RO water storage

I have a two part question relating to RO water. Until I can figure out what I want and can afford to do with buying an RO/DI unit I will be forced to keep buying it from my LFS 5 gals at a time. I'm running a 14g nano so my usage isn't huge - only top-off usage and 2 gal weekly water changes. My question is, while storing the water in the 5 gal spackle pails with lids do I need to aerate the water or will it be ok just to let them sit with no circulation? I know regular tap water would start to get rank after a few days or weeks time but not sure about RO water.

My second question is I'm putting myself at a big disadvantage by using RO only water and not RO/DI? None of the LFS's sell RO/DI - just RO - so I'm kind of stuck until I buy my own system.

 

I put mine into a large garbage can and aerate it. You could buy a smaller can. once a month I empty it completely and dry it . After letting it sit for a day I add more water this keeps bacteria away. some pepole rinse it in a 10% bleach water solution, but if you do rinse, rinse, rinse.

 

If its plain RO or RO/DI water it will keep almost indefinitely as long as the pails are covered and out of temperature extremes. If its mixed saltwater I try not to keep it for more than a week or so tops.

RO is much better than tap water but can still contain some things that are not desirable such as nitrates, phosphates and silicates, although probably at low levels if at all. RO does 90-98% of the treatment but its the DI that does the final polishing. You could always buy an add on DI kit and siphon the purchased RO through it for final treatement. I wouldn't try tap water through the DI though as it will eat resin like crazy.

 

That's what I was thinking but wanted to confirm for sure. My thought was since the RO/DI filters remove 99% of the contaminants there wouldn't be much in the pure water to go bad particularly if it was only going to be int he container for a week or two at most.

Thanks

 

I currently fill 5 gallon buckets from my RO/DI and leave then covered for 1-2 weeks just fine. I do plan on getting a larger (55gallon drum possibly) storage contain but I will probably aerate it.

 

I store RO/DI in 5G capped drinking water bottles for months on end with no problems. I keep at least 25 gallons on hand at all times for water changes and emergencies.
For my auto topoff resrevoir I use this 23 gallon Rubbermaid recycling can found at HD and Lowes. Its rectangular shape allows it to fit most anywhere but it will stretch out of shape unless it is either contained on the sides or you make a collar which slips up under the rim like I ened up doing. Note I spaced the float switches far enough apart the water level has to drop 11 gallons before the RO/DI comes on to replenish the storage, this reduces the effects of TDS creep which happens with a float valve and keep my TDS at 0. I get enough evaporation the water turns over about once a week.