Safety of Copper Pipes?

"Pond Newbie" wrote:

Just theorizing, though. I know most places that have fish in their fountains now have
signs asking that pennies (or any coin) not be thrown in the water. I would assume this to
be the reason.

Pennies in the last decade or so have been made of copper plated zinc.

Neither is safe for fish.

Sam Hopkins wrote:
If your PH is 7.0 it will leech and be dissolved into the water column and
build up and affect your fish. If your PH is 7.0 it will precipitate out
and not affect anything. I know this from treating acid mine drainage.

Sam

.hmmmph our well water ph here runs about 8-9 and will disolve a copper pipe in a year or two
in 1999 they put in a new subdivision an school near here and have had
to replace all lthe copper pipes with pvc because of leaks, a real pain
when the pipes are in under a concrete slab

John Rutz

My guess is there's something more sinister going on. Copper pipes have been
used a long long long time in homes with water that is above 7 PH and the
plumping in them still exists after 80 years.

Sam

"fuerjefe" wrote in message
...


Sam Hopkins wrote:
If your PH is 7.0 it will leech and be dissolved into the water column
and
build up and affect your fish. If your PH is 7.0 it will precipitate
out
and not affect anything. I know this from treating acid mine drainage.

Sam

.hmmmph our well water ph here runs about 8-9 and will disolve a copper
pipe in a year or two
in 1999 they put in a new subdivision an school near here and have had
to replace all lthe copper pipes with pvc because of leaks, a real pain
when the pipes are in under a concrete slab

John Rutz

Years ago I took a fish health course at Dr. Gratjeck(sp?) and in the
class there was a real horror story about an exotic fish store that
had major fish kill because someone attached a copper line to the
filter system. I do not rember the chemical reaction that caused the
toxic condition, but I have always been very cautious about copper
ever since.

Cla




"BenignVanilla" wrote in message ...
I just replumbed my entire house with copper, and I have some left over. I
am thinking about building a DIY filter for my aquarium, just for fun. Any
thoughts on the safety of using copper in an aquaria environment? I figure
it safe for us to drink, it should be safe in the tank or pond for that
matter.

Any thoughts?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

I think the "Don't use copper pipe" warnings may be a typical case of "in
theory" and "I heard once" information that often gets sent around fish
groups because it just sounds "right". I'd argue that what did ornamental
ponds and fish stores use before PVC pipe existed? Copper of course and they
were all fine.

Sam


"Cla" wrote in message
om...
Years ago I took a fish health course at Dr. Gratjeck(sp?) and in the
class there was a real horror story about an exotic fish store that
had major fish kill because someone attached a copper line to the
filter system. I do not rember the chemical reaction that caused the
toxic condition, but I have always been very cautious about copper
ever since.

Cla




"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...
I just replumbed my entire house with copper, and I have some left over.
I
am thinking about building a DIY filter for my aquarium, just for fun.
Any
thoughts on the safety of using copper in an aquaria environment? I
figure
it safe for us to drink, it should be safe in the tank or pond for that
matter.

Any thoughts?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

John Hines wrote in message . ..
"Pond Newbie" wrote:

Just theorizing, though. I know most places that have fish in their fountains now have
signs asking that pennies (or any coin) not be thrown in the water. I would assume this to
be the reason.

Pennies in the last decade or so have been made of copper plated zinc.

Neither is safe for fish.

And to make things more fun the presence of zinc significantly
increases the toxicity of copper...

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:23:21 -0500, "Sam Hopkins"
wrote:

My guess is there's something more sinister going on. Copper pipes have been
used a long long long time in homes with water that is above 7 PH and the
plumping in them still exists after 80 years.

There was a flap about copper pipes not standing up to water here and
someone blamed impurities in the copper. Sounds reasonable to me,
but I'm not a metallurgist, just a tinkerer. At the time of the flap
most of the copper tube was being imported, can't remember which
country was making it cheap enough to ship it in cheaper than we could
make it here, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

Regards,

Hal

ajames54 wrote:

And to make things more fun the presence of zinc significantly
increases the toxicity of copper...

That reminds me.

Little children sometimes swallow coins. The old penny, solid bronze,
was not too bad. The newer pennies with the zinc inside are deadly.
Remember that around the brats.

Hal wrote:

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:23:21 -0500, "Sam Hopkins"
wrote:


My guess is there's something more sinister going on. Copper pipes have been
used a long long long time in homes with water that is above 7 PH and the
plumping in them still exists after 80 years.


There was a flap about copper pipes not standing up to water here and
someone blamed impurities in the copper. Sounds reasonable to me,

I've heard that electrical currents through the ground and using water
pipe for ground can also be a problem. I am not an electrician, so
anyone with a problem should ask an expert.

Offbreed wrote:
ajames54 wrote:

And to make things more fun the presence of zinc significantly
increases the toxicity of copper...

That reminds me.

Little children sometimes swallow coins. The old penny, solid bronze,
was not too bad. The newer pennies with the zinc inside are deadly.
Remember that around the brats.

Hmmmm. While Zinc Toxicosis is nothing to sneer at, "deadly" is exaggerating
things a bit, methinks.