Rubbermaid Totes - What is the final word on their safety?

[hdtran]

Strictly speaking, glass (in the purest form, silicon dioxide, or fused silica/fused quartz) does dissolve very slightly in water. But the amount of silica dissolved into the water is so small that you don't care.

There are certain plastics (relatively expensive) which do not leach. They are used for water storage and piping in the semiconductor manufacturing industry (where you really really want pure water).

 

[Anonymous]

I would think they would leach a little something if they are made of plastic. Plus what is leached from pure silica glass would be all natural and neglegable.

 

[Fl_Seagull]

The only thing that will not leach ANYTHING is glass. All plastic, even food grade, will leach something.

All labware (sampling spoons, stirring rods, mixing containers, sample containers, etc) will be of high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

I am a little confused. Why is the salt study using HDPE if glass is "better." Does this mean that my glass tank is better for corals than friend's acrylic tank 8) ?

Sorry, but I'm with John Brandt, step back and ask if it makes a difference or even sense. We may be chasing ghosts here .

While it is possible that containers can cause problems, I would look for more obvious reasons. My container of RO/DI water give increasing levels on my TDS meter overtime also. But, every time I dust the top of my hood I see why this is happening. If I believed this was the primary source of my hair algae problem I would think putting fiters on my hood's cooling fans would be more cost effective than trying to find the perfect container for my RO/DI water.

 

[Anonymous]

The container is definetly leaching something into the water since I put 0 TDS water into the tub and 2 days later it is 57.

The 57 reading on the TDS meter cant be good for the tank?

If that is not the source of the algae then I have no idea where it is.

I have tested for phosphates and nitrates and they read both 0.

How old is the container?

 

[Anonymous]

The container is about 6-8 months old.

I am trying to avoid tearing the whole tank down because of the HA but I think this is only part of the problem anyway.
_________________
history of recession

 

[Anonymous]

What is the phosphapte level in your tank and in the container?

 

[Anonymous]

They both read 0. Same for ntrates.
_________________
Law Discussion

 

[Anonymous]

Then I doubt the container has anything to do with your algae problem.

 

[Anonymous]

So, I guess its back to tearing the tank down.
_________________
Finnish Forum

 

[Anonymous]

Don't know. Is there a thread discussion your tank?

 

[Anonymous]

Here is one of my many threads on this

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... sc&start=0
_________________
Mercedes SL Class

 

[mark78]

Unless you can 100% seal off the tub, measuring TDS a few days later is pretty meaningless. Doesn't take much to increase water away from a TDS of 0, TDS is pretty sensitive.

Could be something in the air adding tds to your water, in the big picture, a TDS of 57 is nothing, I would use tap water for a reef if it had a TDS of 57.

 

[Anonymous]

Considering the winds out to Palm Springs and the air pollution being pushed out that way... <shrug>

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

Someone mentioned that the Jug they were using had a lower TDS than the tub after a day or two. This would be obvious considering the fact that the element causing the TDS to rise is airborne and the Jug has a much smaller opening for the contaminent to get into the water.

I used a blue rubbermaid tub on my 55 gallon tank and never had a problem with nuisance algae once I started using RO/DI and Catalina saltwater. Heck, I have even used brand new plastic gas cans to transport the salt water home from my LFS.

Aren't rubbermaid tubs made from a petroleum by-product? I would think that if anything were leaching out of the tub it would be something harmful to the aquarium, not something that would feed algae.

Mind you, I'm not a bio-chemist so my opinions may be incorrect. It just seems that there are more feasible reasons for the TDS to be rising in containers, such as airborne particles.

Peace.

 

[Anonymous]

Good points. I am just reaching for anything that could be the cause of this nightmare of hair algae.

I am at my wits end with this and it is time to tear the tank down.
_________________
Thai Forum

 

[krullulon]

i've been dealing with my first hair algae issue too and it's not fun.

have you moved to twice-weekly small water changes? while i was cruising around on wetwebmedia.com and reading the gazillion articles on algae control there, one of the consistent themes was frequent small water changes, 2 or 3 times a week.

i've been having pretty good luck getting my algae to recede pretty quickly in my 90g with:

1. 5% water changes every 3rd day coupled with manual removal
2. every-other-day tank storms with the turkey baster
2. 8 astreas, 6 trocus, 12 strombus, 12 micro-hermits, 6 nerites, 2 turbans and a cowrie (most came from ipsf)
3. heavy skimming
4. continuous carbon
5. the tank overflows into a box in the sump with a polyfilter for mechanical and chemical filtration that i change-out each week

the mix of snails is making good progress on the algae, and what's remaining is getting kinda mushy and translucent. here's to hoping.

also -- is your alkalinity still 6dKH? i seem to recall reading in a few places that low alkalinity can also be a culprit...

 

[Anonymous]

I just updated my tank specs page.

Alk is now at 11 DKH.
_________________
what is recession