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Aquarium safe plastics?

Posted by brianlow

brianlow

Aquarium safe plastics?
January 26, 2013 03:24PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 4

Are ABS and PLA safe in freshwater and/or saltwater aquariums?

Will they degrade / release chemicals?

I've read Lego which is made from ABS is safe. Is this the same ABS used in current 3D printers? PLA is sometimes printed with a heated bed around 40-50*C which isn't far from typical aquarium temps are around 25*C.

Thanks!

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martinprice2004

Re: Aquarium safe plastics?
January 26, 2013 06:59PM

Registered: 16 years ago
Posts: 376

If I recall correctly there was a project to print homes for hermit crabs a while back. I think they used ABS for this.

I googled "rapid prototype hermit crabs" without quotes and came up with several links.

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brianlow

Re: Aquarium safe plastics?
January 26, 2013 09:52PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 4

Thanks! Looks like they tried ABS and PLA but no real details.

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fsamir

Re: Aquarium safe plastics?
January 28, 2013 06:04PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 112

Do a search from "aquarium" here at the forum and you'll find a post about this exact same subject.
As a rule of thumb, both PLA and ABS are safe for use in aquariums, but PLA will be consumed by bacterias in saltwater, as it is a bio plastic.

I normally print my prototypes in PLA to avoid ABS fumes and when I am happy with it, I print the final part with ABS.

Cheers,
Franklin Dattein

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brianlow

Re: Aquarium safe plastics?
January 28, 2013 09:23PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 4

Thanks. Sorry for not searching the forum directly.

Here is the thread for future readers:
http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,164330,164330