Toxic or not?

[Kent Evans]

"Good morning fellow Aquapons"

I am about to gather the supplies needed to constuct my first garden.

My choice for the fish tank and grow beds is a 150 gal. for fish and a pair of 50 gal.

tanks for grow beds. I am looking at livestock tanks made by Rubbermaid, and there

made of what they call strctural foam. It is black with gray marbeling. I would like to

know if anyone knows if the plastic is toxic to fish or plants.

[Alex Veidel]

Lots of people use the rubbermaid tanks. There has always been controversy whether any form of plastic will eventually leach stuff into the water. Personally, I would just keep it out of the sun so it doesn't get too hot.

[Kent Evans]

Thank you for the answer Alex.

I am going to keep everything in the back of a wearhouse at work. The Florida sun gets extra hot most of the year not to mention the bugs, and I do not wish to have to cool the water. However I am sure the power bill for the lights will go up.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Not "any form of plastic" Alex, just certain types...Namely anything with phthalates added. And there is really no two ways about that. On a molecular level there there does not exist a covalent bond between the phthalate softener and the base plastic compound that it is added to. This makes for a super weak bond between the two...and this is why they leach over time. This is also why their use has been banned for many applications (food containers, children's toys, baby products, adult sex toys etc...) in just about every 'normal' country except the United States...But then again, your government thinks that GMO's (brought to you by the same very company that graced us with DDT, PCB's, Agent Orange and rBGH, Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones...) are the best thing since sliced Wonder Bread...So what's a little carcinogenic phthalate hormone disruptor in the blood gonna hurt..? 

Alex Veidel said:

Lots of people use the rubbermaid tanks. There has always been controversy whether any form of plastic will eventually leach stuff into the water. Personally, I would just keep it out of the sun so it doesn't get too hot.

[RW]

I've used them for a couple of years. They are HDPE plastic, which from my understanding is safe. No issues at all and one even gets a bit of sun.

[Alex Veidel]

Thanks for the clarification Vlad.