curiousclam120
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hey I have an aquarium that I got from craigslist a while ago. Said it was 90 gallons turns outs its 70, but moving on. It came with plumbing.
The tank has two holes (one is the main drain and the other is the emergency) and there is a 2 inch elbow and bulkhead attached.. i think (this would be the siphon overflow). And then there's this whole line of plumbing pipe and parts glued together and it has a ball valve etc.
It seemed okay until I showed a picture of the plumbing line to my LFS and they said ABS plastic is not safe for a saltwater setup (which I am doing). So that means I would have to replace it all with 2" PVC plumbing. I don't want to spend a month finding parts online and hardware stores and spending $50 or so and I really want to get my aquarium up and going already.
So I researched if ABS plastic is safe and I'm confused. I read a forum claiming that they thought ABS was safe and someone posted they used it on all there tanks for 8 years and had no problems. I read that it contains chemicals to kill algae and will leach in the tank and I've read on a forum on AA that a LFS told this guy that ABS was safe (they sold that, not PVC) and said PVC was the one that wasn't safe. I read that the only reason ABS isnt used as a water supply line in homes is that it can hold slightly less pressure than PVC and apparently it can get brittle over time.
I don't really have the luxury of starting with PVC or ABS, but I don't want to change all of my plumbing if I don't have to. SO have any experiences or knowledge to state that ABS is safe? Thanks for taking the time to read all of this!
The tank has two holes (one is the main drain and the other is the emergency) and there is a 2 inch elbow and bulkhead attached.. i think (this would be the siphon overflow). And then there's this whole line of plumbing pipe and parts glued together and it has a ball valve etc.
It seemed okay until I showed a picture of the plumbing line to my LFS and they said ABS plastic is not safe for a saltwater setup (which I am doing). So that means I would have to replace it all with 2" PVC plumbing. I don't want to spend a month finding parts online and hardware stores and spending $50 or so and I really want to get my aquarium up and going already.
So I researched if ABS plastic is safe and I'm confused. I read a forum claiming that they thought ABS was safe and someone posted they used it on all there tanks for 8 years and had no problems. I read that it contains chemicals to kill algae and will leach in the tank and I've read on a forum on AA that a LFS told this guy that ABS was safe (they sold that, not PVC) and said PVC was the one that wasn't safe. I read that the only reason ABS isnt used as a water supply line in homes is that it can hold slightly less pressure than PVC and apparently it can get brittle over time.
I don't really have the luxury of starting with PVC or ABS, but I don't want to change all of my plumbing if I don't have to. SO have any experiences or knowledge to state that ABS is safe? Thanks for taking the time to read all of this!