Where to buy water storage tanks?

[sn4265]

I've been shopping around for a few days now for some water storage tanks. I'm looking to upgrade my water change station to eliminate my stupidity of forgetting about the RO/DI unit being on and having to mop up a gallon or more of water from the laundry room floor.

Anyway, I'm thinking of getting somewhere between a 40 and 60 gallon tank for mixing and holding my saltwater and then another 20 to 25 gallon tank for holding fresh ATO makeup water. I've looked at Plastic-Mart.com and they definitely have the kind of tanks I'm looking for and the prices are acceptable. They are acceptable that is until you add in the insane amount for shipping and handling. For instance, I looked up a 55 gallon tank that was a little over $100 and they wanted $181 for shipping/handling.

I saw another thread on here that mentioned free shipping on some tanks from somewhere but this was back in '09. Anyone able to recommend a better option either online or local to Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. I found one possibility, but figured I'd check here to see if there might be better options out there. Thanks in advance.

[Duvallj]

I would look at an animal supply store. If they don't have them in stock they might be able to order. Many are food safe.

Probably the best designed one I can think of are the ones that you throw in the back of a pick up and then go to a fill station.

http://www.matherpumps.com/images/products/Water_Tank_Norwesco_Premium_Weight_Storage_Above_Ground_Vertical_Pickup_PCO_Horizontal_Leg_Free_Stan ding.bmp

heres an example of round ones, many places have them in square too.

For the 20-25 gallon size look into brute trash cans. Many people around here including myself use them. Just about any town has em, food safe, and should hold up for about ever. About $20 ea.

[cody6766]

I bought mine from Plastic-mart and shipping takes FOREVER. I got my tank and it's great, but it took a long time. I shopped around a bit and couldn't find a much better price than what I pad anywhere else online. I may have missed some places, but I gave it a pretty good look. I was also design limited as I needed a tall, narrow cylinder. It limited my options a good bit.

[guserto4]

Try Craigslist

[downbeach]

I use the Brute cans you can buy at HD and Lowes. They come in 20, 32 and 44 gallon sizes. I would also recommend the dolly for these.

[AJ460]

here in ohio we have this place called the brew kettle. you brew your own beer there anyways if you can find a place around you that does this maybe you can buy one off them the just sold me 4 55 gallon drums for $80

[AJ460]

also try craigslist that is where I found mine

[nemosworld]

tractor supply, search storage tanks on their site.
should be one available near you.

[oceanlife83]

try a place called Chemtainer. They have a location I know here in Memphis,Tn. They are pretty reasonable. A few lfs use them.

[sn4265]

Thanks for the suggestions. We have a winner!!! DUVALLJ

I have a local feed store just a couple of miles from my house and sure enough they have these blue, lidded food grade 55 gallon drums. Of course these are repurposed as they originally contained green chili peppers. I'll be rinsing, bleaching, rinsing, vinegar scrubbing, and rinsing again, but for under $20 they can't be beat.

[fishgate]

1. get an auto shutoff for the RO system
2. a large ATO may come back to bite you. If it fails, that is a lot of water that will be going into your tank overflowing and diluting it.
3. You are better off with the food grade brute cans on castors.

[sn4265]

1. get an auto shutoff for the RO system
2. a large ATO may come back to bite you. If it fails, that is a lot of water that will be going into your tank overflowing and diluting it.
3. You are better off with the food grade brute cans on castors.

Actually... I only have a 5 gal bucket for my ATO. I have no clue as to how to more automate that whole situation since I use saturated limewater that I mix up with Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime and about 125ml of vinegar. I have to manually fill my ATO bucket about every 5 days.

I plan to upgrade my bucket to one of my old Aquavitro Salinity salt buckets which I think is closer to 7 gallons, but I'm not overly concerned about dumping too much ATO water since I have it setup with dual float valves controlled by my Apex. Unfortunately, working in the sump this past weekend I accidentally broke the bracket on the high water safety stop float valve so I'll need to fix that.

The goal is for the 55 gal to hold NSW for a (yet to be purchased) LM3 to perform continuous water changes from. I'm really excited about this as I'm pretty horrible when it comes to water change consistency. Unfortunately, I'm not excited about having to drop about $500 on the LM3 setup for this.

[fltekdiver]

I have a 20 gallon tank for my ATO, on my 180

I have my Apex set for every 6 hours to turn on my Tunze 3155 ATO for 3 minutes.
This way the ATO can never overfill my sump

Been working like a charm

[adamwheel]

Second on tractor supply. They have an in stock notification for your store. No costly shipping.