View Full Version : new CPO tank
Rugh1982
04-23-2010, 5:59 PM
hi guys, enjoy the pics.
this is only a temporary setup for a few weeks.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1075.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1079.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1080.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1087.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1097.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1100.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1113.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1127.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/jichnun/New%20CPO%20Tank/IMG_1134.jpg
Great photos! That looks like a wonderful CPO home.
One question: How long have you had the gray PVC in there? I'm pretty sure that gray PVC killed my two CPOs, 3 dwarf cajuns after that, and caused my yellow shrimp to stop breeding. It might sound a little paranoid, but once I removed them my yellows started berrying up in that tank again and my remaining dwarf cajun is fine for a couple of months now. It could also be the particular variety I used. Even though there's no indication from the MSDS for electrical conduit PVC that there would ever be a problem (the lead colorant is bound in the polymer and shouldn't ever leach into the water) I'm convinced that it's what killed my crays. I only keep white potable water PVC in my tanks now. I'm betting you'll be fine, but you never know.
Rugh1982
04-24-2010, 1:29 AM
These pips are used for indoor plumbing, i doubt it that they are dangerous.
I used them for a few weeks in another tank with danticula shrimps, they berried like crazy :D
My LFS uses them to build sump systems for salt water tanks btw.
You should check your gravel, my friend bought some fake quartz sand a few months ago that killed all of his inverts. We checked everything and than checked the quartz and saw it was regular gravel painted in black.
this isn`t the final design. i want to build a large hideaway for the CPO`s using the PVC pips. 2 pips wide and 5-6 pips high, glow the black quartz on it with aquarium safe silicon.
the mangrove root with be covered in cladofera (marimo balls)
and some more neat stuff :thumbsup:
pbmax
04-24-2010, 10:58 AM
These pips are used for indoor plumbing, i doubt it that they are dangerous.
Actually, gray PVC is approved for electrical conduits, not potable water use. I did a great deal of research into it when I realized that the deaths only started after I added them as hides, including a detailed review of a gray electrical conduit PVC MSDS. I agree, it sounds odd and it shouldn't be the case, but I ruled out every other thing that I (and some forum folks) could possibly think of (substrate, plants, water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, gh, kh, copper, temperature, ph, food, etc.) I'm a computer hardware engineer - debugging and problem-solving is what I do best and this is what I came up with.
Now that the pipes are out the tank is healthy again. I'm using the same gravel (activ-flora biologically active substrate for planted aquariums) in other tanks and they're fine. My yellows were breeding like crazy in that tank for 2 months. My problems started about 3 weeks after I put the gray PVC in, so if you're past that then you're probably fine.
You're certainly welcome to ignore my advice... but I will continue to warn people about gray PVC. :huh:
Rugh1982
04-24-2010, 11:19 AM
so what should i use for shelter instead?
pjrichar
04-24-2010, 11:35 AM
white pvc everyone uses it
Yup, potable water white PVC.
Pretty tanks, I LOVE that piece of wood! :
mellowvision
04-24-2010, 6:49 PM
every inch of pipe I see in use at the Aquarium I volunteer at is schedule 80 pipe, which is almost always gray.
pbmax
04-24-2010, 10:29 PM
I could have gotten some nasty pvc somehow... that's entirely possible.
Rugh1982
04-25-2010, 2:17 AM
Pretty tanks, I LOVE that piece of wood! :
thanks, i plan on covering most of the branches with marimo balls.
mellowvision
04-25-2010, 2:58 PM
your thread has had me wondering about pvc since I last posted... and I just found myself googling, and came up with this great info page... http://www.ppfahome.org/pvc/index.html
and it led me to checking the printed codes on some pvc pipe I had laying around here. I have 2 pieces, one is white, and from a local plumbing supplier, the other is grey and is from usplastics. All PVC is clearly marked with appropriate codes for use. The white is marked "potable" where the grey is marked "water". I haven't dug deep enough to find the differences in the codes, but I'm sure it won't be difficult to dig up.
The other thing I've found with pvc, is that you really need to clean it well before aquarium use. Any pvc dust, or surface residues need to be removed... With pieces I haven't cleaned thoroughly before use, I find that I'll get a thick white mucus, probably a fungus, that forms on the unclean parts, and eventually flakes off. This is pretty annoying when those unclean spots are deep in a plumbing system, and the flakes shoot out of the return line into the water column.
I also think that cutting can be an issue. Most professional pvc cutting tools are like a ratcheting scissor. Others are a smooth cutting wheel that spins around the pipe... While cutting with a hack saw or chop saw may seem appropriate, and is certainly easy, I think the heat created from friction cutting, and the open cells and dust created, are undesirable for us, because the method leads to the release of far more of the plastic's compounds. Shearing with scissors is a far cleaner process, and would seem to pose a far smaller risk when used for aquarium water.
Rugh1982
04-25-2010, 3:23 PM
i never seen any white stuff growing on it, maybe it`s coz u had used pips...
mellowvision
04-25-2010, 3:34 PM
I've never used anything but brand new pipe in my tanks.
bighammer1956
04-25-2010, 9:17 PM
This is a question off topic,Where did you get your cpo's?msjinkzd is out of hers...
bighammer1956
04-25-2010, 9:19 PM
Sorry,shouldn't looked closer,Israel,is too far to go..
pbmax
04-25-2010, 10:48 PM
The other thing I've found with pvc, is that you really need to clean it well before aquarium use. Any pvc dust, or surface residues need to be removed... With pieces I haven't cleaned thoroughly before use, I find that I'll get a thick white mucus, probably a fungus, that forms on the unclean parts, and eventually flakes off. This is pretty annoying when those unclean spots are deep in a plumbing system, and the flakes shoot out of the return line into the water column.
I also think that cutting can be an issue. Most professional pvc cutting tools are like a ratcheting scissor. Others are a smooth cutting wheel that spins around the pipe... While cutting with a hack saw or chop saw may seem appropriate, and is certainly easy, I think the heat created from friction cutting, and the open cells and dust created, are undesirable for us, because the method leads to the release of far more of the plastic's compounds. Shearing with scissors is a far cleaner process, and would seem to pose a far smaller risk when used for aquarium water.
Hmm, those are interesting points. I cut mine with a hacksaw and then sand them smooth, removing all shavings and burrs. I've done this with all of the PVC I use in my tanks including a bunch of white PVC I've been using for 8 months or more. I used to then scrub them clean with soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Now I run them through the dishwasher before use. I've never seen anything other than algae growing on any of my PVC.