botanicare for a propagation system?

[cowdust9]

hello, was looking into getting a Botanicare hydroponic tray for a prop system but it says it is a made with a few things that im not sure if would be bad or not for the corals

-70% recycled plastic
-U.V. resistant cap
-BPA free

just wanted to know if this would be safe

Thanks

link for tray:
http://www.botanicare.com/Botanicare-4x8-ID-Tray-White-P126C7.aspx

[parrthed]

Ive used the Botanicare 4x2 white ones for years, you can also find them in black occasionally. I just get mine from th local hydro shop. There is even a nice flat section at one end that you can drill the bottom for a bulkhead.

Ive seen a pre-made "prop system" for sale on some websites that is just a rebadged hydro grow rack with light tree and it appears to have one of these trays as well.

[spoggy]

I have no direct experience with this but, all plastics "leach" chemicals into whatever touches them (water, air, fingers etc.) Plastics are a petroleum product, and the plasticizers, colorants, reinforcements & stabilizers. Leaching is from the plastic surface, so, basically, leachate will be the stabilizers. One cause of loosening the chemical bond is sunlight (UV) degradation. Once loose they are able to go into the water.
My educated guess is that, because of husbandry practices in coral propagation that involve numerous water changes, levels of leachate never reach toxic levels.

[akitareefer]

been using these trays with no problems. I recommend th white ones because they are deeper or appear deeper. The black ones have a different shape. Beware on lighting, the tanks are so shallow its easy to put too much light on your corals.

[cowdust9]

great thanks for the info i really want to get one of these

[a.browning]

Bumping this up. Who uses these trays for propagation? Any benefits of white vs black? It seems like most places have the black for cheaper.

[CBlair]

I bought a white 4x2 tray with the intent of setting up a frag tank in the near future

[Dapg8gt]

I've dabbled and imo the black ones seem to store heat. I was using halide on my 2x2 one but the temp spike from the light was higher than the 4x2 white I have now. I only ran the white one for a few weeks though.

Also white is reflective so your light will bounce up to the underside of the coral vs being absorbed by the black.

The temp thing could be a fluke but that was my observation.

[msderganc]

Just bought a white one for the reflective reason mentioned above.

Very easy to set up, had some issues with the bulkheads on one side and had to jury-rig it a bit. They also have some nice reservoirs for sumps - you can get a whole setup with the 4x2 flood table, stand, light bar, and reservoir for like $350.

Edit: I bought the ActiveAqua brand flood table, but if I had to do it again, I would have bought the Botanicare. It has a better space for the bulkheads.

[akitareefer]

technically active aqua is the new Hydrofarm and Botanicare is Botanicare but still distributed through Hydrofarm. With that said they are safe to use However I would really recommend running them with RO water to leach out their phosphates also running gfo and straight ro with them for like a week. These flood and drain tables are made with a plastic which while doesnt seem to hurt the coral persay leaches PHOSPHATES horribly if not taken care of properly you will see a outbreak like never before that active aqua symbol on the back wall wont be seen again once the ditritis and other algae bloom breaks out. I have been using these trays for years now and can tell you there are reasons why in the hydroponics side they cover them with panda film and use anti algae killers the white is like a attractant for phosphates and algae growth. But with that said once the leaching is pretty much done running a simple gfo reactor and good filtration would do it. Also slight suggestion I am not sure how you drilled it but there are some simple tips I can give you to make it so you wont have such a problem vacuuming all the little grooves. Things I didn't think about till year 1 after all the pain flow is a major issue on these so your returns must be very strategic or your gonna need some koralia's or jebo's. You also might want to think about filling the gaps with crushed coral. IMHO I would invest in like 5 bali sea hares for the beginning stages of the life cycle of that prop tank save yourself some of the algae bloom nightmare those guys do wonders like you've never seen on outbreaks pm me for pics or any questions.:beer:

[a.browning]

Thanks for the information. That is a little concerning regarding leaching phosphates. I was very set to pull the trigger on these but now I am second guessing that decision. I was going to get the botanicare instead of a Rubbermaid trough, but maybe the Rubbermaid would be the best option.

[akitareefer]

Well what you could do if you want is buy pvc sheets there are quite a few websites out there that have them and build your own tank using screws and silicon to hold it together I've seen multiple builds done this way also just so you know. Almost all rubbermaid totes or troughs are still gonna leach its all the abs plastic also most rubbermaid products your gonna want to sterelize some how because they all have a film on them from the factory their stamped from the molding process but what happens is they put a small film of grease of sorts so it doesn't stick to the mold so just make sure you do that. otherwise hit me up with a pm i'll get you a good deal on a glass frag tank. In all honesty after all that I've been through I have 6 prop tanks ordered and being made custom for me now so the smallest one being a 4x2 the rest are all 6x2.5 and one 8x2.5 . let me know or pm me with any questions I'd be more than happy to help.