Curing all new Rubbermaid and plastic buckets

[NUGIO]

Food grade is the best i think. I use plastic drums that previously contained soft drink syrup.

[Kirin1]

I use plastic drums that previously contained soft drink syrup.

Nugio, what's your source for those? Would a food supply company like Sysco sell something like that to a consumer, or did you make a contact at a restaurant?

[NUGIO]

The first one I got from a local feed supply cost me 15 bucks.they use them as water troughs for horses,they had Pepsi Co lables on them.Theres a Pepsi bottling plant near me so i went to the source and got it for free.

[Kirin1]

Nice. I have a Southern States feed supply near me, I'll check em out. Thanks!

[DaveK]

I have moved this thread from the AquaCraft forum to General Reef Aquarium Discussion, since the topic fits better there, and it was a tough thread to locate on the AquaCraft forum. I have also made this thread sticky.

[RandyO]

I am going to disagree with the statement in this thread about purchasing salt in buckets.

I think time has pretty much proven out that purchasing salt in plastic buckets is safe.

[MDPinUSA]

New buckets indeed give off an odor. These must be cured out before salts can be mixed and water can be stored in them. If not pH will drop and toxins from resins used to make the bucket will make the newly mixed salt water unusable.

Some salts sold in buckets have the salts in bag. The bag is inside the bucket. Those salts will not be contamnated with direct contact with uncured buckets.

Salts sold in buckets with out a protective bag that keeps the salt from being in direct contact with the new bucket are highly questionable.

E..g. A food grade mositure barrier bag for this application purchased in quanitity cost about $0.55 each. If there is no bag and salts are put directly into a bucket from the salt factory... consider what other costs are being saved with the entire product?

The day and age of buckets is passing. The value/cost of a bucket is questionable.

The current wholesale cost of a printed bucket in quanitity is about $4.50 each, plus $0.85 for the top or lid. Serioius, informed and knowledgable marine keepers are understanding that the cost of the bucket is taken from the integrity of the product.

After all, it is about the salt and the quality of the water it produces .. not the bucket that dictates the success of our aquairums.

[RandyO]

(Not to discount your obvious advantage of knowing the current market trends but...)

I would hesitate to predict the demise of these buckets.

I purchase the 160G buckets for the sole reason of getting the buckets. (I have never had issue with the contents)

I use them for other purposes after they are empty and really like the screw off lids. I can purchase them locally for $5 but no screw off lid.

I refill these buckets from the 200 gallon boxes of IO I purchase for $31.

Keeping the salt in these bags is a pain as they clump and adsorb moisture eventually becoming all but useless. So I dump the bags into the buckets.

The extra buckets are always useful around here albeit they are expensive initially (gotta have that screw-off lid)

I apologize if this makes me "Not serious, ill informed and ignorant" but I find value added in the empty buckets after the product is used up that came in them. (Who ever said the consumer was smart anyway)

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by RandyO

...
I purchase the 160G buckets for the sole reason of getting the buckets.

I use them for other purposes after they are empty ...

I refill these buckets from the 200 gallon boxes of IO I purchase for $31.
...
The extra buckets are always useful around here albeit they are expensive initially (gotta have that screw-off lid)

...

Let me put it to you this way - Why are you willing to put the fish and corals in your tank at risk to save yourself $5 on a plastic bucket?

A typical SW fish costs about $20 and up. A typical coral is at least double that. It would only take a single loss to pay for several plastic buckets.

In other words, the potential savings don't justify the risk.

[cUddlefish]

I buy buckets from a local donut shop for $5 each. These are food grade and they store them without the lids on after they use up the food inside. I for some reason get a craving for apple filling every time I do a water change though..... It's ok though because my liverock smells like cinnamon.

Plastic is made from oil (yep- petroleum). The hydrocarcons used can contain some serious contaminants like sulfur, benzene, and other stuff. These must be removed from the hydrocarbons or you have to clean the plastic bucket and hope that there won't be any leaching. The chemicals used to color the plastic are suspect as well. I assume the plastic used in the food industry is refined to prevent this from happening.