Is Brass reef-safe?

[Playdope]

Is brass reefsafe? I'm currently using a plastic ball valve on my modified Euroreef skimmer... but im wondering if I could switch over to a brass gatevalve... as i feel it may be easier to fine tune and adjust.

A good portion of the valve would be submersed in the sump water.

Jon

 

[badgergoth]

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, so you'd run the risk of getting copper ions into your water, which, if I've done my reading correctly, is bad for corals.

 

[Anonymous]

Badgergoth is correct.

Louey

 

[sawyerc]

Brass? Ahhhhhhhhhh! I wouldn't get that stuff anywhere near my reef tank. The SW would corrode it and copper + inverts = unhappy reefer. Sorry. I think they make plastic gate valves though, don't they? Any reason you wanted the brass specifically?

 

[Anonymous]

I think they're usually a bit more durable.. - Thats the only benefit to them I see.. - I use one, but only on the input to my RO (which then ideally should filter any lost ions back out of the water column..)

 

[Playdope]

Didn't want brass.. its just all Home Depot had in the way of gate valves.

Jon

 

[Tackett]

no brass dude, but what about stainless I know it rusts too but may be a temporary solution until you can find the right peice. I have a stainless clamp thats rusting in my sump cause none of the jackasses over here have ever heard of a plastic pipe clamp. The rusing clamps never seemed to hurt anything.

 

[sawyerc]

We don't have a HD out here in the sticks, so I buy all my plumbing from Savko.com: you should check it out, everything is REAL cheap which makes my wallet happy and they have a great variety which makes my fish happy. Everyone wins. As long as you're patient enough to wait.

 

[gnx87]

dont use brass, i used a brass check valve while i was waiting for my pvc one to come in and it killed all my snails in 3 weeks!

 

[Playdope]

New Hampshire ey? A friend of mine was in Wolfeborough not long ago. I visited him there.. cool place. Really small town, friendly people. Those houses on the lake were nice! heh

Jon

 

[Anonymous]

I was in Wolfboro for a few days myself this summer. We stayed at the Wolfboro Inn. It is a beautiful little town. And like Playdope said, the houses on the lake are quite nice, especially the one under constructionthat the Owner of Loudon Motor Speedway is building. That thing must be 30000 square feet! But there sure as hell isn't a HD anywhere near there, that is for sure! I did see a hardware/marine store. That is probably the only choice you had, right sawyerc?

Louey

Louey

 

[sawyerc]

yeah, pretty much. There is actually a local plumbing store I just discovered that has bulkheads and all sorts of PVC valves - what a find! Wolfboro is near lake Winnapisackee ;alskdjfalsdkjf right? That's a beautiful area but god knows how you spell it. And the houses on govenor's island...whew!

 

[myreeef]

Could you use a "Ball Valve" instead HD & Marine Depot has them in pvc.

 

[Playdope]

Ball valve is what im using now. The problem is that its partially submerged in SW, and it tends to stick - making it really hard to adjust.

 

[sawyerc]

yeah, ball valves are realy hard to make fine adjustments with. You can get all sorts of valves in PVC you just have to know where to look.

 

[myreeef]

Google search for 'pvc gate valve' (no quotes) turns up lots of stuff. First image on the first site I tried (below) has one for around $20.

http://doityourself.com/store/gatevalves.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Brass is bad. I use a PVC gate valve on my skimmer. It work fine.