Iodine

[hammer1320]

I have a question. I have been in search of a 55 gallon barrel and I found one that used to contain iodine. I would think that would be bad but I wanted to ask someone who knew more about this. Thanks

 

[addy1]

fish naturally have iodine in them, esp shell fish. If you rinse it well you should be ok.
imho, but others may chine in with something different.

 

[vertigo72]

Looking up iodine on wikipedia, I first thought you couldnt have found a better used barrel lol. Its apparently used as animal nutrition and disinfectant and for water treatment.

Still you will want to clean it properly. Its an irritant, and interestingly, it might explode:

When mixed with ammonia and water, elemental iodine forms nitrogen triiodide, which is extremely shock-sensitive and can explode unexpectedly.

ROFL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine#Precautions_and_toxicity_of_elemental_iodine

 

[fishin4cars]

If you google iodine, all that is written is it's lethal. even at very low dosage. I did read it could be removed or absorbed by activated carbon. from what I was reading I would be nervous using it. If nothing else, fill it several times allowing the container to soak for several minutes if not hours before dumping and refilling it. Then fill it with known safe water and put a small fish in and see what happens. If it's going to react to the iodine I would suspect in the container 12-24 hours would tell if it is leaching any iodine back out. Personally, I think I would try finding another barrel. I had good luck asking a carwash, they gave them to me for free, It's a soap chemical but I did get lucky and the one's I got were bio-degrabable and after three or four rinsings and two soaking I used a small fish for the test and it made it ok over 24 hrs. Mosquito fish work great for this, They will die quick if there is a issue! Available at most any ditch, lake, pond or stream in your local neighborhood and they cost $0 But try not to get a start of them in your pond, They are hard as heck to get rid of once they are in there. 1 female can produce 100 fry and beleive me, those one hundred fry acn turn into several thousand in just one season! Good luck

 

[hammer1320]

Ok, I thank you for the input as I was at work and I figured it would be faster to ask the question here then to search for it.

I did end up getting the barrels (2). They came from a farm and I guess they use the iodine to clean the cow before they milk it. I will clean them out several times and see from there.