fibergalss trays safe to use?

[black_thumb]

im thanking of building a grow tray out of fiberglass would this be safe for plants or could there be offgasing and toxen that would hurt the plants?

 

[durka_durka420]

for the price of building a tray you could probly buy about 5 of them at a hydro store or lowes.......i wouldnt to be on the safe side dude....

 

[odium33]

ya do you have ready access to cheap fiberglass? if all you want is a standard size flood tray, seems like a lot to go through! I have seen someone build a DIY coliseum out of fiberglass. He was extremely talented, and it turned out awesome, i wish i still had the link. But he didnt seem to think it would affect the plants.

 

[jaspmf]

Standard fiberglass resin should be plenty safe for plants. In fact, I think Botanicare tables are fiberglass (the 7" deep ones; I think the thinner 4" high ones are ABS plastic).

It's PVC plasticizers (a chemical that makes PVC soft and pliable) that is the off-gassing culprit, meaning that you generally don't have to worry with "hard" plastics.

 

[black_thumb]

well the botanicare trays are not deep enough. i need atleast 10" deep. what im doing is a sog DWC project where im using a pvc manifold with 1" round air stones under each plant 50-70 plants per tray. right now im just doing some test runs with those 27 gallon totes you get from lowes.

 

[jaspmf]

Why do you need it so deep? What medium are you using?

You'll find that for most applications flooding that high isn't necessary, especially depending on medium and plant size/pot size.

 

[black_thumb]

i want to give the roots enough room to grow without them getting tangled together incase i need to move some around. 8 plants per tote Using 2" net cups filled with the clay balls in the totes for now.

this is the air pump im going to be using-

http://www.aquasythe.com/Products/Whitewater-WW-29-brRegenerative-Blower__AE-WW29.aspx