Hi, Can anyone tell me if ro water can be left in a food safe 55gal contaner for a few weeks or will it go bad. Do you need a powerhead or heater etc. Please give imput on this thanks:?:
Probably depends on your particular environment....
Is the container in a climate-controlled space? Are you adding any new water periodically?
I keep both RODI and pre-mixed saltwater in 30 gallon trash barrels in my garage--the saltwater barrel gets a heater and powerhead/pump etc,
but my RO/DI water barrel gets nothing (and it seems to do fine.)
However, I am always subtracting water from it every day, and adding new RO/DI water to it 1-2 times/week--so the water is never just sitting stagnant for more than a day or 2....
(Not having a heater on the RO/DI water helps, I think--since that water stays "wicked cold" this time of year--I think the low temp helps keep organics from growing....)
FWIW: I left full barrels full for my "reef-sitter" to use for top-offs while I went out of town for 10 days....
I emptied both barrels and refilled them after I got back from vacation (just to be safe)
The colder RO/DI water can didn't need any cleaning but the heated saltwater sure did! (brown crud on the bottom/sides....)