plastic tote

[bathawk]

I was in my local b&q and saw these plastic totes they are 77 lt 48 inhes long and 10 and a half inches wide and 14 inches high thought would make a great grow out tnak for my ebjd but unsure of how safe the plastic is. It is quite light that when not needed can just put it in my loft.

 

[kno4te]

Do the same with some other growouts of mine in the past. Works well.

 

[twentyleagues]

Yup. So plastics can leach stuff but it seems most totes are made of hdpe #2 and is the safest plastic to use aside from acrylic.

 

[bathawk]

I think I will use it then at the moment I am using a 55 lt cube which measures 16 inches high wide and long the tote not as high or as wide but will have a long swimming length of 4 foot

 

[esoxlucius]

You'll find that tote is either marked with PP or a triangle with a number 5 in the centre. Whichever, both denote Polypropylene. You're good to go, Polypropylene will NOT leach anything harmful into your system, unless it has additives added, such as flame retardants, which that particular example certainly doesn't contain.

 

[bathawk]

yes just checked it is marked with pp and also has a triangle with a 5 in the middle

 

[esoxlucius]

yes just checked it is marked with pp and also has a triangle with a 5 in the middle

Wow, how did I do know that just by looking, it's magic!

I'll tell you something else about those kind of totes. There's 2 kinds of Polypropylene, homopolymer and copolymer. Copolymer is tough, durable, very tough, not likely to crack easily. Homopolymer is weak, give it a good kick or drop it from a height and it could crack/break. Those totes you have there are homopolymer. They're totally safe to use in anything hobby related but don't go abusing them or you will have leakage, or worse!

 

[bathawk]

yes i had a cheap one i used for soaking bod wood one day i pushed the lid on too hard and the tote cracked and fell apart that cheap one cost me £6 this one cost £20 so hopefully it is good quality.