Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've been hunting around for some cheap 210L plastic barrels and I've found some locally at a decent price. I asked what they'd had stored in them and the email I got back was this....

This kind of suggests to me that if they're re-usable for foodstuff then they should be OK to use as grow beds for my system but after looking around I can't find any info on how to clean it properly or if it will poison plants/fish/me!

My gut instinct tells me to avoid them but that's mainly because of my lack of knowledge, I wondered if anyone has come across this stuff at all or has any advice?

I wouldn't use it in an AP. It does make for some great fuel though. Nitro is what they burn in a lot of race cars.

I probably wouldn't use it either. However, hydrocarbons tend to flash off pretty quickly. And fuel is pretty strictly regulated, so there should not be a lot of other contaminants. You could buy one and fill it with water and stick a goldfish in it. Unless the price was too good to pass up, I would still pass on it though.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. They're really cheap but I'm happy to pay a bit more to get something I'm sure about.

Hi Chris
To give you a price comparison I paid £10 for 225l olive barrels.

Thanks, I'd definitely be happy paying that, do you have any tips on the kind of place I might find them? They don't come up often on Gumtree/eBay around here. We've got a Nestle factory nearby that I think might use them but it's not the sort of place you can just turn up at.

I just looked on Ebay and the went to the nearest location