Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi
Im in the middle of my build but I think I've made a mistake

Ive painted the outside of my growbed which is an Ibc top 300l with car underbody sealant, and one of my grow beds sits directly above my 600l sump.

Ive also painted some L shape steel supports with the same underbody sealant.

Today i was reading the can and it specifically says harmful to aquatics and I'm worried that flakes or run off water from the growbed might poison my fish.
(I don't have any fish yet , I'm just at the stage of filling the gb's with clayballs.)

I'm gutted.

Is there anyway I can make it safe while still salvaging my growbed?

Am I right to worry about poisoning here?

I was thinking I could cover the sump or maybe recoat over the underbody sealant paint with some aquatic safe paint but I don't know what paint to use.

Help please

I don't know the answer to your question but I suspect once the paint is dry that it won't be a problem. To know for certain I would contact the manufacturer of the product and ask them. Many of the toxins in finishes are volatile and evaporate off leaving a non toxic finish. It's also true though that a lot of exterior paints are designed to flake away exposing a fresh surface as they weather, some also can contain metals so it could go either way. I suspect that if you look closely at the MSDS you'll find that the product isn't water soluble.

Do you have a link to the product?

I wouldn't be too worried if it's a bitumen based product, but it really depends what you have used.

Hi
The product info is on this link:

http://www.hammerite.co.uk/product/unde ... t-features

heres an image of the can - i couldn't believe when i read 'can cause cancer'...surely this should be illegal if it's even remotely true!

They still sell cigarettes, they cause cancer.

I wouldn't be breathing in the fumes whilst its being painted or drying.

Once it's dry it's probably pretty safe, but I'm not going to guarantee that.