Can anybody recommend good leak proof sample tubes for storing spiders in 70% ethanol in our museum collection drawers? We currently use 3ml and 5ml tubes and although they claim to be leak proof they are not.
If you could provide a link to the supplier that you use that would be really helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Despite what tubes you decide to get, I would highly recommend wrapping the lid tightly with Parafilm.
Dear Ashley,
for long term storage, I am unaware of any single tube that is absolutely prove.
First of all, glass tubes are the prefered choice.
Secondly, some museums use glass tubes covered with cotton wool and place many of them in greater glass tanks. These tanks can be normal household ('marmelade') glasses, which can easily controlled and filled up. Routines for refilling depend on the surropunding, if you store them in temperature controlled rooms, a yearly or even a two-year routine should be fine.
I hope this helps,
greetings Arne
Plain pet bottles serve the best. The vials that you use and many glass tubes and their caps react with alcohol in time. Some put the glass tubes upside down into jars filled with ethanol. I saw alcohol jars in a museum that worked several hundred years with a thin frill along the neck.
Please note that some glass material isnt as strong to certain chemicals like alcohol.
MICRONIC (https://www.micronic.com/ ) makes extremely durable tubes, certainly suitable for long term storage. RNAse, DNAse, pyrogen-free, available sterile, external or internal threaded, and free of leachables. Check out some of their tech notes here: (https://www.micronic.com/tech-notes) The generation R study in particular shows how they used Micronic tubes to store samples from fetal to adulthood going on 15 years with no loss of sample integrity.
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