Are brass fittings bad?

I used brass hose barbs for my inline CO2 reactor for several months and didn't have problems. I had Cherry Shrimp in the tank for a week or two, also without issue. I did recently replace the brass barbs for nylon ones though. I did that for piece of mind since I read alot of negatives regarding brass.

I doubt any problems will result from it. Brass is a metal alloy between copper and zinc (mostly). Metal alloys don't dissolve or react as readily as pure metals. Not to mention its only 1 tiny barb, which won't expose much surface area to the water.

If it were a copper fitting, you might have problems.

There are quite a few members all over the world that use brass fittings for their tanks with shrimp. I agree with the statement above about if they were copper fittings, it may not be good.

Local water company says that the copper will form a copper oxide which prevents the copper from leaking.

Ok, thanks guys. I was pretty sure that brass would be ok, given that its a really stable alloy. And I figured copper would be a no-no if people went so far as to heat up cold water for water changes rather than run it through the copper piping from the hot water heater. Thanks for all the input-I'll rest easy now.

Scouter

bosmahe1 said:

I used brass hose barbs for my inline CO2 reactor for several months and didn't have problems. I had Cherry Shrimp in the tank for a week or two, also without issue. I did recently replace the brass barbs for nylon ones though. I did that for piece of mind since I read alot of negatives regarding brass.

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Searched everywhere for nylon barb to make a Rex Grigg Reactor with. Does anyone know where I could buy a couple of these in 1/8" barb made of nylon or pvc?

Should be several right next to the copper or brass ones in home depot. They don't come in many good sizes though, I've only seen 1/4th ID barbs at my shop.

Found some here http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXG849&P=M