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Re: Cork for Mops




In a message dated 9/14/2000 5:04:04 PM, huntley1 at home_com writes:

<< Is your experience, Lee, that styro is safe for long-term tank use? I have
shied away from it, because I had no idea if there were any soluble
plasticizers in there that might cause troubles >>

I have had some in use for many years without any recognized problems. If 
Styrofoam were toxic, they probably would not make coffee cups out of it, but 
who knows what won't kill people immediately (like dialkyl phthalates used in 
PVC) might kill fish.  As far as I know, Styrofoam uses no plasticizers, but 
they do use some blowing agent. Probably used to be Freon™, now something 
less expensive and ozone depleting like CO2 or N2. I have also used Styrofoam 
boxes as temporary aquaria many times with no known bad effects.
    After a while the stark white color gets covered with green algae and you 
don't notice them. On the other hand, I use only a few floating mops, since 
fish seem to spawn whenever and wherever they feel like, or not at all, if 
they feel like it.

Lee Harper
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