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75gal
03/07/2015, 09:13 AM
I just had a thought that I would put clear PVC in for my plumbing. I know it's more money certainly, but I was wondering if there would be any fundamental issues with using it? I know it's food grade tubing so it should be safe right? Any advice would be great, this could be really cool!

HM3105
03/07/2015, 09:16 AM
I just had a thought that I would put clear PVC in for my plumbing. I know it's more money certainly, but I was wondering if there would be any fundamental issues with using it? I know it's food grade tubing so it should be safe right? Any advice would be great, this could be really cool!

I would be concerned about algae growing in there and clogging it up in addition to the bacterial coat.

ryeguyy84
03/07/2015, 09:33 AM
If there's any light around it won't be clear for long. You might get algae inside where it's hard to clean. On a positive note, you would see anything stuck in there

Stevenliu9
03/07/2015, 10:18 AM
If there's any light around it won't be clear for long. You might get algae inside where it's hard to clean. On a positive note, you would see anything stuck in there

First thing I thought too, clear plumbing with light=algae build up with no access for the clean up crew. I had a clear return tubing once and the algae build up got so bad it actually affected my return flow, pretty much like a clogged artery.

75gal
03/07/2015, 11:12 AM
Ahhh didn't think about that. did you have a refugium light or something?

ryeguyy84
03/08/2015, 10:17 AM
My skimmer is clear and with my fuge light it turns purple in a few months.

ca1ore
03/08/2015, 12:44 PM
I used to use clear PVC (though it isn't really clear). It didn't clog faster, necessarily, it just got a coating of algae, became completely opaque, thus making the incremental cost pointless.