help my ro water is doing something weird

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cichlidmania26

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
43
Location
oregon
Does anyone know how to sterlize a 55 gallon food grade barrel? My ro di water is reading a 0.044 ppm
 
did you run it for a while before testing?
i don't think much of that TDS is coming from an empty, brand new, barrel.
 
Is that a typo? If not, what type of meter are you using that you can even read .044 ppm??

TDS doesn't give any indication of "toxic levels". It just gives you an indication of how much "Total Dissolved Solids" are in the water. No way to know exactly what those solids are.
 
Well ya I even bleached it out than dechorlinated it. I bout it at a farm and feed store when I got home it smelled like kool aid. So I've been cleaning everyway I know. Somebody said vinger?
 
Well, if you bleached and dechlorinated it, that's about as clean as you're going to get it.

Again... do you really mean 0.044 ppm??? Or do you mean 44 ppm? Or do you mean 4.4 ppm? I know of no consumer-grade TDS meter that can measure to 0.044. What your actual TDS readings are will probably change the answers you're getting from us. If it's 4.4 or 44, it might have nothing to do with your barrel and everything to do with it being time to change your DI resin.
 
Looks like we were posting at the same time!

I'm getting a bit lost. Not sure if I'm seeing extra periods in your typing or a decimal point. I *really* don't think you're getting a reading of less than 0.0

Are you saying 014, like fourteen?
 
Well this isn't my first rodeo. I've done lots of testing. My ro di water in a cup is 000 on my meter. After I put it in the barrel it goes to like 002 than after it sits in there over night its back up to 012 on my meter. Now let me say it still smells like kool aid
 
Looks like we were posting at the same time!

I'm getting a bit lost. Not sure if I'm seeing extra periods in your typing or a decimal point. I *really* don't think you're getting a reading of less than 0.0

Are you saying 014, like fourteen?

Im with you, the lowest my TDS meter goes is 1ppm and I think that is pretty standard. I havent heard of readings less than 1ppm but more than 0ppm.
If it is really "0.044ppm," I don't think there is anything to worry about... in regards to having too high of TDS that is.
Cichlidmania- Can you show us a link of what you are using to test TDS?
 
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Ya there's no period on my meter I just thought there was. Ill post a pic of my meter. But does anyone know how to clean this thing out. Atleast the odor?
 
Here they are
 

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As far as reading the meter, you're correct - no decimal point. If it reads "044", then that's 44 ppm.

From your earlier post with the TDS readings at different stages, it definitely sounds like something is being picked up by the water from your barrel. One thing that concerns me is that you said it's "food grade", but you picked it up at a feed store. Is it truly FDA "food grade", meaning approved for contact with human food? Or is it just "good enough" for use around animal feed?

Reason I ask is that in the past, I read somewhere on a forum (not here) about someone using a feeding trough to store water. Long story short, something leached into the water from the trough that killed a bunch of livestock. The general consensus was that whatever was used as a mold release in the manufacture of the plastic trough, tainted the water.

If you cleaned it with bleach and soaked it with dechlorinator, I don't know of any better way to clean it. It's going to be more thorough than a vinegar bath. But I'd be concerned if it still has some type of odor even after the bleach bath.
 
Well thank you for helping. Ya it is blue and blue stands for food grade. I guess that's why the horse food barrels are brown and a different style. These barrels are for food liquid. That's why it smells like kool aid. But I'm going to bleach it one more time and dechlorniated. Thanks again. All I can do is keep trying to clean it and check my readings
 
Well thank you for helping. Ya it is blue and blue stands for food grade. I guess that's why the horse food barrels are brown and a different style. These barrels are for food liquid. That's why it smells like kool aid. But I'm going to bleach it one more time and dechlorniated. Thanks again. All I can do is keep trying to clean it and check my readings

Blue doesn't stand for food grade, I know this for a fact because I work at a chemical plant and we get in blue drums that is not food grade. But try using IPA(rubbing alcohol) thats what we use to clean our mixing tank at work. Or we just blast it with very hot water, I mean hot.
 
Well guys its not working. I filled the 55 gallon barrel with scalding hot water added half a gallon and a gallon of apple cider. Than I ran the pump in there cycling the water for four hours. Than I drained it and rinsed it out a bunch of times. Than filled it back up add like a cup of dechlorinator and let that sit over night. Than I drained it and it stills smells like kool aid. The only thing I havnt done is fill it up with ro di water and test it with the tds meter and see if it will stay clean... any ideas. Havnt tired baking soda.
 
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