Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So I am getting ready to start my AP system, have been reading on here and several books, and recommend videos. Got my IBC tote the other day and before I get my plastic up on my greenhouse (do to my door not being wide enough for the tote) I want to get it cleaned and at least in the building.
So my question is what have yall been using to clean your IBC totes? I am really paranoid I will loose a lot of fish do to it not beimg clean or having use a harmful cleaner. I have thought about just puting a pond liner on the inside of it and using it as a shell but it kinda defeats the point of me hunting them down.
Please help

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How you clean it depends on what was inside!

For example my barrel was filled with alcohol for cosmetics, was pretty easy to clean, just rinse with water and let it dry for a day on the sun.

My IBC was filled with cosmetic oil, this was much harder to clean. From what I researched and from the info from the source this "grape oil" wasn't toxic at all, still it had a foul smell I imagine it had gone bad. I used soap, vinegar, paint scrapers, pressure water and even thinner, was a hell of a job took me almost one full weekend.

I think pond liner would kind of be a waste, but that is just my opinion.

I was told it had a nontoxic oilfield cleaner

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I have used hot water and scrub brushes to get it all out till this point. I took it to work today and filled it with warm water and dish soap and let it drain while running calls and cleaning the ambulance. And the filled it several times with warm water to rise and just let it gravity drain from my truck.

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As I said in the edit, oil can be quite nasty, i'd say the paint scraper + thinner was the fastest cleaning method. Mine wasn't toxic either but its always good to have a clean FT