• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Is it still ok to use lead wire to weigh plants down?

Most solder contains flux which would be bad for your fish and shrimps.
Although lead is toxic, lead wire is safe to use except in very acid water, in which it can dissolve. No problems down to pH6 at least.
 
sparkyweasel said:
Most solder contains flux which would be bad for your fish and shrimps..
Click to expand...
Most flux is not water soluble so no effect. Flux fumes whilst soldering are/can be hazardous. Just checked MDS for flux and quotes "no aquatic issues" for flux but "weakly water endangering" for the lead.

Also most solders are now lead free, consisting mainly of tin, so lead poisoning not an issue, but not really suitable as a weight though.
 
ian_m said:
Most flux is not water soluble so no effect. Flux fumes whilst soldering are/can be hazardous. Just checked MDS for flux and quotes "no aquatic issues" for flux but "weakly water endangering" for the lead.

Also most solders are now lead free, consisting mainly of tin, so lead poisoning not an issue, but not really suitable as a weight though.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that.
I have a roll of lesd wire I used for tying flies, but can I ****** find it?

Or even LEAD wire.....
 
Julian said:
I use this.
Click to expand...

Ive seen this stuff around, pretty sure its what alot of shops use to hold down their bunch plants or things like amazon sword.

If your careful and dont tie it too tight, its fine. If sqeezed too tight it will damage roots or stems and bring rotting. You can also use sponge to lightly wrap around plant base first then lead strip, leaving enough root showing to sink into substrate. Fairly good stuff which shouldn't adjust water as long as its not in highly acidic water.

Can be very useful for plants that have recently been pruned that dont have any roots showing yet (tops of stem plants) these of course tend to float off on their own accord sometimes, so the lead should hold it down nicely until roots have taken hold, couple of weeks normally.

Cheers

Darren
 
Is there anything else you could use that will biodegrade harmlessly in a sensible amount of time?

I'm wondering about using some thin card (something like toilet roll tube which isn't full of china clay) - a small square with a slot cut into it and gently put round the plant base. If it's wrll buried in the substrate, I'm hoping the plant could take root and then spread naturally after the card has rotted away any thoughts?
 
Hi idris, what a cool idea, i literally had two floaters when i walked in from work, reallys bugs me. I cant see this being a problem to be honest, not entirely sure what else goes into the cardboard process but i cant see it being anything toxic to aquatic life.
What could be beneficial is to put some into a jar of water for a while to see how long it takes to degrade and also if it clouds the water. I expect to fully degrade it could take years but it'll soften after a few hours so shouldnt constrict the root base too much for too long.

Cheers

Darren
 
Have been thinking about using card a bit more. My one concern is whether card rotting round the roots would cause the roots to rot.

If it does work, it might be a good solution for very small plants, like hairgrass or mini swords. When I tried them, they all floated to the surface before they rooted. Put holes in a sheet of card and a plant through each, and then put substrate on top of the card and problem solved ... maybe?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top