What is the metal strip used to hold plants down?

[Freshman]

Hi,

questions regarding those metal strip used for weighting down plants/woods

• what type of metal are they made of?
• Is it harmful to the plants/fish/snail?

[sheng]

i think it is zinc
Harmful or not, i dont know.

[Freshman]

Hi bro,

I read past threads (year 2002).. many bros said the material used is lead.
And they mentioned about this lead poisoning thing

Confused How to to see whether the material is zinc or lead or any other type of metal?

Cheers

[ankank]

Yes, most weights -- at least here in Europe -- are actually made of lead. However, most of the forums post on the subject you will find are horribly exaggerated and stem from smattering and hearsay, ranging from "ticking time bombs in your tank" to "fish poisoned by lead".

Of course, basically, lead is poisonous to the usual organisms. Even more so to shrimp than to fish as they are particularly sensitive to heavy metal (no, not the music genre, but then again ... who knows). However, it won't dissolve into water anywhere near as easy as it is needed to do immediate harm. In fact, under most circumstances it is suspected not to dissolve at all due to the fact that the lead surface oxidizes which avoids lead ions to cross over into water. It can, however, be harmful to fish nibbling on the plant base.

Lead-only weights can be touched with bare hands as long as you don't lick your fingers afterwards, and should be removed from plant stems before planting. Lead weights can also be enclosed in rubbery plastic which shouldn't do any harm at all. But there are many other ways to hold down your plants to the ground if necessary.

[sheng]

sorry may be i am wrong

i think it is zinc
Harmful or not, i dont know.

[Freshman]

Thanks all for the informative reply!

[ankank]

On a sidenote: Many topics in aquaristics are treated as if they had been researched when in fact they haven't. While fish keepers have been around for generations, scientifically based knowledge is still surprisingly sparse. The term "empiric" would flatter most advise you'll read. Even though it is greatly appreciated, a great deal of it is solely based on the experience of a few people willing to take their findings down. Quite a lot of what is presented as "information" is pure speculation.

This being said: I have still to find one scientifically based article on short and/or long term effects regarding lead stripes in a fish tank.