Material for caves

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:46 am

Is PVC safe for doing caves for crays?

Thanks

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:02 pm

Yes, just clean it well to remove oils & soap.

FISH WORLD ERIE · Post by **FISH WORLD ERIE** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:47 pm

Yes. I always buy it new to make sure it is safe. Be careful with used pvc unless you know where it came from. When I was breeding some larger crays I would have a crap load of cut up pvc in the tanks. It works perfect. Each cray will pick out a section. Good luck with whatever your working with.

Jason

Vera · Post by **Vera** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:25 pm

For my smaller crayfish I use the half inch pvc couplings. You can get them in bags of 10 or 12 for about $2 if I remember correctly. They have about a half inch inside diameter and are about 2 inches long. Since I really don't care a lot for saws and my hubby never cuts the right lengths for me, I think they're perfect.

I also use various diameter pvc for my different sized crayfish and feel they are probably the best and least expensive hides to use. You can place them so you can look through to see what's happening in them until your crayfish decide to move them to where they want them!

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:05 pm

I am in the process of setting up some new aquariums for captive breeding studies and will be using bits of PVC pipe as caves. Thanks for the tip about using new PVC because I was going to use some older stuff that was laying around but since it is so cheap I will get new material.

FISH WORLD ERIE · Post by **FISH WORLD ERIE** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:14 pm

If you buy pipe in diameters of 1 1/4 or smaller. They sell it in 10 foot sections. They also have a tool that I bought that can cut through it with ease. It is a pvc pipe cutter and should cost between 10 and 15 dollars. This can be bought at lowes or home depot. Saves alot of time in labor and having to use a saw to cut it. It cuts clean and leaves no rough edges to sand.
Good Luck

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:16 pm

Thanks for the suggestions!

Vera · Post by **Vera** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:52 pm

Wow, thanks for that info Jason! I didn't know about the pipe cutter!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:33 am

Yea, the pipe cutter is slick. Sort of like a racheting pruner. Works great.

I'm not using PVC though because I don't like how it looks. I get terra cotta pot dishes at are about 4" across and snip off one side to make a nice and attractive cave.

Vera · Post by **Vera** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:07 am

You're right, pvc doesn't look the best. I even covered a bunch of them with tank sealant and pressed gravel into it to make them look better, but it doesn't hold real well and they end up looking worse.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:05 am

Would using black colored PVC and attacking moss/plants to the outside make it look a lot better?

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:33 am

do not attack the moss. It might retaliate.

On a serious note, attaching it will make it look better.

FISH WORLD ERIE · Post by **FISH WORLD ERIE** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:53 pm

Black pvc floats. It makes great cover for fish that like to hide near the surface.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:29 pm

He are the pots that I use

I also like the looks of these over PVC.

John

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:34 pm

I get them for about 20 cents each at a local craft store. If you soak them for 24 hours it makes cracking out the opening a lot easier. You could also use a tile saw to cut them in half.