Cheap sumps & Negative health effects?

[Phischy]

I've got a question for people who use rubbermaid (or equivilant) plastic tubs for sumps. Each and every type of plastic is a different grade depending on what's going to be stored in it. From basic plastic to food grade plastic. When I brew beer, I use food grade plastic 5 gallon bucket to bottle my beer (and the beer is usually in the bucket for less than 10 minutes). The reason for this is the cheaper plastic that isn't food grade can leech contaminents into the water. A perfect example are cheap water bottles vs. Nalgea brand (very hard plastic). You can taste the difference, if you were to put bottled water into both containers, after a few hours the water in the cheap container would taste wrong while the water in the Nalgea would taste the same as when it came from the bottled water container.

The other major difference is the food grade plastic isn't very porous so bacteria cannot grow in it, in addition to not leeching chemicals.

So, this being said, has anyone researched if using non-food grade plastic as a sump will negatively affect the health of your reef? I know alot of people use rubbermaid as a cheap source but I was curious about any potential negative health effects. I'd like to use a tall new kitchen garbage can to hold top off water but not if contaminents will leech into the water itself.

 

[dragon79]

how much to go legit? if one is really worried of conaminants leaking into the reef, would it not be in best interest to the user to save more money so that they dont have to take the risk? I'm guessing these things are costly but if they are imperative to have and setup correctly, then saving is the way to go and having patience.

To those who are more experimental, and try different ways like the man-made ones, I'm sure they realize the risks involved, and if not, I'm sure they'll be looking into it now. A good heads up though, more people I think may be more cautious as perhaps they may be using lower grades as you mentioned.

 

[tabwyo]

I haven't had a problem yet and I am using a cheapo wally world 58quart tote.

 

[incysor]

I think the general consensus is that they won't leach anything into your water. I've seen many sumps made from rubbermaid-type containers, and I've never seen any negative reports, other than some of the cheaper tubs will get brittle over time. I use a normal plastic kitchen trash can for my top off reservoir on my main system because it holds more water than the 5g bucket I was previously using, and it's narrower.

B

 

[Phischy]

I was just curious, that's all. I know it's been done often and for a very long time I just wasn't sure if there were any health problems long term. Now that I know this, I'll probably get a tall kitchen garbage can to use for my topoff.

thanks

 

[djconn]

Interesting questions...never thought about that before.

 

[Physh1]

Well, I can't really say anything about plastic grades and such BUT I've used them for sumps and storage for years on my own tanks and customer tanks. Never experienced a single issue with any of them ever.

Cameron