Plastic 55 gallon drums

[Brian Watson]

I have recently received several plastic 55 gallon drums from a local dairy farm.  I am not exactly sure what was in the barrells but I was wondering what I could use to clean them that would not harm the fish?  I plan on using them for a single barrell set up.  Any information is grateful.

 

Brian

[Sammy Steele]

Hello Brian:

First thing i would do if i was you is contact the farmer u got the drums from and make sure they were not used for any chemicals such as pesticides because you do not want to introduce anything harmful to your system.. Make sure they are food grade plastic

As far as cleaning them there are several biologic cleaners on the market that will do the job just fine..

Good luck with your system

Sam

[Brian Watson]

I know he used the barrels for his dairy cows but I will talk to him about it.

[Keith Rowan]

wash with detergent, rinse with a little bleach, rinse again with a little vinegar..

[Jon Parr]

Sunlight and hydrogen peroxide are both pretty good cleaners too. Though it shouldn't be hard to verify what the dairy may possibly have had in them? Personally, if I didn't know, I'd toss them and get some others. Beats worrying about it.