Quote Originally Posted by Madmax478
Well if PVC isn't what we should use in our systems. What kinda of pipe do you suggest as and alt?
To be honest, we're not quite to the point of concluding PVC is bad. You see, we live in a world where we're surrounded by toxins and pollutants on a daily basis. Our governments establish safe guidelines for poisoning us, which is called risk assessment. In other words, a review of the composition of PVC and a literature review of available research on the toxins in questions would yield an answer. It is possible to produce plastics/PVC without the toxins in question; so, it is up to us to find out what's in our PVC (if anything).

Some folks at the aquaponics conference did use alternatives to PVC. They said it was not cost effective though.

Back in the 60's some hippies built aquaponic systems without plastic or concrete. They built them naturally in the ground (so am I told). I aspire to one day mimic this design.