What container to mix water

[Fast Eddie H]

Ok, I know this subject has probably been beaten to death, but what plastic container should I be using to mix my salt water? I've heard that I should be using a food safe plastic, but the problem is that this is not stated on any of the labels, so when I get to the store, I have no idea what is safe to buy. Any suggestions please?

[schoch79]

Most people use 5 gallon buckets or even plastic trashcans like you can buy at any local hardware store.

[jjmg]

I use a couple of 32 gal Rubbermaid Brute garbage cans from Lowes. Never had a problem. Get the heavy duty ones for a few dollars more, the cheap ones bow out and scare me. Mine are gray and the bar code is 8687614553. I'm not sure if that code changes by store, but I don't think so. I've been using them for a couple of years now.

[zoomfish1]

Depends on how much you want to mix at a time. Rubbermaid Brute trashcan for large quantities. New 5g bucket for smaller quantities. Just wash them out with vinegar and water and your good to go.

[phoenix]

I use a rubbermaid trashcan with the wheels - makes it easy to move if I have several gallons of water made up

[Fast Eddie H]

So is it just a myth that the contaiber has to be "Food Safe"? Will any plastic tote or trash can work?

[mjm1969]

Rubbermade brute here. They sell a dolly to attach to the bottom so you can move it when it's full. It's what the LFS uses so I figured it was safe.

[RTKBA308]

I use the Brute too, with the wheels. The wheels cost as much as the can, but very much worth it!!!:D

[creep]

I use a rubbermaid 18gal container that I bought at Lowes for about $6. I only usually mix up either 5 or 10 gallons at a time, so its perfect. I actually bought two of them One is for mixing saltwater, the other is used to store my RODI. It does bow a little bit, but so far hasn't been a problem. I keep about 15 gallons of water in teh freshwater tub.

[gbtrain]

I use 2 Brute cans, 1 30g to mix salt water and 1 40g to store ro/di water

[murfman]

You need to be careful of which trash can you use. Some leech impurities into the water and cause your TDS to go up. I have two that I use, a black rubbermaid on wheels for mixing my salt water. I used to store RO/DI water in it but it would leech into the water. I now use the blue rubber maids for RO/DI and have no issue there.

The reason that I use the black one to mix salt (I know someone is thinking if it leeches in RO/DI, then why is he mixing salt water in it) RO/DI has no impurities so it "pulls" them from other locations IE the container. With the salt water, you have minerals and impurities already in the mixture so, it doesn't pull out of the container. JMHO though, I have had no issues with dinoflageats (sic) or other bad algaes since I changed containers.