Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Guys,

Very new to the forum and am building 2 systems with a mate, one each.

We have started by Cutting 4 Oil Drums in half, thoroughly cleaned them and sanded the edges smooth.

Next thing we did was coat them with some Rust Guard, throughout the inside to prevent rust. These will be used as growbeds and are completely bare metal on the inside.

Then I thought! Noooo! I hope this will be okay for the fish...

Thoughts?

i think you definitely should coat with a fish safe paint

Or use a liner

The paint I have used is "White Knight Rust Guard - Epoxy Enamel". After doing a google search on Aquarium paint, I found a forum saying that all epoxy paints are both submersible and suitable for potable water.

Can anyone confirm or deny these findings?

UPDATE: Just spoke to my local Bristol and the guy reckons he has used it on fish ponds before and works fine. Sweet As!

Personally I would coat with a pond paint. However I haven't tested the paint myself, so may be ok.
The problem with liner over steel is once a bit of water get in it doesnt get out, and always rusts.
Look at the old GT Falcons that had the vinyl roof over the body, they always get rusty under the vinyl.

Make sure you leave it atleast a week before filling up if you are going to leave it.

by the time you by paint you may as well just buy the blue plastic drums...