Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thinking about starting a system I've noticed mention of potential health risk that should be considered. There wasn't much detail, so I was thinking it may be worthwhile to start a separate thread (if this has been done before, forgive me). The health risks don't need to be just for humans, they can also be for fish and plants also.

Below are some of the things mentioned:
Risks from certain types of plastic containers (plastic not suitable for potable water, secondhand plastic barrels etc.). What type of risks do these present?
Dangers from electricity and water.
Possible risks from concrete, such as septic tanks or concrete grow beds. How to avoid these?
Use of pesticides and dangers to fish and humans.

There are probably some others ppl can think of.

All these things are here SOMEWHERE in various threads Plachon it's just a matter of wading through them.

The only real health issue is MENTAL health BUT we also have a King to deal with those as well

Actually I'm a little lazy and thought I'd ask here, rather than do all the searching.

I also thought it could be a good idea for newbies, so they don't buy something they can't use, or worse, use something that is dangerous.

The most important one for me is the plastic. What are the dangers from using plastic that isn't food grade? This is especially true with the barrel ponics. How do ppl know that the barrels haven't been used to store dangerous chemicals?

Gnash is spot on.....the BYAP disease is very, very contagious and displays some terrible symptoms.
e.g.
Hole diggers slipped disc
Gravel shifters back,
Gravel washers back and slipped disc,
Peeling skin on the hands from water emersion,
Poor vision from peering into fish tanks,
Lack of sleep from following forum threads into the wee small hours.
RSI from mouse overuse,
Marital problems from a spouse that does not accept the need for 8 hours per day BYAP activity,
Worry wart syndrome when the fish don't eat,
Veggie parent syndrome when every leaf is inspected daily,
etc. etc. etc.

All hail King Eric who can help us through this shocking affliction.

Sorry, cant help, I'm on holidays at the moment and would prefer not to talk shop.. Ask SNAG

Black poly pipe is bad if heated over 75 deg c.

Copper is very bad if used in closed loop aquaponics.

Aluminium is bad.

Nitric acid containers are bad.

Hydrochloric acid containers are good

The list continues....

All the risk need to be compiled and placed in the aquaponics wiki!

do we have an aquaponic wiki? i was looking for one but couldn't find any. there's plenty of information in this forum but it's not easily accessible/searchable as a wiki. i'm willing to start one if folks are willing to contribute to it.

okay nevermind, i see it http://aquaponicswiki.com

Aluminum risk is debatable.

More the dissapearing of aluminium DD - an ally coil wont last long

So what about plastics? I've seen the thread for ideas on a wheelie bin set up. Are these bins food grade? Same goes with the barrel ponics. How to be sure that the plastic is safe and the containers haven't been used for dangerous substances.

http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/fs_management/aquaculture/en/

This is a world health organisation document Food safety associated with products from aquaculture, report of a joint FAO/NACA/WHO study group, 1999, I read it a while ago and thought it was quite informative.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5098e/y5098e07.htm

Public Health and Livestock-Fish is the article here

I probably have to worry more than most folk though as I have my ducks in my system, although some reseach indicates that this may actually create a parodox in which mammalian fluke parasites become out competed by the duck specific parasites.

In some areas of the world however ducks carry other parasites that cause a dermatitis in humans, which might be of concern to me.

The above is all about flukes and other parasites as well as bacterial risks please enjoy

LDPE & HDPE is as safe as it gets in plastics.