ABS and PVC

[ibefishy]

I had an idea at about 3 am last night and I was just wondering is ABS and PVC the same material? May seem like an easy question to answer but I would like to know.

Thanks

[ibefishy]

I did some online research and found that ABS is non toxic, so maybe my idea will work. I will try it out, and post my results. Has anyone ever used ABS in their tanks?

[yote]

ABS is just thiner and more brittle than PVC.Thats about the only difference.

[bjohanson1234]

Also tends to be black not the white or gray that pvc is.

Legos are ABS and so are most of your plastic car parts.
SO what is your idea?

Brian

[ibefishy]

Here is my simple overflow idea. I thought about using a 3" ABS cap and cutting it in half and then cutting some notches in it and attaching it to the back of my tank wall. I will use two drains, one on each end of the tank. I have 2 1" bulkheads that would fit very nicely inside the half cap overflow. I will cut on the tape and cut the notches as indicated by the marks. It should blend in well with the tank as I have a black background already. I like this idea because it doesnt take up much room. Does anyone see any problems with this idea? I found that when it comes to acrylic I am not very good at the fabrication process so I needed something different.

Nate

[fatman]

The ABS requires a different glue or a comination ABS PVC glue. There are also not nearly as wide a selection of fittings or pipe sizes with ABS. ABS in the building trade is generally used for waste water and PVC for domestic water. They are different chemical compositions. Your idea is not flawed except that the actual lip area of the half pipes would not be as large as the carrying capacity of your pipes would require for full capacity unless the notches were quite deep, as in about 1". If that is acceptable than it should work just fine. If you do not like the thought of 1/4" by 1" notches then use a 4" ABS cap with shallower notches. With half a 4" pipe cap you could cut the notches down to 3/4" high. That should be large enough to allow good flow through your teeth without having to go over the teeth. It should work best with the bulkhead down against the bottom of the pipe cap. Do not cut down the height of the pipe caps.

[ibefishy]

Thanks for the input I will get some 4" caps and do a mock up and see what happens.