Plastic piping a bad idea?

[twiggyb]

I was going to be making tunnels in my foam rock wall I'm building, and someone posted that it can leach bad things into the water. Should I avoid using plastic piping? Has anyone had trouble with leaching into the water using plastic piping?

 

[csa dad]

never heard tat if thats te case then alot of us are in trouble

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Every single reef tank I've ever seen has had "plastic plumbing" of some kind. Though it's fair to point out that there are lots of different kinds of plastic plumbing. The piece you've posted a photo of appears to be ABS pipe meant for drains from sinks, etc. That's not commonly used in reef tanks - most "hard" plastic plumbing is PVC, which is just fine for making rock structures with.

Note I'm not saying the ABS is bad, just that it's not commonly used.

 

[twiggyb]

I know pvc is ok, but I just wanted to know if this pipe is ok. I'm hopefully going to start on my foam rock wall tomorrow and I just wanted to make sure before I got started that this pipe will be alright

 

[Jeff]

This must be the thread in question: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1800418

 

[twiggyb]

No, I was refering to a comment left on my 12g build thread. Algae doesn't concearn me(at least right now) I was refering to more of a chemical leaching that are bad for the inhabitants. Algae would be a hassle, but I wouldn't want any dead animals in there due to something leaching.

 

[Patroclus]

I would just use PVC to be safe. The pipe you have there is a drain pipe. They aren't to concerned about those being food grade / safe. Those pipes go straight to the sewer.

 

[twiggyb]

What if I wrap the pipe in mesh, like you would use for a tank cover, then foam over it and slide the pipe out? Or would the pipe adhere to the foam and not able to pull out?

 

[customcolor]

if you wanna pull the pipe out then wrap it in wax paper...foam will not stick to it....carfull on how much tape you use if you can....

 

[twiggyb]

Thanks for the tip. What if I dabbed a little bit of super glue to hold the wax paper together instead?

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

how thick is the pipe you have pictured? why not just use PVC and be done with it...especially if your gonna remove the pipe...i would not be too worried about it leaching though...look on the GARF site and they say you can use pretty much anything in your agrocrete rocks...i cant see how any plastic plumbing is going to be inherently dangerous to your livestock..

 

[twiggyb]

Well, I just don't feel like going out to get pvc pipe lol. I did look at pvc before I purchased this, but I didn't like how thick all the pipes were and I wanted a good sized opening. It would have took up too much room if I got the pvc pipe. It's only a 12g nano so there isn't much room as it is to put the pipe and rock on the wall

 

[dogstar74]

Just use it, the fish you keep will harmed much more over the long term by the nitrates you fight, the phosphates that we leach, the pH we don't controll too well, the Salinity changes daily from evap... etc. etc.

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Aaron

 

[customcolor]

if super glue holds it then go for it

 

[twiggyb]

I guess if the foam doesn't stick then super glue probably doesn't have that much more of a chance lol

 

[CWP]

I don't see how that pipe is worse for your fish than foam.

 

[twiggyb]

The foam will be coated in epoxy resin which is safe for aquariums