Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

picked up a few IBC's for cheap that contained liquid iron fertilizer, at first I wasn't too concerned about it as a few google searches of the stuff returned people using it in gardens and even goldfish / coy ponds however now that I have them in the backyard paranoia is starting to set in and I'm wondering if I shoudl just scrap it and buy food grade IBC's for twice as much >_<

What particular chemical makeup was the liquid Iron Fertilizer? I've used the iron sulfate kind of stuff right in my system before when I couldn't get chelated iron. If the stuff isn't terribly nasty, several good rinse outs should do it. What do the MSDS sheets say about the stuff?

Yeah, as TC says, see if you can find a MSDS for it, that way you know exactly what it is and what potential risks thee are. Sounds like you should be pretty right though.

on another post some where someone said fill it with water leave it in the sun and if alge grows in it it ok to use

I am at work atm and didn't take a pic of the label - off the top of my head its 6% <something> and was labeled as highly corossive because it was in concentrate form, I'll grab all the info i can on it in the morning - worse case senerio eh safest senerio for ultra paranoid - would be to only use them as GB's and possibly a Sump / (just buy a food grade for the FT) I assume with aggressive cleaning that would clean out more of the fertilizer than it seems what some people end up putting back in after starting a fresh system still waiting for it to cycle

ok label states:

Iron Max AC 6% 15-0-0
Total Nitrogen (N) - 15%
Sulfur (S) Combined - 3.5%
Iron (Fe) - 6%
6% Chelated Iron (Fe)
Manganese (Mn) - 2%
2% Chelated Manganese (Mn)

Derived From: Low Biuret Urea, Manganese Citric Acid, Iron Citric Acid, Chelating Agent: Citric Acid
Weight per gallon - 11.69lbs

Storage & Handling:
Storage: Iron Max 6% as a concentrate is corrosive and should be stored in its original container. It can be spraed through any type of spray equipment. Do not reuse empty container. Rinse container thoroughly before discarding.

CAUTION: This is an acidic material. Keep out of reach of children.