r.o resavoir?

[genzod66]

i have a 32 gallon heavy duty rubbermaid trash can,plastic, how long can you store r.o water for top offs??is there a time frame?

[Denver aquarist]

As long as you keep a heater and powerhead on it, you will be good til you do your next water change. I don't keep mine full for more then a month when I do the next change.

[rbursek]

You do not need to keep RO/DI heated and do not need to have a PH in it, just keep it covered.

[AZDesertRat]

RO/DI water will store a long time if kept covered and protected from the elements. I don't keep mixed saltwater around for more than a few days myself as it starts to precipitate out in the can.

[BeesGoneWild]

ill keep ro/di water in a sealed five gallon pal for sometimes a month. Its perfectly good.

[cdbias2]

I use an airstone instead of a powerhead. It actually works better in some ways. I keep 30g stored.

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12211938#post12211938 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rbursek
You do not need to keep RO/DI heated and do not need to have a PH in it, just keep it covered.

I brought this up in another thread and nobody seemed to understand what I was talking about.

I would think you would want to keep stored water as cold as possible to inhibit the breeding of bacteria.

[Kep]

As long as the water is pure RO, and you keep the nutrients out, there should be no bacterial growth in the water.

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12212998#post12212998 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kep
As long as the water is pure RO, and you keep the nutrients out, there should be no bacterial growth in the water.

How's that? There's bacteria on everything in the world. To have no bacteria in the water you'd need to sanitize the container and lid, the R/O tubing after the DI resin, and not let air ever touch the water.

[cdbias2]

rjsilvers
There is also good and bad bacteria.
Could you elaborate on the bad bacteria that grows in well circulated RO water?

[Kep]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12213046#post12213046 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rjsilvers
How's that? There's bacteria on everything in the world. To have no bacteria in the water you'd need to sanitize the container and lid, the R/O tubing after the DI resin, and not let air ever touch the water.

Yes, there will be bacteria in the water, but it will not grow. Just like everything else, bacteria requires nutrients to grow. Just like how you won't get algae if you keep it in the dark.

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12213092#post12213092 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cdbias2
rjsilvers
There is also good and bad bacteria.
Could you elaborate on the bad bacteria that grows in well circulated RO water?

There's nothing wrong with circulating the water. I'm just bringing up the point that the warmer the water is the more bacteria you will have growing in the reservoir.

And the warmer this water is the more anaerobic bacteria will be present since warm water holds significantly less oxygen than cold water.

And many anaerobic bacteria produce toxins which can be harmful, like tetanospasmin.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Whether there are bacteria in it or not, there is no need to stir or heat RO/DI water. Even if some bacteria do manage to grow, there are not organics in it for them to metabolize and thereby deplete it of O2 and cause any problems with hydrogen sulfide and such that could happen in stagnant aquarium water. :)

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12213124#post12213124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kep
Yes, there will be bacteria in the water, but it will not grow. Just like everything else, bacteria requires nutrients to grow. Just like how you won't get algae if you keep it in the dark.

You're right. It just seems to me that it would be hard to keep all nutrients out of the reservoir if its exposed to air or you're fishing around in it with your bare hands or adding powerheads/heaters from fish tanks without sanitizing them, etc.

It just seems unnecessary to me to heat the water and -may- pose an unnecessary risk.

[Kep]

One reason to keep a heater in the RO reservoir is to help with dissolving the salts/chemicals for water changes.