# diy canister filter question



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i went to the home depot for elbows for my tubing and only found copper ones. will these be bad? i know its not used because they say it will leak copper into the tank therefore killing. but its like saying dropping a penny into my tank will kill the things inside.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Neil,

That's right don't use copper for fittings and don't drop pennies in your tanks!


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## smackpixi (Oct 15, 2008)

Those are likely brass fittings and they'll be fine. Do show your diy canister when it's done, always love to see one.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

nope they're clearly copper. ill probably smear concrete on the inside or glue or something.


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## medicTHREE (Feb 5, 2010)

I don't understand why you couldn't find other elbows. What size do you need. HD, lowes, etc all have elbows in brass, nylon, pvc, schedule 80 pvc, etc. It seems you might not be looking in the right spot.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

You should be able to find any fitting you want in plastic of some kind. Might have to go to a plumbing store and order them, but you should be able to find them.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

the elbows i'm talking about aren't for those pvc pipes and stuff. i bought a length of 1/2" fridge tubing. it needs elbows where it fits INSIDE. so i could only find the copper elbows, nothing else is the right size.
would coating the inside of the elbow with something work? i can smear some concrete in the insider of smear some kind of glue.


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

What "concrete" are you smearing on the inside of these fittings? How much do you actually know about plumbing? I'm not a plumber but I've done enough home repair and contractor type work to know how to make up plumbing connections and what you're talking about isn't really jiving. Can you explain what you're trying to do?

Next time you go HD or Lowe's, why not pick up a book on plumbing? It'll give you solid answers on how to make up quality plumbing connections and prevent from making a huge mess later.


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

Maybe you can get some adaptors/reducers to get your hose to fit some PVC elbows. If you were going to coat the inside (I don't know how you could do this properly) I would use epoxy, even epoxy spray paint.


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## darkoon (Jun 7, 2010)

interesting, always thought copper was safe. the water pipes run through my house is copper.



neilshieh said:


> i went to the home depot for elbows for my tubing and only found copper ones. will these be bad? i know its not used because they say it will leak copper into the tank therefore killing. but its like saying dropping a penny into my tank will kill the things inside.


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## medicTHREE (Feb 5, 2010)

The pipe fits IN the fitting? This is compression tubing and you should easily find elbows for this, in nylon.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

darkoon said:


> interesting, always thought copper was safe. the water pipes run through my house is copper.


The water system in your home is a open system, its a closed system in your tank.

not to mention there are alot of "nasty stuff" in our tanks that you would never find in a water pipes.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi darkoon,

Copper does dissolve, especially in acidic enviornments. I have copper pipes in my home as well and have probably killed every shrimp I have purchased over the last couple of years....correlation?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

woah your name is blue... its going to take me a while to get over that.
that was the reasoning my brother gave, but i wasn't convinced... also he built his canister filter with the same pipes and fittings and it has been running for a couple months now. none of the fish seem affected. i plan on smearing the insides with hot glue, just a thin layer to seperate the copper from the rest.


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## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

Hi neilshieh,

You're still risking seepage from the copper into the water. Probably worth it to go back and double check or find a lowes in your area. The hot glue will most likely eventually either dissolve to a point where the copper seeps through, it will break off and become lodged in the filter, or you won't cover every area and risk seepage. 

It would be worth the extra looking for me, but if you feel comfortable with it...


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

well haven't started on this project yet  with school and stuff i do diy's one at a time (starting from the least time consuming)


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

recently i've started the project and finished it in one night. also found the cpvc fittings i was hoping for at lowes. between hd and lowes, not much is missed. new thread on how i made it is posted.


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