What types of plastics are not reefsafe?

[TW]

I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to store
R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of plastics
that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green plastic
barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever had a problem
using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I was planning to
thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak for a few days and
then dump the water. If anything were going to leach out of it would
this help to avoid any problems?

Thanks,

Todd

[Chris Taylor]

I'm using a similar (230 litre greeen rain storage barrel) container for
water storage for the last 2 to 3 months and have had no problems. The
barrel was well cleaned before water was added and I also made sure that I
could no longer smell the plastic before use. I found many containers with
the warning "Not suitable for drinking water" and made sure that the barrel
purchased had no such warning. You could always ask the supplier if the
product is suitable for storing drinking water, this could be sufficient
guidance of its suitability for your needs.

I keep RO water in the barrel and mix the salt externally for storage in
camping water containers; obviously suitable for human consumption and a
reasonable indicator of its suitability for my aquarium.

We wouldn't previously drink the local tap water without filtration and now
prefer the stored RO water for drinking. The barrel comes in handy for this,
even if occasional trips to the almost freezing garage are required.
Following on from earlier advice we intend to clean the barrel occasionally
with a dose of bleach and a thorough rinsing. Roll on Spring!!

Regards


Chris


"TW" > wrote in message
...
> I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
> christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to store
> R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of plastics
> that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green plastic
> barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever had a problem
> using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I was planning to
> thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak for a few days and
> then dump the water. If anything were going to leach out of it would
> this help to avoid any problems?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd
>

[Nick]

"TW" > wrote in message
...
> I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
> christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to store
> R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of plastics
> that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green plastic
> barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever had a problem
> using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I was planning to
> thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak for a few days and
> then dump the water. If anything were going to leach out of it would
> this help to avoid any problems?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd
>
Needs to be food grade to be safe, I think some plastics can leech dioxins

[TW]

This a link to the barrel I wish to use:

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&ccurrency=1&SID=
<http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&ccurrency=1&SID=>

TW wrote:

> I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
> christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to
> store R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of
> plastics that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green
> plastic barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever had
> a problem using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I was
> planning to thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak for
> a few days and then dump the water. If anything were going to leach
> out of it would this help to avoid any problems?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd
>

[Nick]

"TW" > wrote in message
...
> This a link to the barrel I wish to use:
>
>
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&ccurrency=1&SID=
>
<http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&c
currency=1&SID=>
>
> TW wrote:
>
> > I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
> > christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to
> > store R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of
> > plastics that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green
> > plastic barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever had
> > a problem using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I was
> > planning to thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak for
> > a few days and then dump the water. If anything were going to leach
> > out of it would this help to avoid any problems?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Todd
> >
>
I think you would be taking a risk, it doesn't specifically say "food
grade", shame though,

[Acrylics]

>I think you would be taking a risk, it doesn't specifically say "food
>grade", shame though,

well, neither does a Rubbermaid garbage can or storage tote, does not mean you
are risking anything though :).
For them to place a "food grade" or FDA approval for drinking water storage on
this thing would probably double or triple the cost of the thing
My guess is this thing is made from polyethethylene and is just dandy for water
storage.
There are actually very few consumer plastics that are not "reefsafe" in the
temps/stresses we use.

HTH,
James

[Toni]

Food for thought...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=285865




--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm

[TW]

The material used to make it is HDPE ( high densisty PolyEthelene) I
have found the website for the manufacturer in England and have sent
them an email asking for information. I'll have to wait to find out
what they say. Their website says they make plastic water storage
cisterns as well. Hopefully all will be well. I will wait for a
response before I try to use it.
Thanks Toni for the reefcentral thread. That puts my mind more at ease.

Todd

TW wrote:

> This a link to the barrel I wish to use:
>
> http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&ccurrency=1&SID=
> <http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10366&category=2,2280,33168&ccurrency=1&SID=>
>
>
> TW wrote:
>
>> I was given a 50gal plastic rain barrel made by Lee Valley Tools as a
>> christmas gift. I am hoping to use it to set up a float valve to
>> store R/O or mix up SW for water changes. Are there any types of
>> plastics that are not safe to use for this purpose? This dark green
>> plastic barrel is brand new and never been used. Has anyone ever
>> had a problem using a plastic container? Anyone have any ideas? I
>> was planning to thoroughly rinse it out and then fill it, let it soak
>> for a few days and then dump the water. If anything were going to
>> leach out of it would this help to avoid any problems?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Todd
>>
>

[Nick]

"Acrylics" > wrote in message
...
> >I think you would be taking a risk, it doesn't specifically say "food
> >grade", shame though,
>
> well, neither does a Rubbermaid garbage can or storage tote, does not mean
you
> are risking anything though :).
> For them to place a "food grade" or FDA approval for drinking water
storage on
> this thing would probably double or triple the cost of the thing
> My guess is this thing is made from polyethethylene and is just dandy for
water
> storage.
> There are actually very few consumer plastics that are not "reefsafe" in
the
> temps/stresses we use.
>
> HTH,
> James
James, I may have come over wrong here,
With a food grade container you "know" it wont leech anything,
if its not marked FG you must be taking more of a risk, even if it is only
small,
for recycled poly the chance of contamination must be greater,
My friend used to own a business that made acrylic aquatic products
(SeaCraft UK)
he wouldn't use anything that wasn't food grade, his paranoia may have
rubbed off on me :-)
hope its all ok anyway Todd.
Nick.

[Time2359]

Here are new food quality drums at much lower cost than the garden
container. About $60 less on some 55 gal ones. Don't know their shipping
rate though.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=Drums&Page=1




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