# no more broken lily pipes!



## Alastair (10 May 2013)

I was having a nosey through the tmc aqua gro range catalogue and came across their range of acrylic lily pipes. Ive never seen anywhere else manufacture these and thought it would be good to post a link  

Page 13 - Aquagro

Worth it for those who have broken a few sets before now


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## Iain Sutherland (10 May 2013)

Alastair said:


> Worth it for those who have broken a few sets before now


thats a big market  

nice link al, about time someone did this.


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## Aquadream (10 May 2013)

You can get them on EBay.
 Aquarium Lily Pipe water surface skimmer remove oil film planted tank 16/22mm | eBay


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## biffster (10 May 2013)

just been on to my stockist to see if he can get his hands on one 
of these for me


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## clonitza (10 May 2013)

Got two sets only for the clear skimmer, they are made of two pieces glued together and tend to leak after awhile.  They are also more fragile than the glass ones.


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## plantbrain (10 May 2013)

Stainless steel folks, that's the way to go.
Or built in overflow Returns.


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## Alastair (10 May 2013)

clonitza said:
			
		

> Got two sets only for the clear skimmer, they are made of two pieces glued together and tend to leak after awhile.  They are also more fragile than the glass ones.



Are you referring to the ebay ones or tmc


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## ghostsword (10 May 2013)

I also like the stainless steel pipes.. easy to make, easy to use..

Just would like to have a way to change the shape of the output, maybe get one one that can clip on in the the steel pipe, and that can be made of anything ..


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## kirk (10 May 2013)

Am I right in saying that stainless kills bacteria?  Just woundered as I've seen those soap free stones supposed to kill germs.  perhaps I'm being an idiot but the ones I saw were stainless.


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## biffster (10 May 2013)

stainless steel kills odours like garlic and onions a steel soap is what you are on about


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## oscarsi001 (11 May 2013)

i got myself a set of theses off of ebay. on one level i love it but on another level it can be quite tricky to get the height of the inlet right so as to draw just enough surface water in without pulling air down into the filter too, plus it's not possible to turn the direction of  the outlet lilly at all . That having been said, i am using the inlet but  using it conventionally mostly and once a day skimming the surface film off . i liked the look of the steel piping but it seemed reeeeally epensive ......


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## Mitch (11 May 2013)

Tmc dont make the acrylic pipes. I have been phoning them from work since xmas about them. At first they said they were just playing with prototypes later they decided there wasnt really a market for them.

Shame as they would of come in a nice case with a special set of cleaning brushes included prices were reasonable as well. Iirc 60quid 12mm 80quid 16mm 

Alas it is not to be i did say that this was ddissapointing to tmc lol


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## Henry (11 May 2013)

It seems a bit of a no-brainer to make them out of acrylic. Maybe they know that sales would fall if the stuff they sold was much less likely to break?

(Sorry, been reading conspiracy theories )


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## Andy Thurston (11 May 2013)

Are these any good stainless ones are hard to find

Aquarium Stainless Steel 17MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes DC09-01 [A08021] - $92.10 : Aquarium HK


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## LondonDragon (11 May 2013)

Big clown said:


> Are these any good stainless ones are hard to find
> Aquarium Stainless Steel 17MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes DC09-01 [A08021] - $92.10 : Aquarium HK


Just contact our sponsor FWS that they stock stainless steel pipes, have a look at this journal: The new NA big boy... | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## Alastair (12 May 2013)

Mitch said:


> Tmc dont make the acrylic pipes. I have been phoning them from work since xmas about them. At first they said they were just playing with prototypes later they decided there wasnt really a market for them.
> 
> Shame as they would of come in a nice case with a special set of cleaning brushes included prices were reasonable as well. Iirc 60quid 12mm 80quid 16mm
> 
> Alas it is not to be i did say that this was ddissapointing to tmc lol



Wonder why youve been told that as the gent from my local fish shop who gets me all my tmc stuff said he can pick a set up from tmc direct anytime 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


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## Henry (12 May 2013)

Slightly off topic, but is TMC's base in Manchester open to the public? What with travelling to uni in Salford every day, I'm thinking an aquatically motivated detour might be in order.


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## LondonDragon (12 May 2013)

Have a look at this post for some acrylic lily pipes!! Mine & A Mates | UK Aquatic Plant Society

But check Mikes comments below!


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## clonitza (13 May 2013)

Alastair is the same one just without the aquagro sticker. 
As Mike said in the other topic they tend to break easily or leak, a couple of guys here in my country confirmed this also, such pity since the skimmer design is great.


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## Alastair (13 May 2013)

clonitza said:


> Alastair is the same one just without the aquagro sticker.
> As Mike said in the other topic they tend to break easily or leak, a couple of guys here in my country confirmed this also, such pity since the skimmer design is great.



Ahh shame

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


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## Mitch (13 May 2013)

Alastair said:


> Wonder why youve been told that as the gent from my local fish shop who gets me all my tmc stuff said he can pick a set up from tmc direct anytime
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


 
Thats what i was told on the phone (i work for a maidenhead aquatics). If they have changed their mind in the last couple of weeks and your lfs really can get some i would love to know so i can get some.


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## Kogre (16 May 2013)

I thought the whole point in clear pipework, either acrylic or glass, was for less visible/distracting footprint within the scape.

Stainless steel might be the way to go if you can hide it or don't mind the its visible presence but I don't see it as a replacement for clear breakable glassware, whereas acrylic quite obviously is.

Some nice links.


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## Andy Thurston (16 May 2013)

It looks good so you dont need hide it. Even with glass pipes, photos look better with pipework removed from tank


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## Kogre (16 May 2013)

Yeah I bet it looks amazingly natural in all those biotopes and artistically crafted aquascapes. So good in fact that they get removed when taking pictures.


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## Alastair (24 May 2013)

Speaking of stainless steel you can get the inlet snd outlet set in steel with surface skimmer but seems a bit pricey.  Looks the part though 

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=321129434800&index=23&nav=SEARCH&nid=90873378517

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=221116643186&kw=221116643186


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## clonitza (24 May 2013)

Thanks Alistar for the links, nice they did a version with suckers, I can mount it on my shallow tanks.


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## Andy Thurston (24 May 2013)

Id rather look at those than a dirty glass or plastic one that im scared of breaking. Like you say there removed for photos anyway. And mirror finish pipe would probably hide better than glass even when its dirty


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## m_attt (24 May 2013)

Big clown said:


> Id rather look at those than a dirty glass or plastic one that im scared of breaking. Like you say there removed for photos anyway. And mirror finish pipe would probably hide better than glass even when its dirty


 
thats a good idea, wonder if you could get a stainless one chromed in some high shine stuff.


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## Andy Thurston (25 May 2013)

The ones in alistairs link looked fairly shiny you could probably diy with t-cut and/or chrome polish and elbow grease
Im a sheet metal worker and can polish stainless and consider chroming stainless as a waste of time and money when i can polish it. It would probably harm livestock too, as it goes through several chemical baths


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## Kogre (25 May 2013)

I doubt T-Cut or chrome polish is aquarium safe. You would probably need to seal it in something that is.


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## sa80mark (25 May 2013)

I wouldnt risk anything like t cut or polish but a cotton buffing wheel sprayed with water can give a really good shine to aluminium im sure it would work on stainless steel to


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## Andy Thurston (25 May 2013)

Ye chrome polish probably not safe but t-cut washes off completely with water. I keep reading that you can polish scratches out of fishtanks, so you could use the compound thats used for this. Google metal polishers, loads of places do it. those pipes look shiny so have already had tool marks polished to some extent. Theres no point putting a coating on stainless because it dosent stick properly and would become tatty in no time.


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## Andy Thurston (25 May 2013)

Stainless is a lot harder than ally. It would probably work but take ages and i wouldnt fancy starting from a grained finish


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## Kogre (25 May 2013)

If knowing T-cut washes off completely with water, doesn't that defeat the purpose of suggesting it in the first place?


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## Andy Thurston (26 May 2013)

No cos its an abrasive compound not a coating


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