I think we are getting ammonia leaching out of our barrels. We have two 33G barrels, one for RODI water and one for mixing saltwater. They are rubbermaid Brute barrels, and we've had them for a few months.
We run the RODI into the first barrel, and use this for topping off. When we need to make saltwater, we transfer the RODI water from barrel #1 onto barrel #2, and add salt. There's a powerhead and a heater in that bucket.
The water coming out of the RODI has zero tds, and no ammonia. After a few days in bucket #1, we are measuring some ammonia, and the saltwater bucket has nitrates/nitrites, but no ammonia. I presume it's cycling.
What the heck is going on? We have rinsed out the buckets and wiped them down, and the problem came back a second time. What are the rest of you using for water storage/mixing?
Thanks,
Gillian