Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I use these for my fish tanks. I got mine from Stratco where they were being sold as Rain water tanks, No signs on them saying they were not for drinking water.

Stratco also sell them cheaper, 99 @ B, 96 @ Stratco.

from memeory B advertise them as "grey water" tanks as well, could this be because if they advertised them as rain water tanks they would have to be 10-15% cheaper than Stratco

H.

Himzol - how are the bins handling being dug in? Are yours full all the time - I'd think not, they are sumps aren't they? Any caving in problems?

Hi VB,

No mine isn't in the ground, I've only got one working at the moment as an above ground FT. I will be putting the other two intpo service in the next week, one of those will be a sump and probably dug in.

ITMT, have you asked "the hopefulls", there system uses this tub as a sump, see here: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... c&start=75

looks very nice as well.

H.

ahh - that's the one I was thinking about. There is also one other member using these dug in I think. I'm definitelly having another look and will probably use one. I'm quite sure my B had no label on it regarding not being for drinking water. Keep the UV off it and any potential issues are reduced I reckon.

See, the beauty of that logic is that it only takes one person to test a substance for toxicity. All of us get the benefit with only one of us taking the risk.

So, you get one, and let us know how it goes.

On a more serious note, any system that I made would most likely produce food that my family would eat - most of them are adults and can make their own risk assessments but my niece and nephew are both minors and frequently in my care. I am not prepared to risk their health simply because I want to spend less on set up. That would be irresponsible to say the least.

$99@ bunnings. no information about being harmful. They were actually shown to be rainwater tanks on the label that said $99. so if they are harmful can we sue bunnings?

I've got five of these in my system. So far so good...

However, I did recently get a reply from the manufacturer about their food safety.

see
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 468#110468

'raining water"

Was about to go out and buy one of these this weekend. Will have to make some decisions...hmmmm

I think it's fine... how much harm could it actually do? has anyone ever worked in a meat processing factory or anywhere in the food manufacture industry? I think there'd be more harmful things you buy off the shelves at woolworths. I heard this morning on the radio that soy sauce and anything that goes through a fermenting process (ei:alcohol, yogurt etc)has cancer causing chemicals in it... does that mean we all stop getting drunk or taking our probiotics? I think not... I'd buy another one of those green tubs if my bunnings had any left.

They are cheap for a reason, just as they are not food grade for a reason. They are not food grade because they are not recommended to come into contact with food stuff. It's not just a gamble as to whether they might or might not be safe, they are not, and are classified as such.

OK, it's a personal choice as to whether you use unsafe items, just as it's a personal choice as to whether you drink/smoke etc, other things we all know are unsafe, yet many people still do it. No, you may not show any signs of ill health, perhaps not for decades, thats not the nature of many of the dangerous substances you might come into contact with. It might be your children that will suffer, or perhaps just yourself, later on in life.

Once again, it is a personal choice whether you use these products or not, but..... I don't think it should be a recommended thing.

ok... good point, not that I am ever having children but my little zombie swimmers don't need a cancer in their houses either. As I think someone suggested before would it be wiser to seal the tub or maybe even put a pond liner in it to prevent contamination? I think we need more information from the manufacturer, just to see what was used to make it. They might have deemed it unsafe for food storage because of the place it was made not nessesarily what it was made from, some of those factories can be pretty grubby. If it is made from dangerous chemicals then I guess you could have goldfish and a flower AP garden instead of tasty fish and veges...

The more likely scenario is that the manufacturer wasn't interested in spending the money required on certifying the product food safe (when, as in this case, it wouldn't result in any more sales). A manufacturer is unlikely to allow the working piece to become contaminated (with general dirt), as this would reduce it's saleability. The issue at hand is whether the plastic in use in the product contains toxins or contaminants that would leech into any water stored in it. What would be useful to know is what kind of plastic they are made from and where they are manufactured (as that would have a big effect on what may be in the product).

I'm in NSW and the water board treats rainwater as greywater - which isn't 'safe' for drinking. I wouldn't have a problem with drinking water that had fallen on my roof, my thinking being that the water that comes to me via the domestic water system probably comes into contact with worse things than my roof does. So if the issue is a quibble about certification then I would be happy to use the product in a system.

So I guess the real problem is that we aren't likely to get an answer from the manufacturer that isn't coloured by legislative issues.

I had a look at the bins/tanks at my b today. They are made in Italy and have the PP 5 symbol on them.

Whats PP5 stand for??

Polypropylene - so that is positive.