How to clean out a blue 200L drum - transwash

[ryanjury]

I have got a couple of blue 200L drums that used to contain a product called "transwash" here is the MSDS for it http://www.mchem.co.nz/msds/Transwash.pdf the bit that worries me is "Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects."

Each drum has been rinsed out 3 times and there is no detergent type bubbles when you tip them out but I am just worried about how much may have leached into the plastic (if this is at all possible) as I plan to use these for collecting rain water and the water may sit in them for long periods of time soaking up anything that may have been in the plastic.

Any other ideas on how to clean them out or is what I am doing ok?

[diver21]

well you could use the fact that it has a ph of 11 to your advantage and full the barrel with tap water that you know the ph of, and leave the barrel to stand, and if the ph changes too high then you know that theres still traces of transwash in there.

[Jennifer]

My partner works in nanotechnology (a surface chemist) and so I asked....after a very long explanation and a lookup of the CAS numbers, the expert advice is to fill it as full as you can with water and change the water daily for at least a week. Assuming that surfactants are alkaline and most plastics are very porous, it may take longer than a week to fully remove leaching chemicals and these chemicals may be very small but still harmful to aquatic life.

I could go into more details about the chemical details (the CAS numbers don't agree with the chemical names listed on that sheet BTW) but not sure anyone really wants to know about the non ionic surfactants and benzene rings, etc, etc...

Disclaimer: without knowing the type of plastic, the above advice cannot claim to make the drum safe for use with aquatic animals.

HTH

[ryanjury]

Awesome cheers Jenniferh I was hoping someone might have some sort of back ground in it to give more insight than the MSDS

I think I keep changing the water for a week or so.. Then I am away for a month so I might just fill them up and dump them at the back of the section to soak up anything that may be left in there, then chuck some guppies in when I am back to make sure it is ok

Diver21 not a bad idea on the PH front I had considered that but my tap water comes out at 10ish (its a bit random actually we are yet to figure out why the ph meters don't really like it but its pretty high) and I also have no idea how long it would actually take for anything to leach out so don't know when to do the test..

[spoon]

or fill them up with carbon

[livingart]

if you are going to use water stored for use in your tanks

I think I keep changing the water for a week or so.. Then I am away for a month so I might just fill them up and dump them at the back of the section to soak up anything that may be left in there, then chuck some guppies in when I am back to make sure it is ok

then that will be one way of checking but remember guppies are tough little sods sometimes

and it may take awhile for any long term genetic effects to show

[Vinnie]

A simple way but off the point is, you could just line the drum with pond liner

Just an idea, HTH

[Ira]

Or sell them and replace them with drums that have not had toxic chemicals in them.

[ryanjury]

lol both not stupid ideas

Although I am sure alot of people just clean out and use these drums all the time..

[Adrienne]

This is what came up when I googled the first ingredient -

NPE is very toxic to fish and other water dwelling organisms and is considered a hormone disrupting substance, mimicking oestrogen. It degrades relatively readily in the environment to form the even more harmful nonylphenol (NP). Nonylphenol is not readily biodegradable and take months or even longer to degrade in surface waters or in soils and sediments, (where it tends to be immobilised). Non-biological degradation is negligible. Bioconcentration and bioaccumulation is significant in water dwelling organisms and birds, where it has been found in internal organs at between 10 and 1000 times greater than the surrounding environment. Nonylphenols are not broken down effectively in sewage treatment plants.

I think that repeated washing of the drums may help but you won't know until further down the track if your fish are going to be rendered sterile or worse but it does say that it degrades.

[smidey]

& this is the stuff that they are using to wash trucks? which then runs down a drain to where?

[ryanjury]

& this is the stuff that they are using to wash trucks? which then runs down a drain to where?

That is exactly what I have been thinking, this stuff sounds awfully nasty to be supplied in 200L amounts and diluted down 50:1 and washed down drains?