# How to make Used Buckets SAFE to use with Aquarium Stuff?



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Hi All,

I didn't quite know where to put this post, as its kind of a chemistry question, but also about some very basic equipment - buckets.

My father is cleaning out the basement, and my mother was a "collector" - even of laundry buckets. Dad asked if I'd like some of the buckets that used to be used for soaking sweaters, etc. in the laundry area. He only wants to keep 2, so there are about 12 very sturdy, older buckets available.

Can I re-condition these to be Aquarium Safe? They did used to hold detergents, but is there a chemical I could soak in there to leach any residue out? I have plants, fish and FW shrimp, which are sensitive.

Something acidic (vinegar)? Something basic? An organic solvent like acetone? How long to soak?

Any and all input would be welcome!
-Jane


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

Assuming that the buckets only contained detergent made for laundry use, you should be fine using only household vinegar. Laundry detergents are made to be easily rinse-able, so you shouldn't have too much of a residue around. But just to be safe, I'd soak the buckets in a solution of, say, 5% vinegar. Rinse them out several times after the soak, of course. If you see any dried-on residue that the vinegar won't remove, you will need to scrub it out with a ScotchBrite pad or something similar.

-Dustin


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Its not worth it. Why risk your plants'/fish's health for somethign you can buy for $3 at Walmart?

You could certainly utilize the used buckets. Only use them for waste water, storage of equipment or dry goods where leaching would not be an issue, other household storage, car washing, stools, ect.

If you want a free source of 5gallon buckets, check with resturants and bakerys. Usually they get things like pickles, etc in food safe 5 gallon buckets.


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

I agree with Dinnis,
plastic buckets are too cheap to risk putting my discus in a questionable bucket.
Your FW shrimp are probably going to be just as sensitive to anything that may leech back out into the water.


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## fish7days (Jul 30, 2005)

I would agree that you should just get a few new ones. I have cats and get cat litter in very nice square buckets. A quick rinse and they are perfect. I have more than I could ever use.....


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

That is a good question Jane. I have to agree about it being a big gamble when using anything that has has any sort of detergent in it, so as Dennis stated, you could use it for waste water only, and have a special bucket for clean water, which is what I do anyway.

I use a smaller 3 gallon bucket with a spout for refills only, and 5 to 6 gallon buckets to drain the water out. If you have at least two buckets, it balances you out to carry them out and dump them. ;-)
That's all assuming you aren't one who is on the Python band wagon, which I'm one of the few who isn't.....


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Yup, for the amount you might spend on purchasing solvents and acids. You probably could just run over to Home Depot and purchase a 5 gallon bucket for $5.99. But I imagine vinegar will serve your purposes, but how effective, not quite sure.

-John N.


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Thanks everyone for all the input and opinions! OK, I may do the vinegar soak on a few buckets AND then relegate them to drain-off water only. But, I'm constantly fishing out snails and things I accidently siphoned off, so if the buckets were "toxic", it might affect the reclaimed critters. I like the restaurant idea - I'll look into that. 

No, I'm not on the Python wagon, either. With a soil underlayer on 4 of my 6 "El Natural" setups, the Python is just way too powerful. And with all the critters in my tanks (shrimp, MTS, ramshorn, Mini-Mystery, big Brigsii and possibly their babies, etc.), I usually use one of two different diameter vinyl tubes to hand-siphon very carefully. 

Yeah, I know it sounds "cheap" of me, but equivalent heavy duty buckets are $5-7 at HD (so this was more than $50 worth of buckets), and I've had problems with the cheaper ones (like Walmart) - the plastic rim holding the handle-ends actually BROKE on two buckets when they were full of siphoned-off water. Fortunately, I was just beginning to lift them, so they hit the floor pretty flat, and I only had to clean up large splashing, rather than a bucket-full of used waste water. I'm on a hobby budget. 

Anyhow, thanks very much for all the comments and input. I really appreciate it. 

-Jane


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Jane

I hate this to sound like a advertisement
but I have a python, You don't have to open the water at the sink at full pressure. I will regularly use mine with a slow siphon and will see some of my shrimp just hang out in the suction tube catching any tidbits floating by.

Just my$0.02


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

I can relate to wanting to reuse the buckets- being pretty environmentally aware myself and also frugal....
So when Christmas came around and honey didn't know what to buy and asked- I said " a Python!" I love it... would never have spent the money myself though!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I always end up storing plants and even fish (during maintenence) in buckets so I prefer to use buckets made of food grade plastic. I certainly wouldn't keep anything alive in a bucket that wasn't.

I still have a green bucket that I got from Wendy's about 20 years ago. It *STILL* smells like pickles. But the fish don't seem to mind. Bottling places are also sources of food grade buckets and like Dennis said, bakerys.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Our bakery sells the 5 gallon buckets for $.50 each, but now they've gone to all flimsy plastic handles, so I don't want to risk having the whole thing let go on the floor....

You can buy a brand new 5 gallon from a fleet supply store or even Wal-Mart for around $2, so that isn't too bad.


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## jgc (Jan 30, 2006)

My humble opinion is leach in, leach out. Fill with water, let it sit a week, rinse, repeat. After a few months the amount that is leaching out will probably be no more than the amount of aluminum you are getting from using cheep pans to heat your tomato sause.


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Hmmm, so go for the Potatoe Salad bucket instead of the Pickle Bucket? 

I'll look into a local Chinese Restaurant and a Sandwich Shop where they recognize me. 

That's interesting about the Python....... I should start a new thread asking about this, but what happens to all the stuff that goes into the intake? Shrimp might be able to hang on for dear life, (although if they didn't, and went down the sink, you wouldn't know, would you?) but I have these TINY algae eating snails.

Hmmm, yes a new thread is warranted for the Python issue. 

But THANK YOU everyone for the input on the buckets. I've done the hot water & vinegar treatment on the two I brought back with me from the last visit, and they are waste-water only. And as I suspected, I was doing some reclamation of snails and some floating plants I took off my arm out of those buckets.

I'll check around to local restaurants. Thanks for all the advice and tips!
-Jane


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