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Thinking of buying 1000L tank for storing/aging water. Found a couple of 2nd hand ones. One previously held sugar /water. The other previously held cooking oil. Both have been thoroughly cleaned. The cooking oil one was cleaned with detergent & I'm waiting to hear what the sugar/water one was cleaned with. They are both identical & here is a picture.

I'm going to look at one of them today & guy says it will take a submersible pump - but opening doesn't look big enough to me. Might have to cut it a bit.

Add didn't say "Food Grade" but guessing if it contained cooking oil &/or water/sugar, then must be food grade??? Add says suitable for drinking water. I will double check this, though.

Another hobbyist told me, even though washed with detergent, they should be ok & I just need to give them a good wash & let them sun dry for a week.

A container of this size will make water change night heaps easier, but I don't want to risk my precious fish.

Do you think the suggested additional cleaning & sun drying for a week would make them safe for my fish?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers
TW

Sounds OK but to be honest I would not trust it as the previous contents could easily penetrate the plastic as far as chemical used another big problem. Check out Bunnings for a water storage tank. I hope you are not thinking of collecting rain water, as this can cause you more problems that you would want.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I hope you are not thinking of collecting rain water

No, we already have 2 water tanks for rain water collection and I don't use those for fish tanks. This one will be kept in the garage & filled from the garden tap with a food grade hose.

I've checked & the water tank is food grade. I will think on it for another day or so, but at this stage I think I will go ahead. The other hobbyists who gave me the cleaning advice are very knowledgeable discus keepers here in Aus. They seem confident that several cleanings with triple doses of prime, then leaving it open, in the sun will take care of the detergent. Seems they have done similar things themselves. I'll leave it a couple of days though, to see if I get strong advice against it.

Cheers, Robyn.

Cheers
TW

Just out of curiousity, what's wrong with rain water? I have a greenhouse and was thinking of collecting rain water for both purposes.

There is nothing wrong with rain water for the garden or plants. I was very recently very sick with a bad gasto. The first thing two doctors asked me had I been drinking tank water.

The main reason is the air born pollution and as we have had very little rain (big problem in parts of Aust) our roofs are filthy and many are not suitable for collecting rain water for drinking.

Even now I have to boil all my drinking water from the water supply. My fish tank water has to go through the hot hot water service to kill some of the nasties.

I also have a twin filter system for drinking which filters out most of the muck but not all it still tastes bad I have to get a better filter to remove that.

I live in a holiday seaside resort area and a lot of the water mains do not get flushed out very often and they often put ???? & ????? & ???? to kill the nasties in the pipes and this comes through our water supply.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Rainwater picks up polutants from the atmosphere. These have the potential to be fatal to Fish. Thats pretty much it.

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Hey TW,
Something to research, find out what kind of plastic those tanks are made of, usually on one side or the top of those types of storage tanks there should be a product code and a date of manufacture, find out if it contains phenols in the thermoplastic, phenols=bad news for fishes, if possible, get it/them filled partially with really hot water (boiling is about good), let it rest for about an hour, drain, and if the warm air inside the tank has that pungent melting plastic smell, good odds it has the phenol nasties..
Hope it works out for ya, would be a awsome find !!
J.

Hi guys, thanks to all for the replies. I'm picking it up today, so I hope it all works out fine

Keith & FishKeeperJim, thanks for the rain/tank water info, but it's all good, as I never did intend to collect rainwater. As mentioned above, we already have 2 water tanks that do just that. We use it for topping up the swimming pool & for the garden.

Ironhand74, the tank is Food Grade High Density Polyethylene, so I'm hopeful it won't contain anything harmful. Also, a couple of hobbyists who keep discus (well known for their sensitivity) who use this exact same water tank & they haven't had an issue. I'll do that test though, thanks for letting me know, but wondered if you knew if High Density Polyethylenewhether contains phenols in the thermoplastic?

I'd rather waste $100, than kill my fish, so cheers for that.

Cheers
TW