Guppy Guy Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 (Crazy question, but really.) I know that some aquarium stores use lead plant anchors in the plant tanks, but I was wondering if it is safe long term? I read a 3d printing article on making food-safe prints, and it was saying you need a steel nozzle instead of the stock brass nozzle because it contains trace amounts of lead. I already know that uncolored ABS and PETG are safe plastics, but is the trace amounts of lead going to mess something up? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne Brown Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 It depends on what "messing up" means to you. Most lead weights that I have encountered are not actually made of lead they just say they are. I usually buy non lead weight because they are better for the environment. I know that with fishing they say not to leave lead weights because it can harm marine life so I'm not sure if lead harms fish or not. Realistically it shouldn't harm fish because if it did they wouldn't sell them at reputable fish shops so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDukeAnumber1 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 On 10/4/2021 at 12:10 PM, Guppy Guy said: I read a 3d printing article on making food-safe prints, and it was saying you need a steel nozzle instead of the stock brass nozzle because it contains trace amounts of lead. IMO that's nuts. I would need to see some pretty strong testing evidence to believe any lead, let alone a meaningful amount of lead, leaves the nozzle and makes it into the water column. I've used PLA & ABS in my aquariums using brass nozzles for years with no noticable problems. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Guy Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Oh that’s cool! Thanks for the quick response. If its ok, could you show me what you made for your tanks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 On 10/4/2021 at 1:10 PM, Guppy Guy said: (Crazy question, but really.) I know that some aquarium stores use lead plant anchors in the plant tanks, but I was wondering if it is safe long term? I read a 3d printing article on making food-safe prints, and it was saying you need a steel nozzle instead of the stock brass nozzle because it contains trace amounts of lead. I already know that uncolored ABS and PETG are safe plastics, but is the trace amounts of lead going to mess something up? Thanks! Odds are your water has some lead in it anyway, nearly all water does, and any gained from the 3D printing would be unnoticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmedByFish Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 This is all I can contribute, but it might matter. Lead is very harmful to humans, and is at an unsafe level in about 1/4 of the homes in my city - so much so that the city mails instructions to every house, telling them how to drink water safely. I paid for an independent lab to test the water from my house, and sure enough, I'm among the 1/4. So part of my fishkeeping is making sure my fishes' water doesn't have a harmful amount of lead. Lead pipes leech a harmful amount of lead into standing water in about 6 hours, so I certainly wouldn't use a lead plant anchor. I have no knowledge about 3D printing though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDukeAnumber1 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 On 10/4/2021 at 3:03 PM, CalmedByFish said: This is all I can contribute, but it might matter. Lead is very harmful to humans, and is at an unsafe level in about 1/4 of the homes in my city - so much so that the city mails instructions to every house, telling them how to drink water safely. I paid for an independent lab to test the water from my house, and sure enough, I'm among the 1/4. So part of my fishkeeping is making sure my fishes' water doesn't have a harmful amount of lead. Lead pipes leech a harmful amount of lead into standing water in about 6 hours, so I certainly wouldn't use a lead plant anchor. I have no knowledge about 3D printing though. Glad to have your comment as I don't have knowledge on your side of the issue. On 10/4/2021 at 12:31 PM, Guppy Guy said: Oh that’s cool! Thanks for the quick response. If its ok, could you show me what you made for your tanks? Here are a few aquarium related things I shared on thingiverse. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3774602 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3891884 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3456731 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3375040 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1282574 THB most of the stuff I design though is either very spefic or unrefined and I don't upload it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Guy Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Wow! That’s some neat stuff you’ve made. Thanks again! I’m working on a bubbling fish decoration, so when I finish that, I’ll be sure to edit in the link. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) Lead can be very damaging at quite low levels, especially in water. Ingested lead is quite dangerous and I would not recommend any lead weights. Plant weights are not supposed to contain lead anymore in most countries, but if you order cheap ones from certain countries, they might. I can’t imagine that the minuscule amount from a brass nozzle could cause problems. I’d bet that’s a CYA thing, just so they can say “We warned you”. Edited October 5, 2021 by Odd Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 On 10/4/2021 at 10:21 AM, Dwayne Brown said: It depends on what "messing up" means to you. Most lead weights that I have encountered are not actually made of lead they just say they are The co-op ones are lead. I'm not sure why they'd lie about that. I think the "unsafe" for humans threshold is more to do with long term exposure than acute effects. My guess is that you can give an aquarium fish a lot of lead and just not notice any harm. It's behavior might change but whats "right" for /that/ fish? It may live shorter, but who keeps track if a fish lives 6 or 7 years, and who's to say how long a particular fish should live exactly. Also who knows the birthday of their fish? All that said, I use lead weights, and am under the impression that they don't actually leech that much lead since they're metallic and not in some other molecule. If anyone has information to the contrary though please bring it up! I never looked thoroughly to tell. WRT 3d printing: Not all brass has lead, but the leaded brass has little microscopic pockets of lead in there and nozzles do wear so that lead would have to theoretically go somewhere. But again I don't think that's a real problem, the "food safety 3d printing police" have a lot of weird arguments. I wouldn't use ABS though, only because I don't see it in food contact commonly (ever?). I've only seen ABS in drain pipes and non-food stuff. But I may be wrong here too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) @TheDukeAnumber1 Very cool stuff, especially the feeder funnel! Edited October 5, 2021 by Odd Duck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetBelleAnie Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Out of curiosity, what 3d printer do you use to print your fish stuff? (there's so many types and such I'm just interested in one I could print small items such as what you have designed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Guy Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 (edited) On 10/5/2021 at 10:57 PM, NetBelleAnie said: Out of curiosity, what 3d printer do you use to print your fish stuff? (there's so many types and such I'm just interested in one I could print small items such as what you have designed) Sorry for the late reply, I didn’t get notified for some reason. I use the Original Elegoo Neptune, but that was discontinued about a year ago. The Elegoo Neptune 2 is pretty good from what I’ve heard, though it isn’t open source(which means you can’t easily upgrade it, a must for me). By far though, the best printer that I can recommend is the Creality ender 3. It is open source, has a massive community, many upgrades, and is the best bang for the buck out there.(also, it is currently on sale for $200 instead of $230) I would still do your research though, and find the best one for you. Here is a 3d printing starter guide that might help you. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Good luck, and if you make anything, be sure to share! Edited December 21, 2021 by Guppy Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Guy Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 On 10/4/2021 at 7:32 PM, Guppy Guy said: Wow! That’s some neat stuff you’ve made. Thanks again! I’m working on a bubbling fish decoration, so when I finish that, I’ll be sure to edit in the link. Also, Here is the link for the fish: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5170761 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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