RUM Barrel for RO water storage

[sonubhai]

I got a 55 gal blue barrel of craigslist, that was used to store rum. I want to use it to store RO water for water changes and ATO. Its gonna sit in the backyard under the shade of the house. How to I go about cleaning it for use I washed it today with garden hose and its drying out at the moment.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Melev at a speaking engagement, recommended water and light bleach. then let it sit in the sun do detox the bleach.
It might be on his website. Melevs reefs.

 

[ludnix]

I agree with salty, I might add to do rinse with R/O as well. R/O is great at picking up materials from it's container so I might let it pick up any errant bleach or anything willing to leach in the first batch, then dump or use as gardening water and use the next batches for fish.

 

[sonubhai]

ok, let me try that. I will go home and check to see what it looks like after last nights washing. If it dosent smell I would think its ready. to put RO water on

 

[AZDesertRat]

Don't use too much bleach or it will stick to the plastic. Fresh bleach is 30,000 to 50,000 PPM or 3% to 5% strength. It only takes 12 ounces of bleach to make 50 gallons of a 100 PPM solution. More is not better in this case. Believe it or not, chlorein is only partially soluble in water which is why you get a slimy feel with too much bleach.
If you wanted to treat 50 gallons to a 1 PPM drinking water level it would only take 0.13 ounces or about 1/10 of one ounce!
http://ndep.nv.gov/bsdw/docs/disinfect_drinking_water.pdf

 

[sonubhai]

@AZDesertRat I dont think i am gonna use bleach, too scared to. I am just gonna wash it good let it dry and start filling it up.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Another good option is distilled white vinegar. It is a weak acid so cleans well and is reef safe. I use vinegar on all my pumps every couple of months and they come out like new. Don't even have to rinse well if you don't want to.

 

[ludnix]

Another good option is distilled white vinegar. It is a weak acid so cleans well and is reef safe. I use vinegar on all my pumps every couple of months and they come out like new. Don't even have to rinse well if you don't want to.

Good point there, at worst it slightly lowers your pH. Hard to go wrong with something people dose their aquariums with already.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Or put on their salads!

 

[sonubhai]

I guess the goal is to get the rum smell out, right ?

 

[peterj66]

I don't think that the rum is all that dangerous to fish either. A lot of people dose a combination of vodka,vinegar and sugar to lower nitrates. A good rinsing should be sufficient.

 

[AZDesertRat]

You probably will never get all the smell out if it was used for very long. I used to get 5 g buckets that pickles came in and the smell never went away.

 

[sonubhai]

Hopefully the fish don't get drunk off residual alcohol.