so i bought 2 55 gallon drums to set up a fluidized drum filter for my tanks. The previous thing that was in the drums was shampoo. the drums are HDPE btw. please let me know if i can use these if i thoroughly clean them out?
is this fish safe?
- Thread starter James.Lafontaine
- Start date
When anyone is using "used" buckets, tubs, crates, or in your case barrels, in their set up, the question about whether it's safe or not isn't about the actual plastic, because the vast majority of plastics are totally fish safe, and HDPE is fine. No, the big question is, what has that plastic been in contact with in its previous life.
Plastics have what is called "absorption rates" and over time their contents can leach into the polymer. Then when you use said plastic the previous chemicals can, over time, leach back out, in our case, into our aquarium system, potentially causing very bad problems.
Generally speaking a thorough multiple washing, preferably with a high powered jet wash, and very hot water will do the trick, no cleaning chemicals for obvious reasons.
However the only time I personally won't go near a barrel, whether it's been cleaned or not, is if it's had toxic waste in, you've probably seen them, the type of waste that usually has a sign on that signals it's bad for the environment. Barrels that have had food stuffs in, or in your case cosmetic products tend not to be so bad once washed out as highlighted above.
I work in plastics recycling and I find useful things all the time which I take home. The picture below shows a few things I collected from work last year just prior to me setting up my 360g fibreglass tank. That blue barrel had contained some flavourings for the food industry. A thorough wash and I was good to go. That barrel has been in my system for just over a year now, no problems at all.
If you've got some very expensive fish and you just don't want to risk it you can buy brand new barrels like this on line anyway, and they tend to be reasonably priced. That way you have 100% peace of mind. Hope this helps.
Plastics have what is called "absorption rates" and over time their contents can leach into the polymer. Then when you use said plastic the previous chemicals can, over time, leach back out, in our case, into our aquarium system, potentially causing very bad problems.
Generally speaking a thorough multiple washing, preferably with a high powered jet wash, and very hot water will do the trick, no cleaning chemicals for obvious reasons.
However the only time I personally won't go near a barrel, whether it's been cleaned or not, is if it's had toxic waste in, you've probably seen them, the type of waste that usually has a sign on that signals it's bad for the environment. Barrels that have had food stuffs in, or in your case cosmetic products tend not to be so bad once washed out as highlighted above.
I work in plastics recycling and I find useful things all the time which I take home. The picture below shows a few things I collected from work last year just prior to me setting up my 360g fibreglass tank. That blue barrel had contained some flavourings for the food industry. A thorough wash and I was good to go. That barrel has been in my system for just over a year now, no problems at all.
If you've got some very expensive fish and you just don't want to risk it you can buy brand new barrels like this on line anyway, and they tend to be reasonably priced. That way you have 100% peace of mind. Hope this helps.
Wow this was an amazing response lol thank you so much!! I will definitely clean it out very thoroughly. I was just alittle anxious And wasn’t sure if it would harm any of my fish in anyway and just wanted to make sure. Again thank you for all of your help and knowledge!
I agree, I have used old plastic barrels for filtration over many years, without problems.
But if it were me, after a thorough cleaning, I'd set them up with an old HOB filter , and try putting some sacrificial fish in them for a month or 2 before applying to aa tank of my important species. Maybe set them up to grow out some feeders to assess the toxicity of the previous contents.
It's probably completely ok to use those plastic containers.... I have some 12 year old fish....they aren't valuable ....but are sentimental..... why take the chance? You will set up these filters and use them for 10 years.....they will cost you penny's a day..... why take the chance???? You know fish are living beings..... would you risk your puppy???
yeah thats exactly what i was thinking about doing. i read a description taped to the barrel and it said something like it had nothing harmful in it.
