Water Barrel Mixer

[demodiki]

So I went down to San Antonio and picked up a 55 gallon barrel from Dave the Barrel Man. They didn't have any new so I got one used. It is food grade and had tomato paste in it.
1. My plan is to physically scrape the barrel with vinegar.
2. Fill with 2 gallons of vinegar and top off with water...mix.
3. Disinfect with a bleach solution.
4. Run with it.

Does this sound reasonable?

[LoneStar]

Sounds like it would work to me. I'd do the same actually.

[Iplantz]

I don't want to thread jack, but how much vinegar (white distilled) would I add to a 20g tank that i need to clean? Is there a water to vinegar ratio?

[demodiki]

No, I don't think there's any real formula. Vinegar is cheap and I tend to use a lot when I am cleaning tanks.

[Iplantz]

Ok thanks.

[tropheusmaster]

you can buy plastic drums from the homemade beer company there in austin for 10 bucks forgot the companies name thou

it is a company that sells products to brew your own beer

[consider this your only warning, stop splitting your posts to increase your post count]

[Darth-Tater]

It might be Austin Home Brew. www.austinhomebrew.com (http://www.austinhomebrew.com)

Tater

[demodiki]

Well, I already have this one being cleaned so I will try it out. My wife said, "what if you fish die". My answer, "then it's as good a time as any to get out of the hobby".

[Ed]

DT is right Austin Homebrew does sell the plastic barrels.

Another option is Coca-Cola. They sell theirs for $5 each. Call them for details.

[demodiki]

I knew there might have been alternatives but didn't think about those places. I plan to add some bleach tonight and get ready to fill it this weekend. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

[demodiki]

So I had put all that vinegar and water and put a Mag 9 to keep it all moving for the past 48 hours. Wow...that pump came out looking like I just took it out of the box! It was so shiny! Of course, I splashed a little on my feet and now they're burning a little so I see why the pump got so clean.

I am going to put some bleach water in it tomorrow and let that percolate for a day or so then I'll start filling it up for 50 gallon water changes.

[Submariner]

You might want to fill it again with water after the bleach and add some prime declorinator before using it for your tank. I'm assuming you were going to do this anyway...yeah?

[demodiki]

Nope, hadn't thought of that but what the heck. I have water and I have Prime! Now, I just wish I had my tank against the wall next to the garage instead of having to drag hoses across the living room to do the water changes.