Worried about leaks and cracks - 30 gal plastic tote.

I don't mean to post anything that would be considered a duplicate thread, but this is a specific problem that I was wondering about.
I built a aeroponic garden out of a 30 gallon plastic tote that I got from home depot. It runs fine right now, now leaks or anything, but now I'm worried...

I read about a few people having their plastic totes spontaneously crack and leak everywhere when used for water storage. It's only filled about halfway right now, but I'm still paranoid. When you shine light on the inside of the tub, you can see the imperfections in the plastic.

Any thoughts on prevention or precautions to prevent a huge problem if it happens? I was thinking about getting a stock tank that is designed for water storage, but none of them have lids... Maybe a tote inside a tote?

Double up on the tote. Buy another of the same exact kind, and slip it around the original. Thats what I did when I had the same concerns as you. It's super heavy duty that way, and I had no concerns after that. Might take some thinking to figure out the hoses running in and out though...

You're right, with the pipes running in and out it could be tricky. The hole in the outer tote would have to be straight through the handle. Otherwise I could just cut notches for the pipes to slide straight down through. But that might compromise the strength of tote.
Does the bottom of the inner tote come in complete contact with the outer tote? If it is just suspending, it could cause it to be more prone to cracks.

My second thought is to buy a shorter, but wider and longer tote to set this one inside. It wouldn't really be doing anything unless there were a leak and then it would catch all the water.

Or buy some construction trash bags and wrap it up that way it will let you keep your current set up, which looks very nice by the way. And would be an obious time to get a new set up if you come home to a full bag of water.

make a box a little bit bigger than your tote and put the tote in it. fill with concrete to the appropriate level. then wait. break off the box and you got yourself a concrete tote! you dont need to move it anyways, right?

maybe find an old junk bathtub and put it in that

you definitely dont want a leak on those wood floors

Guess you get what you pay for, I use the heavy duty totes with yellow lids from Lowe's for my rez and it doesn't bulge at all. My flowering chamber is in a cheap tote -rubbermaid and I have worried that around the drain or inlet hole for the 1/2 PVC could crack and leak. I've deceided I"m going to upgrade after this flowering cycle. New tote I found is 50$ and is Heavy duty to say the least...

Well, here's what I ended up doing. I went to the container store with identical tote in hand and found a wider shallower. This particular one holds ~12 gallons. So I just fill my reservoir up to the 10 gal mark and I'm good to go. It came with a lid that I may modify to make an nice cover for the second tub.

The plants are about 3 weeks old.

pazuzu420 said:

Guess you get what you pay for, I use the heavy duty totes with yellow lids from Lowe's for my rez and it doesn't bulge at all.

Click to expand...

I saw those totes at lowes. Almost bought one, but the surface of the lid and the way it seals around the top of the tote made me hesitant. I was thinking of using the base of that tote and then make a lid out of painted lexan.

Cypress, if you really wanna invest a couple bucks in something nice for your next go 'round, try getting a cooler. They come in all sizes, won't crack or leak, and best of all they insulate your reservoir keeping your nutrient solution at a steady, stable temperature...I've seen some really large totes for about 40-50 bucks, and it seems like an investment worth making.