Water change container not food grade?

[Casey]

For sure dont skimp and get some cheap rubbermaid crap nothing for a reef is cheap ,get food grade with tight lid.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Casey

Air in homes is very dirty and full of dust always store water in air tight containers.

I have to ask this, I have 5 fans blowing over my reef, and that same very dirty air is getting blasted down on the water in my system 24/7, so why does it matter if my makup water has a little dust in it?

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Casey]

It doesnt matter a whole lot.most of us use fans but not on our clean top off water you are doing a water change with dirty water and then it gets even dirtier in the sump,wiskey you want to elimante any area of dirt especially for SPS,dont start out a water change with dirty water all my water changes are done with zero TDS readings.The bottom line is you have a tds reading in your container and I do not,we want to get your top off container water at zero and keep it there.

[spsluva]

I see the reasoning behind keeping the top-off container air tight but don't really think it is necessary. For the past 5 years I have stored my top-off water in open topped containers and the TDS always stays at 0 in the containers. I always run open topped tanks and sumps with fans so a lot more dirt will get into the tank from these sources than from the top-off water. Most of us are also running skimmers, which is another possible source of adding dirt and pollutants from the air through the air inlet unless you are using filter floss and carbon on the intake.

[VWD]

I do everything wrong, I do keep my ro water covered but the salt water I use a pump and the top is on loose, I also stay away from steralite containers, I have heard they are mildew resistance. Thank for that post on all the plastics, I was looking today for a large plastic sump for my frags tanks and found a 110 that is HDPE, I guess its good.

[jenajet]

okay so I have one that has the number 5. apparently it's food grade but also made of polypropolene(sp) which someone said leaches. so is it good or bad. Yes it's air tight.