Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone

a bit of a newbie question that i think i know the answer but not 100% on it but i have got 6x 200L blue drums which im was going to turn into a cheap experimental aquaponic set up but the drums have had gardiquat and copper in them.

The were used to make algaecide for swimming pools . now from what i think i know or have been told.

1. copper kills fish
2. algaecide will stop the algae which is good for the fish
3. gardiquat is alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides and i dont know what that would do to the fish and plants

does anyone know anything good to clean these drums out or would it be safer calling it quits with the drums and find somthing differant? or would it not be a problem at all?

Thanks

Safest to get rid of them. That's what I'd do unless I read up on the chems and convinced myself otherwise.

if determined to use them, set up a system with goldfish (they may die initially) and grow something in in you will not eat, like non-edible flowers or decorative gourds. After a year (in which the goldfish survive!) you might think about growing edibles as I would hope the nasties would have biodegraded by then.

Heck, the highest value things one can grow are not edible anyway: ornamental fish and plants. But they may die for a while....