Do I need to worry about plastic leaching

[paphater]

I got some plastic silverware containers that were used to clean silverware that I want to potentially use as replacement for filter socks. The were ran through a machine that used a detergent and a rinse aide, nothing except heat for sanitation. Is there any concern that the plastic may have absorbed anything that could be leached out to the tank? Maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can chime in.

 

[ZoWhat]

Forgive me for asking.....I don't want to come off jerky. What are you planning to filter out with holes that large?

 

[paphater]

The majority of the time nothing. But a couple times a month they would be stuffed with filter floss.

 

[ZoWhat]

Im not a marine biologist but I wouldn't worry about plastics leaching cleaning products deep within the pores of the plastic.

Heck, I've used 5 gal buckets that once housed bleach and ammonia in them for WCS after rinsing the buckets out really well with a tap water hose.

If you that concerned.....soak the containers in straight up 5% vinegar for a few days to rid of any residue deep with the pores.

I'm sure you would have no problem tossing a salad and eating the salad out of one of these containers....so if its safe for you, its safe for the tank. Any leaching would be on the molecular level and extremely nominal....

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would just take a clean kitchen scrubber to it to remove any thin coating of detergents that might be stuck to it, and then it is good to go.

 

[Flexin]

@paphater I've used a cup before but the holes are only in the bottom.

You will find only the floss at the top really gets used and clogs fast, in a day or so. With that cup you will have to fill the entire thing because the holes are so high, and once the top layer is dirty, you have little to no room for overflow, so if you are using a cup, you would want one that has holes in the bottom, unless you line only the sides with floss and leave the middle open.

I'm not a fan of the cup because I need to get a few days sometimes a week before changing that media. So I no longer use the cups and went back to socks. Just food for thought.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Filter_...Rimer_Machine_Shop_LLC-6V99900-FIFMME-vi.html

 

[paphater]

@paphater I've used a cup before but the holes are only in the bottom.

You will find only the floss at the top really gets used and clogs fast, in a day or so. With that cup you will have to fill the entire thing because the holes are so high, and once the top layer is dirty, you have little to no room for overflow, so if you are using a cup, you would want one that has holes in the bottom, unless you line only the sides with floss and leave the middle open.

I'm not a fan of the cup because I need to get a few days sometimes a week before changing that media. So I no longer use the cups and went back to socks. Just food for thought.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Filter_...Rimer_Machine_Shop_LLC-6V99900-FIFMME-vi.html

I've thought about getting their media cups but I just can't bring myself to pay almost $40 for them. I have read about the issues with the filter floss and I wanted to see if the extra drainage would effect that at all. I'm going to try and line the inside of the cup or possibly the outside. These were free and I only plan on using them 2-3 times a month to polish the water so if it doesn't work then no biggy.