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What do I use to join the PVC?


ryanjury

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Hi I have to join some PVC piping for the sump in my freshwater tank (I know this is saltwater but you guys tend to build more sumps...)

I obviously need something aqurium safe and dont trust the guys at mitre 10 to tell me what is or isn't safe.. The stuff that has been used in the rest of the joins is blue ive tried silicon and (as you would expect) this didn't work..

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PVC cement. Most are just a solvent which evaporates once it's done it's job, some have dyes added which will remain afterwards.

But don't worry too much, they are all reasonably safe. Flush it with water after it's dry, if you're that worried.

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Yeah thats why I have to restick it I brought a tank and im attempting to reuse some of the piping by putting a join in some of the bits that had to be broken to seperate the tank/stand.. Ill go with the stuff from mitre 10 the guy tried to sell me last time..

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I've joined the PVC return tubes to my tank with standard PVC cement and about 2 minutes later started the pump. The fish didn't seem to care at all. It was fresh-water though so maybe less toxic to the fish than marines. It's only the solvent thats a problem. There was no smell coming from the water coming out the outlet end...

It was an urgent fix from a busted pipe. I wouldn't normally do it. Standard PVC cement is completely non-toxic when fully cured.

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I've built skimmers and sand filters for commercial jobs and used PVC Cement with no known problems to date, I'd just let it cure properly (24Hrs) before using it that way your assured all the solvent is evaporated fully.

The stuff I used is called Beta Plus but Marley gold will do the trick too. Remember to use the primer as stated in the instructions. I've used the heat gun trick to recover fittings as well, worked well as TM said.

Tank Man

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