Redoing my plumbing, are these products safe?
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Are PVC primer and Cement Reef-Safe
- Thread starter this is me
- Start date
Piscevore
elsewhere
Well, let me put it this way: I wouldn't drip that cr@p into your tank 
So long as it has dried, it is fairly inert. If you were to run water through freshly glued tubes, it would probably be a bad thing healthwise for the inhabitants. Curing time is 1-2 hours as far as initial tack. After that initial time frame, you are set.
So long as it has dried, it is fairly inert. If you were to run water through freshly glued tubes, it would probably be a bad thing healthwise for the inhabitants. Curing time is 1-2 hours as far as initial tack. After that initial time frame, you are set.
OP
OP
Thanks for the fast reply, Ryan!
I just finished glueing everything together and was planning to wait til 10 or 11 to give it a test run.
Now, i should be studying for my exam tomorow...
I just finished glueing everything together and was planning to wait til 10 or 11 to give it a test run.
Now, i should be studying for my exam tomorow...
smcnally
Tankless
I ran water through my pipes about 20 minutes after I put them together once. And that was too soon. When the water entered the display tank you could see the chemical "swirls" in the water. My damsels turned BLACK for about 15 minutes but didn't die (damn!), but it didn't seem to hurt anything else. Before anyone tells me I'm cruel, it was an honest mistake. I went to plug in a powerhead to circulate the water in the display tank while it cured, and grabbed the wrong cord. But this just goes to show you...Damsels have connections upstairs, you just can't kill the lil bastards!
Matt L.
Non-member
Yes, they are reef safe when dry, and believe it or not, if you're running carbon, PVC cement is "safe" even if added directly to the tank
The solvents are highly volatile, readily sorbed by carbon, and even capable of being degraded by microorganisms. They will make your skimmer go crazy until they work their way out of your system.
I learned this by accident as I once dropping quite a bit of PVC cement directly in to my tank. The solvents immediately leave the PVC for water, leaving a thin film of plastic on the surface (by the way, this is how plastic films are often made). In the water, the solvents then are removed by any of the previous mentioned methods.
In sum, once dry, PVC primer and cement are completely safe.
Matt
The solvents are highly volatile, readily sorbed by carbon, and even capable of being degraded by microorganisms. They will make your skimmer go crazy until they work their way out of your system.I learned this by accident as I once dropping quite a bit of PVC cement directly in to my tank. The solvents immediately leave the PVC for water, leaving a thin film of plastic on the surface (by the way, this is how plastic films are often made). In the water, the solvents then are removed by any of the previous mentioned methods.
In sum, once dry, PVC primer and cement are completely safe.
Matt
When I installed my reactor this fall, I cut the return line and installed a fitting and restarted the pump about 10 min later, everything was ok.
Jim
Jim
Question: why can I smell PVC primer more than 24 hours after curing - even with a 1-2 hour water flush? I just re-constructed my return pump plumbing (using purple primer) to enhance flow and even after running the plumbing in the bathtub with a MAG pump, I could still smell the primer the next morning. I still installed the plumbing on the tank, and don't see any adverse effects, but it still makes me wonder. If the primer as safe as the cement? I know the primer dries (flashes) VERY quickly... but the odor lingers.
Matt L.
Non-member
I prefer the clear primer to the purple primer.JWeb said:
Primer is just solvent -- it is not glue or anything special.
Primer is mostly methyl ethyl ketone (a substance similar to nail polish remover, excpet more hazardous to human health, I believe) and diethyl ketone (a/k/a acetone, which is nail polish remover, and more beign).
Primer just softens up the PVC and cleans by dissolving impurities on the surface.
The smell of the ketones I mention are very detectable by the human nose, and can linger. However, activated carbon readily sorbs them and a skimmer would strip them out of the water column before they even had a chance to be biodegraded.
Matt
The only reason some primer is purple is some towns require it so the plumbing inspector can verify it was used, its the same stuff purple or clear, I like the clear its not so messy looking.
Jim
Jim
OP
OP
Waited 3 hours.
everything went well.
Thanks!
everything went well.
Thanks!
