Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I drove by a car wash and they had 4 white barrels (I want blue instead) that contained concentrated soap for the auto washer. 1 gallon made 120 gallons of soap! It said it was corrosive. I loaded up some and then had second thoughts and unloaded it.

I googled it...
http://webfiles.acuitysp.com/psr/psr_0371.PDF

So would it be safe? I mean essentially its soap! Do I just need to was the crap out of it?

Craiglist has several food grade barrels available in West Palm.

Soap is really hard to wash out. It is hard to be sure you really have gotten all the residue out and soap is really bad for fish.

The blue barrels will give you less problem with algae too. Look for barrels that had contained drink mix concentrate or other food grade products that don't have any detergent or soap additives. Barrels that contained bleach may be ok though you will want to rinse well and let them air out for a very long time to let the chlorine go away.

Having a few barrels around I think is handy and I think the barrelponics system is a good starter system for testing out ideas but I don't really recommend barrels for large systems as it means lots of plumbing fittings. I've gone for pond liner to contain large volumes for really cheap.

I live in an old neighborhood which was built on even older homes. The old homes were knocked down and the fill built on. My home was a former section 8 house. That coupled with idiot renters who broke bottles and glass for fun it seems left my backyard a place I will not dig without gloves.

When I bought my house I would go outside after it rained and pick up big pieces of glass. I eventually trenched my yard for sprinklers and then ripped all the grass out and raked the sand for glass. I found old bottles and big pieces but the smaller stuff is still there. I almost filled a five gallon bucket with broken glass! So I worry about making ponds.

That said I do have two small liners. I was in the middle of making a pond and waterfall when I smashed my finger between two rocks. If I am careful I should be able to do this.

Are there any good instructions for diy pond liner tanks and grow beds?

Old carpet or similiar under the liner should remove the glass worries.

Great Idea!

My opinion...

COLLECT EVERYTHING! if nothing else you could put a trash bag in them and use them for storage or trash bins, or any number of things.

oops forgot to tell where to find drums. http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/defaul ... e%5Ftest=1

they are an american company. I have never ordered big things from them but they have always been very prompt with delivery of smaller items.

Ive heard a good way to tell if you have leached out all the chemicals is to let the water in the tank sit for a week or so and if algae starts to grow inside, then it is ok to use for fish.

My first rule for pond liners, ponds, and lined grow beds,
Get the good pond liner. The 45 mil EPDM stuff. Like firestone pond guard. That stuff is tough. A bit of carpet behind it is not a bad idea but in sandy soil, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most web sites that sell pond liner will have some instructions about measuring to calculate the size of liner you will need. Generally something like 2X depth + length + 3 feet by 2X depth + width + 3 feet, this is usually for ornamental ponds where you need a little extra for the fudge factor. For my grow beds, I only gave myself a few extra inches of liner along the sides.

As to smashing a finger, ouch! I have to say, arranging rocks for an ornamental pond, I always knew it was time for a break when I started to mash fingers between rocks.

In hind sight I probably shouldn't have filled my kegerator that day. My finger would be less screwed up.