Safety of these materials

Milktooth · Jan 24, 2017

I am in the process of buying bulkheads, piping and tubing materials for plumbing a 180 gallon Reef setup and I was wondering about the safety of certain plastics/materials I was intrigued by at Tractor Supply. They are:

Ethyl vinyl acetate tubing

Polypropylene bulkheads with EPDM washers

Polypropylene ball valve

Any thoughts on toxicity, leaching or generally the safety of these materials?

Reefing Madness · Jan 25, 2017

cope413 · Jan 25, 2017

You sure the ball valve and bulkhead is made of propylene? That would be very odd. The valve itself may be pp(the little sphere inside), but it's likely either ABS or PVC for the rest. Either way, that's totally reef safe. EPDM is fine too.

Don't know much about EVA tubing... Only know EVA foam. Based on the msds I found for some similar tubing, looks fine, but I'd make sure it's not still off-gassing.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 25, 2017

The plastics of all of those are fine, although I wouldn't expose EVA tubing to limewater (kalkwasser).

Might be some leaching of plasticizers from the EVA, but I do not know that this is a concern.

Milktooth · Jan 25, 2017

You guys are awesome thanks so much for your input. I think I'll give them a try. The bulkheads looked pretty heavy duty compared to the basic ABS versions I found on bulk reef supply.

I may not risk the EVA since vinyl tubing is roughly the same price on Dr's Fosters and Grant.