Would it be worth doing

[Country joe]

Hi, me again, was thinking of changing my Fluval 407, to taking out the ribbed hosing and replacing it with the Eheim 16/22 which seemingly fits, and adding stainless steel lily pipes, good idea, or a waste of money.
What do you think?

 

[seangee]

No benefits to the fish or water quality. So its just about whether you can justify the cost fro the aethetics.

 

[MaloK]

The main difference for me is that the ribbed tubing is a lot more difficult to clean than standard. The ribs causes accumulation that are harder to remove without soaking in strong products to remove the crud. I also like to see how dirty they are so translucent tube is a no brainer for me. You put a flashlight on it and are able to see how clogged they are.

But the big advantage of the ribbed tube is it's kink proof and has no risk to restrict or even block water flow like could happen with a standard tube.

For the stainless lily pipes as long as they are certified to be 316 stainless steel, it's up to you... Anything in 304 will still oxidize and anything in the 400 is down right bad.

 

[Country joe]

The main difference for me is that the ribbed tubing is a lot more difficult to clean than standard. The ribs causes accumulation that are harder to remove without soaking in strong products to remove the crud. I also like to see how dirty they are so translucent tube is a no brainer for me. You put a flashlight on it and are able to see how clogged they are.

But the big advantage of the ribbed tube is it's kink proof and has no risk to restrict or even block water flow like could happen with a standard tube.

For the stainless lily pipes as long as they are certified to be 316 stainless steel, it's up to you... Anything in 304 will still oxidize and anything in the 400 is down right bad.

Thanks I suppose you could put a power washer on the end of the ribbed tubing, that would give it a good clean, but maybe too much.

 

[MaloK]

I use a CPAP Tube brush it's exactly 22mm with pure bleach, it rips in seconds.

 

[Back in the fold]

Thanks I suppose you could put a power washer on the end of the ribbed tubing, that would give it a good clean, but maybe too much.

Depending on the power washer that could be a future contender for The Darwin Awards .

 

[MaloK]

It's easy to use any small cheap standard tube brush that fits the size of the hose and use a couple feet of CAT6 network cable to make the handle, cut the end loop of the brush, insert the handle in the tip of the cable use heat shrink to fix. and voila. Used that many years.

 

[Country joe]

I use a CPAP Tube brush it's exactly 22mm with pure bleach, it rips in seconds.

I've never used bleach on any aquarium products I'm very wary of bleach, do you just rinse it off in cold water, and never had a problem with it.

 

[MaloK]

I never had problem using bleach, rinsing gears in water with a good dose of dechlorinator and put them back in uses immediately.

 

[Uberhoust]

I have always used bleach. It rinses off easy enough though I usually over rinse just to make sure. For the longest time I would rinse till my hands didn't feel slippery, but I have since found out that is because the bleach releases oils from your skin which is what feels slippery. Now I use gloves. I have never lost a fish from cleaning using bleach.

After all of that I have been starting to use Oxygen Bleach (hydrogen peroxide), but I wonder about it as well because I fear the active oxygen ions might cause other side effects. Where's a chemist when you need one. It would be good to know the benefit / risks for both.

In regards to the Fluval piping, I haven't found any issue with the fluval tubes. One benefit from them is that they can take a bit of a vacuum without collapsing, good for restarting the system after a water change. Mine haven't shown much debris or waste accumulating in them though I will check at the next cleaning.

 

[MaloK]

It's not fast to accumulate, but it holds a lot more, Like an high pressure deposit.

It always required near pure bleach to recover an old canister tube. But they come back as new each time.