How safe is a brass faucet?

Whiterabbitrage

New member
So I cleared a perfect area in what used to be a mini bar. Using it for fish stuff storage and food prep. But today when I went to rinse the cutting board, I realized the faucet is brass. How dangerous is this? If I rinse the fish food prep items, and then I will have touched the faucet, is it ok to stick my hands in the tank? I thought brass was harmful? I don't want to take chances. Thank you.
 
Its not a problem. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc (I believe) and when its in constant contact with saltwater, it erodes and releases copper.
 
One aspect that might give you confidence is that almost all quality (i.e., made of metal) household fixtures are brass, even the ones that appear to be stainless steel. Moreover, even though a very tiny amount of copper will dissolve from the fixture into the water that's flowing from it, the amount gets exponentially less as a new fixture develops a corrosion layer on the wetted parts.

Finally, presuming that you're feeding frozen foods that contain crustaceans, you're supplying a small amount of copper every time you feed, because crustaceans have copper-based blood.
 
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