Ammonia smell from make up water?

[OctaviousMonk]

I have a 20 gallon rubbermaid container on wheels that I use to make and store 15 gallons of make up water for changes. Every wed I use 10 gallons give or take, leaving 5 gallons for emergencies, etc. I then fill it back up with fresh RO/DI and IO salt to let it age until the next change. It gets almost constant movement from a power head as well as oxygenation from an air stone.
I have recently started noticing a distict Ammonia smell when I lift the top after it has been closed for a while. I tested the water and got a 0 reading for ammonia. Should I be concerned, or change my routine in any way? Maybe only make what I need and no extra?
Thanks for any info.

 

[KathyC]

I think this is an excellent question and something I have also wondered about.
I have 3 different vessels I store/mix my water in. One is a 32g Brute (food safe) can and the other 2 are 8g foodsafe pails. I find that if I don't dry them out between use and leave a little SW in the bottom, mine too stink like hell.
When I do wipe them down before drying them, they have a slight light brownish goo in them. Is this residue from the salt mixture?

Anyone else finding this?
Do most folks dry out their water mixing vessels, or wipe them down every now & then?

 

[OctaviousMonk]

Actually when I take the lid of there is sometimes condensation/splashing from the rising air bubbles. When I let that dry without wiping it down I get a brownish residue, almost like a very light skimmate.

 

[ShaunW]

Bacteria are present and causing the odors.

My make up water is a concentrated salt solution, i.e. 1.04 - 1.06 salinity. At this concentration of salt no bacteria nor any other living thing can survive (dead sea environment). You can store this indefinately and when you chose to add water to the tank take some of the concentrate out, mix it with fresh water to the correct salinity and use that for the water change.

 

[scumonkey]

Good tip Solbby, Thanks for that invaluable piece info!

 

[melev]

Cleaning the container with a 1:10 (bleach water) solution and letting it air dry for 24 hours will leave it ready for new water collecting. You can scrub out that film on the inside of the container and get a fresh start. Airing it out is very important.

And just in case, test your water for chlorine. Perhaps the filters in your RO system are done and chlorine is passing through them now. If that is the case, the membrane will be damaged. Chlorine test kits are cheap, found at any pool supply.

 

[KathyC]

Bacteria are present and causing the odors.

My make up water is a concentrated salt solution, i.e. 1.04 - 1.06 salinity. At this concentration of salt no bacteria nor any other living thing can survive (dead sea environment). You can store this indefinately and when you chose to add water to the tank take some of the concentrate out, mix it with fresh water to the correct salinity and use that for the water change.

Thanks for the info guys.
Shaun - I'd done this a couple of weeks ago when getting ready for the upgrade so that I could continue to make new water all day long and not have to worry about being sure the salt was fully 'melted' when I mixed it in w/ the rodi water to use immediately. My water got cloudy and stayed that way even after we ran a PH head it for a few more hours.
Any idea why that would have happened?
I didn't end up using that water because I was unsure what happened...

 

[melev]

By adding RO water to super salty water, it may remain cloudy. You should always add salt to the full volume of water, rather than pour water on salt. The reason is because it a little water with a lot of salt will be hyper-saline, and due to being so concentrated at first can cause precipitation. Too much alk & calcium, basically.

I won't use cloudy water either. If it doesn't look right, I won't risk it.

 

[OctaviousMonk]

hmm thanks for the info. I have been questioning the filters in my ro/di system. I was given a hand held Hannah TDS monitor that I am sure needs recalibration, but still got a reading of 8ppm. Would you guys consider that acceptable, or a sign that I need new filters? Either way I need to buy a calibration kit for this thing before buying new filters.