For those of you who use Rubber Totes, or are planning on using them for your reservoirs; beware. I purchased two 18 Gallon Totes from Menards to be used for my Ebb and Flow system reservoirs. I have been filling the reservoir with 10 gallons of water every week, and didn't see any problems until last week. The whole floor where this system was located was completely soaked with water. I have been struggling trying to figure out where the water was coming from. I checked to make sure my flood table wasn't overflowing. I checked to make sure my pressure, and return lines weren't leaking anywhere. I have a lid on the reservoir so I knew nothing could have fallen in it to cause a splash. And with the rigid lines connecting to the pump, I knew it couldn't tip over. So I was perplexed. This morning I was doing a water change and was cleaning the reservoir, So I decided to see if it might have a whole in it or something. And lo and behold it had four pin holes in the very bottom of the tub. I was furious. So I grabbed the other tub that I purchased at the same time. Which I have not used. And it had three tiny holes in it as well. So needless to say I will not be using totes anymore. Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to make sure if any of you out there were planning on using them to hold them up to the light before you buy them to see if you can see pin holes in the bottom.
Well you just appeased the hydro grow gods. You "paid your dues" (you have to flood your grow area at least once to qualify). I abandoned Rubbermaid totes and got serious about my grow(s) and got tanks. Expensive, but they are the way to go.
haha.. yeah, I have a 50 Gallon tank for my MJ grow, but was going the cheap route on my Tomatoes. LOL I hate spending money on my Tomato setup.
[quote name='"danktank 420"']It seems to me it woulda been noticed upon sterilizing them.[/quote] Are you serious? Pin holes that you aren't expecting. Naahh.
Why not? I dont know about you but i test run to see how everything is.going to work together prior to final setup. Even pinholes will leave a nice mess even over a short period of time. IJS.
So are you saying the pinholes were there when you bought them, or they developed the pinholes over time? You mentioned everything was going GREAT!,, And then you found the problem, so I am curious if it was existing or did the nute water have anything to do with it?
I would have to agree with danktank on this as I would expect DIY'ers to do a dry run with nothing but water for at least 24 hours. I say 24 hours because most silicon based sealants take upto 24 hours to fully cure (I used rubber gaskets and threaded pvc, hate grommets). But then again you would have found the leak within the first hour of testing, no matter how small the holes are. Many use the cheapest totes they can find without any issues. You could have patched the holes as well w/ some silicon.
You can't see the holes unless you hold them up to the light I did test run everything. I've been running this tote since October and haven't seen a drop of water on the floor. The holes were so small that the surface tension of the water wasn't being broken by just sitting there. I believe where it went wrong is when I pulled the tub away from the wall. It was a little close to my baseboard heater and I didn't want to melt it. Yes the holes were there when I bought them. I went to Menards today out of curiosity, and every one of them had pin holes. In this brand anyway. As I mentioned earlier in this post I did test run it, and had no leaks anywhere. This just all of a sudden started happening after three months of use. I originally thought maybe my dog ran full speed into it or something, until I rented a carpet cleaner and removed all of the water, and a couple days later the carpet was wet again. I thought about using silicone, but wasn't sure if it would cause any toxicity with the plants. I also considered using spray rubberized undercoating in the bottom of the totes. But again don't know if it would be toxic to the plants or not.
fryhazzrd, Did not know you had it running for 3 months. Now it all makes sense and I understand about the toxicity of silicon. If you go to this page: Link The ones you are interested in are the ones with 'FDA approved' or NSF (food safe). But then again, you have already moved onto buckets so this info may or may not be of importance.
Thanks, I'll look into it. I'm actually a little surprised at the kind of feedback I'm getting for putting a warning out there. I know a lot of people out there use totes, hell I've been using them for ten + years. This is the first time I have ever had a problem with them. I should have known better than to buy these totes. They were really cheap and you get what you pay for. But to be honest when a container has a label on it that says it holds so many gallons. That tells me it will hold liquid. A gallon is a liquid measurement. If they didn't mean for it to hold liquid the label should be in Cu/ft. Period.
Haters are, well, haters. It's a chance to say "I'm better then you!" and other shit that's self serving. Grass COMMUNITY
No not really. I mentioned about how surprised I was at the negative feedback that I received for trying to warn people out there using totes. He was responding to that. The sad thing is he's not far off.
[quote name='"HardDrive"']I've saw small thin spots in the totes before. Hold em' to the light, you can see the weak spots.[/quote] That's a really good idea.
That's why i use the ones with locking lids they seem to be a little better made .I have never had one leak but have had the tops blow the hell out but easy fix with some tie wire and diy'er best friend duct tape And there are always h8trz no matter what the hell your doing best to just toke on a number and move on.