Will Stainless Steel Plumbing Ever Bother a Fish?

[fishyreview]

Not if your neighbor is a stainless welder with access to free scrap!

Also, I recently was on Pet Fish Talk and we discussed painting the inside of PVC on home made UV units and they said they do it, but the paint flakes off after a while and the units fail in 4 or 5 years.

http://www.***********.com/shows_special/fish_room/fish_room.htm

Scroll down to see the info on DIY UV.

I'm planning to possibly use stainless, so I'll keep in mind the different grades. I didn't think about there being any stainless that could rust.

 

[squint]

Why not just line the inside of the UV housing with stainless steel or titanium foil or a thin sheet curled into a cylindrical shape?

My AquaUltraviolet sterilizers have a lifetime UV degradation warranty on the PVC housings.

 

[jinkzd]

I have seen 304 and 316 last a LONG time in environments far worse than any freshwater tank could duplicate. If you have access to free scrap - go for it, if it is of good grade. Plus stainless is SHINY!

 

[aquaventions]

The UV is enclosed in stainless steel. It is rated 40mj at 18gpm and 30mj at 24gpm; I'm running my system at 15gpm.

 

[aquaventions]

Salt water will eat almost anything given time. 316 will corrode in saltwater particularly around threads. http://www.microdaq.com/occ/application_notes/stainless_steel.php

Do the conditions in the article match those in an aquarium environment? There are many stainless steel UV's, but I've never heard of one failing as described in the article.

 

[aquaventions]

According to my calculations, you would have to replace the PVC piping 89347345 times to make up for the expense of using stainless.

I purchased two 1" threaded elbows and two 1"x6" threaded nipples for about $42.
Based on the above conversion factor the PVC equivalent should cost $0.0000005.

 

[aquaventions]

They do make UV resistant PVC, but I could not find a vendor who sold what I need.

 

[bob965]

I purchased two 1" threaded elbows and two 1"x6" threaded nipples for about $42.
Based on the above conversion factor the PVC equivalent should cost $0.0000005.

Yeah, exactly. Just gotta shop around a bit.