Clear PVC plumbing, is it Good or Bad and What type is best?

[irmandanny]

Hello I am trying to figure out if clear plumbing would be a good or bad Idea I know different types of PVC, acrylic and plexiglass are composed of chemicals that vary in each product. I have a few reasons for asking 1 is because the overflow has standard white PVC and if a fish friend happens to get in to the over flow I would like to see if it was sucked down. also I want to be able to monitor flow. so what do you think? is it a good Idea if so what type is good and how would i seal the connections and where is good place to buy?

[Big_Pun]

if you have a fuge light that spills light into your sump your going to grow algae in it. i use black vinyl tubing for my lines.

[Mr Cob]

or use that charcoal foam stuff to cover it...they make strips that wrap around the tubing, but like Chris said, you are better off not using clear

[irmandanny]

right now i have no light in my sump was planing on putting one in just for when i need to get under the tank not sure if a light is necessary because this is our first tank we are still learning..

[Big_Pun]

are planning on running a refugium, one thing you will learn us fish die and most of the time you never see them die. i wouldn't worry about them making that far, your intake pipe should have a grate to keep stuff out especially snails! take a pic of your setup and we can trouble shoot for you.

[jroescher]

Obviously you haven't priced clear PVC. And the fittings are more expensive.

[cowboy572]

take a pic of your setup and we can trouble shoot for you.

That's the best advice right there. If we can see what you have we can provide you some better advice. To keep fish and other things out of your overflow it might be just as easy as covering them with that lighting egg crate material. Or if you have bulkheads on your returns, the part of it in your tank, you can simply screw or apply screen to cover them.

[irmandanny]

ok will do... sorry took so long to get back I will post pics tomorrow right now we have a ICH problem,, Irma is really bumed out i need to fix that for her.. she loves her fish tank..