Plant Weights??

[Jo and Gra]

Some plant weights are lead........

is this a bad thing??

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Apparently not, but there is talk that the lead can start to corrode at certain ph's(which do i don't know)- i personally remove the lead weights when i buy plants straight away as i find the lead weights cause the roots to rot after time, i prefer to weight my plants down with stones anyways .

 

[Snailguy101]

What I do is stick some of the food under the gravel cause my snail usually hogs the whole thing like lettauce he eats the whole thing si Id just be worried that he swallows the weight

 

[Undawada]

I was under the impression that "lead" plant weights didn't use real lead.

 

[Opcn]

/i dont know whatelse they would use, is bismuth that soft?

Anyways your snail wont eat the lead, dont worry about that.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Nope they are 100% lead, i know because one of the jobs i did ages ago on a farm was moving a huge heap of lead and the stuff they use on plant weights is the same stuff, simple test: if the metal is very bendy and dark grey like lead, tear a peice off- if the newly exposed lead along the rip of the metal is shiny, its lead.

 

[Opcn]

Other than the soft and bendy you just described any reactive metal, One of the characteristics of a metal is the metalic sheen, also many metals and aloys oxidise to a dull grey or white.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Either way there aern't many metals that share the same characteristics with lead that you can get mixed up with- i also showed some to my lfs owner at the time and he also said it was lead.

 

[iggy01]

I always understood the "lead weights", were some form of zinc alloy.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

if they are really lead, i can melt my sinkers and turn them into plant weights. i dont see how lead cant hurt fish. if we touch it and licked the hand that touched it, we would be poisoned. why wont fish be poisoned if they breathe it? this is the reason why they took lead out of paints and gasoline. imo, not harming fish is bull crap and its only to make people buy it.

 

[orientmatt]

isnt lead only poisomous if you eat it? Thats why real lead weights were banned from fisshing to stop the swans from eating them. If we got poisoned by just putting fingers in our mouths after touching the stuff then a lot more people would get lead poisoning

 

[Opcn]

lead poisoning doesnt always present itself to the extreem of death, often its just a few points off the old IQ

 

[SirMinion]

The plant weights I buy look and feel like lead but say 'lead free' on the packet.

I would never put lead in my tanks.

 

[Undawada]

Agreed with SirM, if they are real lead, I wouldn't put them in my tank. It's a moot point for me, I don't use them anyway.

 

[Synirr]

http/www.doctoryourself.com/lead.html

I would be extremely surprised to find "lead" aquatic plant weights that are actually made out of lead.