Made ur own water

Hi, I have a question, I always get my water from the local reef store, n I was thinking on mixing my own salt/water n keep it on a container in my garage for water changes n stuff, so my question it's how long can I keep the water in a container or dosent matter has long I have it moving like with a powerheads or something?

 

Water in general as long as it is sealed like a gallon container can last a little over a year. If it's covered, but not air tight I'd have movement with a powerhead or a airstone. My premade saltwater I have a powerhead in it and my 60gal of RODI water I have an airstone in it.

 

You can mix it, and in a sealed container, keep it as long as you want. Once you're ready to use it, toss in a powerhead, heater and airstone (only if the powerhead doesn't have a bubbler) for a few hours.

At Home Depot, they have lids for their buckets that have gaskets, so they'll seal well.

 

I think it can last for months, if not indefinitely. You just need to be sure it's not getting any day light as it will grow lots of algae if it does. I would only use a power head and heater 12-24 hours in advance of when I plan to use it. That gives it time to get up to the correct temperature, as well as giving it time to get properly oxygenated.

 

I was informed on a UK forum that when RO/DI H2O is kept in a non-air tight container, it will soak up air born contaminants quickly. In turn making your filtered water dirty.

 

Ummm good replys,at locals reef I always see there containers open with powerheads to keep it mixing the salt/water, but maybe they sell most of the water quick that they don't need to put a lit in the bucket??

 

If there's salt in the water, it's not bad if the container is open for a long time. It's when it's pure RODI that it will grab all the nasties out of the air.

 

Ohhh ok, saltwater it's ok to be open air, but not RO water...

 

RO and especially RO/DI is very agressive. The treatment process has stripped msot of the positively and negatively charged ions from the water (contaminants and minerals) so it is very unstable and is trying to get back to its natural "dirty" state. It will strip things out of the air, dust, dirty containers and tools or pumps, your hands, anything or anywhere it can find ions to replace what it has lost.
Once you add salt the water is back to its old self and very stable so can be left uncovered athough I find personally after a few days it starts to take on a rank smell so I don't keep mixed saltwater for more than a few days. I store RO/DI in capped or sealed 5G jugs for months on end though with no negative results and my topoff container is a 23 gallon Rubbermaid recycling can with a loose fitting lid and the TDS is still at 0-1 even after days or weeks.