Plastic water containers may not be a good idea for storing water.

[Ron99]

Did they wash the containers well before use? All plastics usually come from the factory with contaminants, mold release agents etc. You can get contamination from new powerheads or other plastic aquarium equipment if you don't wash it first. Just rinsing with RO water would not likely remove all the oily residues.

I would not think enough toxic chemicals would leach out of plastic in a short time such to cause the effects they saw unless it was from surface contaminants. Their reaction is alarmist and not based on any systematic determination of the cause of the problem. They should design a proper experiment to determine the source of any problem chemicals before making a generalized conclusion.

[Gizmo]

I use that exact container to store RO/DI water in. No problems as of yet. Maybe they are made with Bisphenol A, which everyone has seen on the news as a very nasty chemical to be ingesting. The fact is no matter what you do to store water, something "could" leech its way into your water supply. Old Silicone, dust in the air, your sig other spraying febreeze in the other room... <insert rolling eyes here> but my point is, if its not one thing its another. I'm not going to stop using that container until I see scientific proof (other than dead sperm) that it had detrimental affects on my tank. BTW, they work great with the wheels.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Fortunately, I use food-grade plastic barrels for all my water changes & salt mixing. Got mine from a UBC lab that used it to transport distilled water or something like that. Whew.

Anthony

[Tom R]

I only use FOOD GRADE products for water storage and sumps.

Tom R