Flexible Vinyl Tubing

Waters

"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
View Badges
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
8,591
Reaction score
19,166
Location
Mentor, OH
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What is everyone's thoughts on using plasticized vinyl tubing? Any danger to livestock? I know PVC is safe (this tubing is polyvinyl chloride) but the plasticizers (what gives tubing flexibility) concerns me. This is the product I purchased which says it can be used for aquariums but I am not so sure? I am troubleshooting a mature planted freshwater aquarium crash which happened withing 6 hours of using this tubing.....along with one other change I had made. Trying to figure out the cause of the crash.

 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
75,964
Reaction score
75,138
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You won't be able to find out readily exactly what is in it, and tin is a concern as a heat stabilizer in PVC, but not always there (at least not always detectable in the water).
 
OP
OP
Waters

Waters

"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
View Badges
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
8,591
Reaction score
19,166
Location
Mentor, OH
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You won't be able to find out readily exactly what is in it, and tin is a concern as a heat stabilizer in PVC, but not always there (at least not always detectable in the water).
Thanks for the response. Do you think there is anything that would be in there that could affect fish behavior/health within 12 hours? If not, than I can eliminate the tubing as a possible cause.
 

Malcontent

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
1,275
Reaction score
1,246
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The tubing loses flexibility over time and then annoyingly needs to be replaced. The cheap stuff from hardware stores seems the worst but even high quality tubing eventually stiffens up.

I haven't noticed any issues with toxicity.

I'm slowly switching over to silicone tubing secured with Oetiker clamps.

There are other plasticizer-free and non-leeching plasticizer options out there but they appear to be more expensive than silicone. These are the types of soft tubing used for beverages and water cooled computers.
 
OP
OP
Waters

Waters

"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
View Badges
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
8,591
Reaction score
19,166
Location
Mentor, OH
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The tubing loses flexibility over time and then annoyingly needs to be replaced. The cheap stuff from hardware stores seems the worst but even high quality tubing eventually stiffens up.

I haven't noticed any issues with toxicity.

I'm slowly switching over to silicone tubing secured with Oetiker clamps.

There are other plasticizer-free and non-leeching plasticizer options out there but they appear to be more expensive than silicone. These are the types of soft tubing used for beverages and water cooled computers.
Yeah, I am switching over to silicone also. Just trying to come up with reasons why a fully planted mature tank would crash overnight to the point where every fish is affected. I only made two changes with the use of the tubing being one.
 

BeanAnimal

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
6,000
Reaction score
10,236
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
FWIW - I have a roll of reinforced vinyl that gets an orange coating on the inside when used for the reef. It came from Lowes. The prior roll from there did not do this, so something in the formula changed.

I am actually currently migrating those hoses (chiller and skimmer) to reinforced platinum cured silicone leaders with regular hard PVC runs.
 
OP
OP
Waters

Waters

"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
View Badges
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
8,591
Reaction score
19,166
Location
Mentor, OH
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
FWIW - I have a roll of reinforced vinyl that gets an orange coating on the inside when used for the reef. It came from Lowes. The prior roll from there did not do this, so something in the formula changed.

I am actually currently migrating those hoses (chiller and skimmer) to reinforced platinum cured silicone leaders with regular hard PVC runs.
I don't blame you. We know that silicone is totally safe.....not sure I can say the same thing about the vinyl I used. I don't want to reboot this tank until I figure out what caused the crash.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
75,964
Reaction score
75,138
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks for the response. Do you think there is anything that would be in there that could affect fish behavior/health within 12 hours? If not, than I can eliminate the tubing as a possible cause.

I don't know, but I would guess not that fast.
 
OP
OP
Waters

Waters

"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
View Badges
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
8,591
Reaction score
19,166
Location
Mentor, OH
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I think I can safely put the blame on the tubing. I turned the UV off last night and checked on the tank today and the fish (that are still alive) are back to acting relatively normal. I pulled the tubing out of the sump and everywhere the tubing was underwater, it turned white (used to be clear) and was completely slimy....almost like it was dissolving. You can actually see a film in the water surrounding the tube. This is with the tubing only being under water for a couple of days. I guess when this company markets it as aquarium safe, they don't plan on it being submerged? Very strange. Whatever that was leaching was enough to affect almost 50 fish and melt a tank full of plants in one night.

tubing.jpg
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

Back
Top