Just a quick question about aluminum tubing inside a FW tank will the oxide that is given off by household grad aluminum affect the fish/ water quality or is it fairly inert as i have a great divider idea but it would use square aluminum frames as the divider?
Aluminum tubing
- Thread starter Geoey
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Aluminum is almost instantaneously oxidized, so it will never keep a good luster. You can send it to the electroplating workshop and place it anodized, which means permanent oxide, and may or may not retain some luster, but at least it will not change too much. more:kingaluc
Generally speaking, aluminum is not a good choice compared to plastic, stone, charcoal, cotton, glass, acrylic or stainless steel and others for a fish tank. Aluminum can react chemically to many items (many of which might not be widely known) that are often placed in fish water. Salt will corrode aluminum, and under certain conditions water itself will interact with aluminum.
There are numerous articles that describe it's interaction with water and other chemicals and I would not consider it inert. That may be overly conservative, but I don't think it's a good risk around fish or people. Despite common usage (aluminum foil, aluminum pans), it can have unexpected interactions.
It's an unwanted chemistry experiment.
There are numerous articles that describe it's interaction with water and other chemicals and I would not consider it inert. That may be overly conservative, but I don't think it's a good risk around fish or people. Despite common usage (aluminum foil, aluminum pans), it can have unexpected interactions.
It's an unwanted chemistry experiment.
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I am not an expert on stuff like you are, but my experience with stainless steel is that it is not so stainless. It rusts. I do also see many NA fishkeepers who deliberately put rusty decor, like licence plates with no ill effects.
Well, I'm not an expert on anything outside of accounting and finance, but here's an expert:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-doesnt-stainless-stee/
Metallurgical engineer Michael L. Free of the University of Utah:
"In summary, stainless steel does not rust..."
Just to be clear, if one sees a license plate with rust then it's not made of aluminum because aluminum doesn't rust. It corrodes. (If the plate is made of iron or steel it could rust.) If you see a corroding aluminum license plate it is having ill effects on the water.
I'll attach these for people to read. Imo, anyone who reads them should have many concerns about adding aluminum to their tanks... despite the delight of seeing a tank with rusting beer cans and old license plates.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/7/chemistry
http://www.lytron.com/Tools-and-Tec...es/Safeguarding-Aluminum-From-Water-Corrosion
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:436113/FULLTEXT01.pdf
For those who don't read them, I'll post a few quotes from them, none of which describe aluminum as inert or safe in water (much less among fish.)
"There are many known biological effects of aluminum, nearly all of which are negative.14 Aluminum toxicity has been extensively studied in fish, especially freshwater fish, but less so in other organisms, including marine fish.15 In freshwater systems, the toxicity of aluminum is a function of pH, with aluminum typically more toxic at lower pH. The reasons for this include the solubility, the speciation, and the nature of the interaction of aluminum with the surfaces of organisms as the pH changes.14 At pH 7, aluminum can bind to the gills of fish, inducing asphyxiation.15"
".....water with a lower pH (more acidic) may attack some aluminum alloys, and water with higher pH (more basic) will attack all aluminum alloys. Aluminum's resistance to corrosion in natural fresh and tap waters varies also depending on the content of dissolved solids, gases, and colloidal or suspended matter. For instance, the combination of carbonate, chloride and copper can cause some supply waters to be more corrosive."
"All the aluminium alloys, except an anodised AA5005 material, experienced pitting in the tap water corrosion coupon test."
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What you say is true, but I want to add to it. Number one, while I have read that before, how the chrome and molybdenum in ss keep it from rusting,I have had stainless steel knives, tools, countertops, and other things pit and corrode and sometimes show rust. maybe regular steel is sold as stainless or maybe it does rust under some weird conditions, but while I would trust it more than steel, if I was scared of rust I wouldn't use it. Second, I have never seen an aluminum license plate. they are always steel, at least the NY,NJ,PA ones are. After looking at your attached articles I see how rusty steel is a much smaller issue than aluminum. I might add that i have seen tilapia auquaponic farms in Israel that were using rusty steel tubs, and while tilapia are pretty tough,I can't see a farmer keeping his livestock under bad conditions if he can avoid it.
I was surprised myself to find out license plates are aluminum.
http://leewardpro.com/articles/alumvsplast/index.html
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/License-Plate.html
https://recyclenation.com/2014/07/recycle-license-plates/
As far as the rest, of course, you're right, it could have said it was stainless steel and not been.
And I certainly can't speak for tilapia aquaponic farms in Israel using rusty steel tubs. I agree with you that they should know what they are doing.
But I wasn't saying that rusted iron injures fish. I was saying corroded aluminum does. I'm not a chemist or metallurgy guy, but apparently these are very different levels of danger. Perhaps rusted iron does hurt fish, perhaps not, but I think aluminum is much less safe.
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live and learn. My father has a large license plate collection and many of them are rusty so I guess they used to be steel. I wonder when they changed.