Making a Cave for Fish

PVS is 100 percent safe because its made for drinkable water and Most people use this for filtration methods (white)

The ABS (black) is used for sewege. many poeple in the usenet uses it and someone who breeds discuses says everything is fine so far ( a few years). I cannot find anything saying its 100 percent safe for fish. It is for sewege. Im not going to risk it. You can if you want
 
its used for sewage because it cant do pressure applications.

PVC is much stronger at withstanding pressure... and when the citys water lines are running at 70psi+ you need something that can handle that.

Many large public aquariums use ABS for their plumbing. Many reef keepers do also... and if there not having problems keeping some of the most sensitive creatures on earth, i doubt anybody keeping FW fish will either.

oh- and just about every LFS in the US is using ABS for the bulkheads they use in their tanks.
 
I have been researching this on the net as well as usenet. Some poeple say its ok..some people say its not. Some say there is a "fungicide" coating the abs black pipe (im not sure what that is). But i couldnt find and evidence that says yes or no on this subject.

I know I see alot of the White piping (pvc) on the tanks at the aquarium musuems (aquarium of the pacific= to much to get in 18.00!!!!). But I have not once seen it at any lfs or at that musuem (only white). So will I use it? No... Do I want to use it? Yes! black is a better color.

But if its not safe for us human to drink from...then I am not going to subject my fish to that.. Not taking any chances because of a white..black issue..

just read that last statement you made.....I NEVER seen any black piping in ANY LFS here in Los angeles EVER. Just the white...
 
Originally posted by JamisonBWolsh
Did you try your local LFS? they sell it more expensive..but it is still cheaper then mailing it. Try www.bigalsonline.com
Click to expand...

We have one private owned, small LFS (town is only 5k population). We do go to a larger town regularly to buy things we can't get here, such as beer :p

I live in Arkansas, so there are literally rocks EVERYWHERE, but I'm a bit uneasy to just start grabbing up random rocks from the creeks/woods and using them in my aquariums.
 
Arky: then try bigalsonline.. they will sell it to you and you will be getting VERY good Rocks from them.. they have like 8 different kinds..I have their catalog. What you can do is when you go on vacation someplace..you can lugg it in your suitcase :) now that would be one HEAVY suitcase :)

You can see if your local hardware store can do a special order?

Yea.. same here. I need to know that if I am going to add something to my tank..it should be 100 percent safe..and since your not a geoligist (misspelled) you dont want an error to occur.....
 
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your already using plenty of ABS... in the form of that Emperor 400 you have.

the only reason ABS isnt listed as potable is because it doesnt handle the pressure. Has nothing to do with chemicals or leaching.

there are a couple very good links in this thread showing that. Id trust the experts at RC before the people on a usenet.
 
Naw...not that type of plastic....The plastic made for the abs SEWEGE types are totally different..just because the plastic is black on the emperor 400 (not sure the emperor uses abs plastic?) doesnt mean its the same as the abs SEWEGE pipe.

I mean..would YOU put anything in your tank that has the word "made for SEWEGE" on it? I wouldnt. besides...what about the "anti-fungicide" coating on the sewege pipe?
 
lol... its the same thing. made of the same material. just because its pipe or a filter doesnt mean its different stuff.

ABS is as stable as PVC, possibly more so. If it does have a coating on it, it would say on the pipe itself with a special marking.

no ABS tubing has a marking "sewage" on it. Thats just what it is commonly used for. Low pressure applications where it comes in contact with nasties. It needs to not leech or allow anything to leech into it, and it needs to be inexpensive...

you could use PVC for waste water too, and ive seen it done. It just costs alot more in the larger sizes (4" OD)
 
http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/pipe_construction.pdf

A nice link the compares the different types of pipes...

Also, Jameson, here's something to think about. If they were coating the insides of pipes for chemical, biological treatment of water, don't you think that would only be effective for a short time? Additionally, most wastewater treatment depends bacteria processes to breakdown our waste. I think they'd be a bit ticked if we were injecting bio-cides into the waste water system.

I agree with slip...the different compositions of plastic piping exist because of different needs in pressure requirements and flexibility.
 
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