Brute Cans Leaching Chemical's ?

[427HISS]

On my local reef club on Facebook, at least three members so far, have a little problem with hair algae. So one guy tested his water from his RO/DI system and was clean with his tests. Next he ran the same tests to the water that was sitting in a Brute can , and to his surprise, he had nitrates !

So I'm going to test the water in my two Brute cans. Many of us are using these, but it makes sense to me that their not "food grade or water drinking safe", so I assume they are possibly leaching some chemicals ?

So I've been researching safe containers, and it's not the cost of the barrels that are expensive, it's the shipping. The barrel is $75.00 to $150.00, but shipping is over $100-$140 !

I found local company's that has food grade containers that are round or rectangle. The round is $91.00 and the rectangle is $126.00.

Even though the latter is expensive, it has a bottom that already has a bulkhead installed as a drain or a pump can be attached. They are white but you can see the water level and the gallons are marked. My local distributor's have them from 5g-500g, and I'm looking at two 40g or 55g. I can even stack them.

A lot of reefers have these, but I'm letting those people that don't, see there are better than a garbage cans.

Anyway, have any of you tested any chemicals, nitrates, phosphates in your Brutes ?

(the bottom system was just on a search)

 

[Big G]

Great post. Here's the one I bought that's drinking water grade from Amazon

 

[User1]

what brute can are you using? The grey 44 gallon round is what I use and they are sold as "meets NSF 2, 21 approval and is USDA meat and poultry group listed, ensuring regulatory compliance for food storage and clean ability".

Not sure what all that means but these are the ones I've always used, and use two of them now in fact.

 

[WVNed]

I am using 3 Brutes. No problems after a year. I am keeping RO/DI (~100 gallons) in them all the time too.

 

[427HISS]

I just thought,...since the reefers are local, I wonder if ours were a "bad batch" ?
I'll wait on this to see if anyone here has problems.

 

[427HISS]

Great post. Here's the one I bought that's drinking water grade from Amazon

I have one of that type in our garden for the pond. It's like 400 gallons. lol

 

[Saltfishlover]

So I just checked my water storage with TDS meter and went from 0 to 22.8 in three days using the brute container :(

 

[MJ in Boise]

7 brutes here. No issues. Only way I could see them leeching is if they got scuffed up during cleaning, something with nitrate was then stored in them, they didn't get thoroughly cleaned, then became rodi containers. If you use water jugs for both salt and fresh water it can be easy to inadvertently introduce a little salt water in them which would of course raise TDS. That's the exact reason I've dedicated salt only and rodi only jugs.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I just thought,...since the reefers are local, I wonder if ours were a "bad batch" ?
I'll wait on this to see if anyone here has problems.

I have actually heard this before about the Grey brute cans. It is not a bad batch, it's an issue with non food grade brutes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have twin brute cans and I rinsed with regular water and filled one with RO.
About 6 days later i got on my daughter about cleaning her cat litter box as im not coming home from work to the smell of cat pee to find it was the brute can. The smell was horrid !!
I added bleach and let it sit for a week and no more odors

 

[Njbjr]

I’m watching this thread. I’ve used a totter rolling trash can for years with no problems.

 

[Krixic]

So I just checked my water storage with TDS meter and went from 0 to 22.8 in three days using the brute container :(

Did you have it covered? Water can sometimes absorb particles in the air so your tds can slowly creep up. Did you rinse out your bins prior to use?

 

[Saltfishlover]

Yea, I washed it. It was brand new and covered with the lid.

 

[Biff0rz]

You need to purchase the 44g gray brutes. On the can it'll have " NSF 2 " stamped somewhere on it, aka food grade. You can buy them from home depot here: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubberm...Grey-Round-Vented-Trash-Can-2031187/202649169

Note, you'll want to keep covers on them too.

 

[Krixic]

Yea, I washed it. It was brand new and covered with the lid.

Interesting, I would say Biff0rz made a good point so try checking that out!

 

[Saltfishlover]

I got the 35 gal and it has same stamp.

 

[Krixic]

I got the 35 gal and it has same stamp.

Dang idk then haha. I hope someone else here is more informed than me :)

 

[Saltfishlover]

All good. I will still use the water and see what happens.

 

[billwill]

Being it's 2020, and people have been using these for at least 20 years, your post is one of thousands arguing this. I've used the Brute 44g for the last 15 years with zero issues. I challenge you to test a group of different containers to see if you actually get different results. Testing a Brute can only, with nothing else for reference, is not how science works I'm afraid.

 

[Saltfishlover]

Yeah, im just gonna use it and keep note with my tank to see if it affects anything or not. Don't want to waste the water or container