[Killietalk] Water storage drums

[Andrew Roberts <royalwulff at sympatico_ca>]

The next-door neighbors moved a few weeks ago.  The kind fellow (who had 
just retired from working for a salvage type company) knew I kept some 
aquariums, and left me a couple of blue plastic drums.  These drums are 
about 10 gallons in capacity, they have a black plastic lid with a metal 
lever style ring that fixes the lid down, and they have black plastic 
handles attached to each side of the container.  The plastic is quite 
thick, and I assume is HDPE.  It was explained to me that the drums 
contained dry chemicals that were packed inside plastic bags, but the 
types of chemicals stored were unknown.  The drums don’t have any 
official markings/labels, but someone had written ‘Desi’ on the side of 
one of the drums (A little googling tells me Desi might be a clay 
desiccant).

I am contemplating using these drums for storing/aging water.  I 
examined them thoroughly, and I couldn’t find any kind of residue 
inside.   To prepare them, I rinsed with hot water.  I then filled with 
cold water, and added a cup of bleach to each drum.  I let the bleach 
water sit for a week, and then I drained out the drums.  I rinsed with 
lots of water.  I then filled them up with used tank water and let them 
sit for another two weeks.  I then drained and allowed them to air dry. 
 The ‘nose test’ didn’t pick up anything bad, but I’m now getting cold 
feet about actually using them to store water, as I have concerns about 
their previous contents.  I can't imagine this guy would have been able 
to get these drums if they contained stuff that was really terrible. 
Does anyone know if HDPE plastics will ‘hang on’ to chemicals?     My 
white HDPE buckets got some stains from making beer in them, hence my 
concern.

There were several snails (pond type) in the drums for the two-week used 
tank water soak, and they appeared to be fine.  I figured that inverts 
are generally pretty senstitive to toxic materials.  I suppose I could 
fill one up and put in some guinea pig fish (I was thinking zebra 
danios) for several weeks to see what happens.  Are these containers 
generally safe?

Cheers,

Andrew Roberts, Richmond Hill Ontario
AKA #08648



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