plastic 2 liter soda bottles

[crazycat]

i want to use a plastic 2 liter soda bottle (cut in half) to make a barrier between my prefilter sponges and my built-up substrate. a friend of mine mentioned to me that plastic leaches chemicals into the water.

anyone know any more about this?

 

[tyrel]

I think food safe plastics are safe, at least thats what i read.

 

[Jchillin]

They may be thinking about the labels or the fact that the bottles may have some accumulated junk on the outside. A good cleaning will certainly dislodge them. Another suggestion is a tupperware type dish.

 

[crazycat]

did a little research...

http://www.applesnail.net/content/various/best_of_discussion.htm
Aging in suitable containers
Make sure you use food grade plastic containers to age your water. Other plastics can leach chemicals into the water.
Well-rinsed milk jugs should be fine, just don't fill them right to the top, so they have more surface area for the exchange of the gasses.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/plastics.html

http://www.smartsupply.cc/A-plasticplanet.htm
a rather frightening article about the dangers of plastics--however this excerpt is particulary encouraging for the specific use to which i want to put my soda bottle!
Before you start tossing out your plastic collection, it’s important to note that not all plastics have been proven problematic. Most water bottles, as well as soda, juice, and sports-drink bottles, yogurt cartons, bread bags, boil-in-bag pouches, cereal-box liners, and food-storage bags (such as Ziploc) are examples of food-grade plastics with no known health hazards. (See “A By-the-Numbers Guide to Safety,” below.)

so i guess i kind of answered my own question, but i hope some other of all y'all will find this interesting.

 

[sherry]

interesting. I'll ask yeardly where she heard that reusing water bottles was a problem.... I used refill ours all of the time and completely stopped.

 

[sherry]

Heloise says..

Reusing Water Bottles


My daughter says it's unsafe to reuse plastic water bottles. True or false?
--Millie Kirkwood, Plano, TX

Your daughter is right! Once saliva, sweat and bacteria get inside the bottle, there's no way to completely clean or sanitize it. Also, after extended use and rewashing, the plastic starts to break down. That's why commercial bottled water is stamped with a two-year (or less) expiration date. Although the water doesn't really "expire," it acquires an off taste.


Now I guess that since we KNOW there will be bacteria on the plastic.... and you aren't going to be repeatedly rewashing with soaps ect... aquarium use is much safer than human use.

 

[crazycat]

and i will never again reuse my water and soda bottles for human consumption!

 

[sherry]

Here Here!

 

[Rondory]

Reusing water bottles hasn't killed me yet and I'm not afraid to continue reusing bottles after rinsing them with Grapefruit seed extract. If we only knew the stuff we touched and ingested....we'd never leave the house!

How many people that stopped reusing water bottles think nothing of biting into a apple or cutting up a tomato without washing it with soap? Someone else touched that apple/tomato with their nasty hands. I work at a hospital and I can tell you that I have to force people to wash their hands after having a bowel movement! These same people shop at your grocery store.

 

[MREAGLEWO1]

the reusing of bottle is harmful as long as you dont clean it out. Thats why people dont reccomend it is because they are lazy. (not saying you are). Also, if we cant re use the bottles, why recycle them? isnt it basically saying the same idea,

throwing the bottles in recycling program....
collected and remake plastic items such as ORNAMENTS, HOSES, any thing else plastic for the tank


jmo

 

[travis simonson]

I'm never eating apples again