Aquarium Co-Op Airline Tubing Issues

[Alec]

Does anyone else have issues with the co-op airline tubing getting "hard" once in the water for a while. Once it does get harder it makes it difficult to re-attach the tubing to the sponge filter. Is this something that just needs to be replaced after awhile or is there a way to prevent this? 

[lefty o]

pretty much all airline tubing gets that way after a while. to get around trying to pull the airline and put it back on, i would pop the top off the sponge filter leaving the line hooked up. then just pull the bottom half of the sponge filter with sponge still on it out to rinse off.

[Alec]

@lefty o

I always try that but somehow manage to disconnect it. I do have them in 10 gallons so there is not a lot of room to work. 

[nabokovfan87]

On the ACO stuff it doesn't get hard for me.  it is always super stretchy and very difficult to remove from things. I bought some of the "kinked" stuff before it was released, so take that for what you will.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Every airline tubing I’ve worked with (ACO or otherwise) has gotten hard/stiff over time in my experience. We must have similar water parameters!

[Cory]

I don't really have issues. If you're experiencing stiffness a the end on an air stone, cut the half inch off and it's much more pliable to reattach.

[Alec]

@Cory

Yeah that's what I did today. May be my water also. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Cory What would cause airlines to go stiff? Like mentioned above, it has happened with any airline I’ve tried. I always just chalked it up to “I guess that’s just what happens over time/I guess that’s what my water does to airlines” and I end up replacing it at some point. If it helps, I’m in CO. I wonder if @Irene has the same thing happen? 🤔

[mynameisnobody]

I live in Florida where we basically have liquid rock. Sponge filters become stone over time, so does air line tubing. The brand is irrelevant, it all gets consumed. Water hardness is one factor in how long it will take before a replacement is inevitable. 

[Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics]

I am in the camp that every brand eventually hardens. I’m in East Tennessee and we have hard water. 

[Alec]

I figured the water might have played a part in it. Thanks everyone for your input and help. 

 

[Rita]

I have the same issue! And I also have hard water! I rarely detach my airline tubing but where I find it becoming slightly annoying is the little bit that holds my air stone to the sponge filter. Also I think because it's such a small pice it gets hard faster... so every couple months I'll get one that won't stay connected and keeps falling off when I put the sponge filter back together after cleaning. It's a quick fix so I'm not very perturbed about it but I found it interesting that others don't have this problem... 🤔

[Wolfden]

My airline tubing gets hard always as well. I am also in CO and my water is very hard.

[Adam Swarbrick]

Hi,

The plasticisers that are put into the plastic tubing will eventually migrate out leaving behind a harder generally more brittle plastic. This is the same reason why you may have seen vinyl chair coverings cracking over time?
 

Although this paper talks about the mechanisms of plasticiser migration in air the mechanisms are essentially the same.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-019-0080-7

If anything exudation of the plasticers is significantly quicker in water as they do not need to evaporate they can just desorb into water which is then carried away in our water changes. Hence why only the bit in the water is going hard in many of your experiences.

It is interesting that some of you haven’t experienced it yet, there may be something to the hard vs soft water debate but it should as many of you have said eventually happen to everyone.

However in science there are always exceptions….

-Adam