon]

I too was wondering on the change out of water in the system for each week, my plan was to have plain Ph'd water stored in a 100 gal rez and another 100 gal rez with nutes mixed up for the next week (this rez has water sit in it for a couple days then nutes mixed and Ph'd a few hours before a system change out) then drain the system as much as it will drain, pump in the plain Ph'd water run that for 30 min or so and then drain that water out of the system and then pump in the Nutrient water in to the System at this time it should be ready for the next week, other than the large amount of water used does anyone see a problem with that schedule?

I might also keep another rez filled with a half to 3/4 strength nute solution depending on how much my girls drink

 

[noone88]

You don't need to leave airstones in your water tanks before putting the water into your reservoirs. The aeration doesn't last that long. Your airstones in the mini-resses and the waterfall effect will keep it plenty aerated.

What I do is this during res changes:

*lights out*
-Turn off chiller, pump out nutrient water using Little Giant-5 sump pump
-Add in tap water, let it run circulate in my system for 1-4 hours, depending on whatever crap I had to do today. It will easily pick up 100-200ppm of junk in the mini resses, Make sure to leave the screen on to pick up dead roots. Scrub the inside of my control res.
- Come back, sump pump out the mini-flush water
- Add in my RO water (PPM should be like 80-100), turn on my chiller, add in my nutrients.
- pH the water right before lights go on.

 

[mikeross]

thanks for the reply. Those 100 gallon garbage cans sound money bro for your setup.

I get these food grade containers for 15 bucks each... normally sell for only 18. I can also get a 250 gallon container with a 2" ballvalve on the bottom for only 100 but its 40" wide and i can't fit it through my door opening.

I planned to buy 6 of these containers and install bulkheads on the bottom and connect them all. I would only need access to one of them since they are all plumbed together... one big 330gallon holding tank.

Do you guys think i will run into any problems with the bulkheads leaking with so much water pressure around it? I guess technically each bulkhead would only have 55 gallons or pressure on it or is it 330 gallons since their all plumbed together... i confuse myself but I am sure some people know what i mean lol.

Off to pick up more equipment...

 

[DazedNconfussed]

look on craigs list, there are used 275 gallon food containers with aluminum framing, they use to transport cooking oil and stuff.....I have seen them from $35-$150....look very sturdy....here is a link to one off sacramento craigslist to give you an idea, but most cities have them also....

 

[mikeross]

those are the exact container I mentioned in the post above. They are great and only 100 locally to me but they are 40" wide and wont fit through my door opening. I would be using one of those if i could fit it downstairs... no way around that 40" with in my house.

 

[DazedNconfussed]

I didnt even see that post...LOL....thats a bummer it wont fit....those do look perfect dont they....

 

[Xceptional]

Your tap water sounds great, Just keep bubbles going in it and put a pump in there to keep the water circulating and your water is good forever, In fact once it sits in your 55 gall for 24hrs bubbling its even better then when you got it out of the tap. Clorine will dissipate into the air over nite. As for flush's and res changes, The system will kinda flush its self when your filling for the new res. The small bit of residual stuff left should be no big deal since your adding nutes again, And even at the end when your flushing your gonna wanna be at 300-500ppm's anyhow so after dumping the last full nute res and filling with straight water you'll have some ppm's left over in there.

Are you by a Home Depot? I just noticed they got 97 gall trash cans now with a fixed lid. Commercial Grade and there were like 100.00 I think, Im going today to get one.
My system uses 100 gallons so I got lucky.
2 of these and 55 drum and you should be golden.

good luck!

chlorine evaporates at 84 degrees and chloramine does not evaporate at all and alot of big cities are switching to that! this comes from a buddy in the hot tub industry who maintains hot tubs for a living.

 

[Lost]

chlorine evaporates at 84 degrees and chloramine does not evaporate at all and alot of big cities are switching to that! this comes from a buddy in the hot tub industry who maintains hot tubs for a living.

You nailed it. In Cali we have Clorimine and you can bubble for a year and your not going to remove it. It has to be filtered to remove it, even them most filters dont remove all of it. If you want to bubble it, you have to add an aquarium chemical to convert the Clorimine to Chlorine and then bubbling will remove it.

Peace :)