Loaches Online Forum

The best of the new year to one and all,
yet, as always and as admittedly and unabashedly rude as it is, i only write when i need something....

When I was a yoot they sold a lead tape situation in 1 or 1.5" lengths for wrapping around the roots of your aquarium plants to weigh them down. I don't see this product again though, possibly because I'm not looking for it, possibly as it has fallen from favour.
Either way, there's no way I'm going to be able to buy that sort of thing around here, so I've been looking for a simple lead wire to use... again to no avail. What I have found was high-lead solder, but it's still got between 5 and 70% Tin (and other things) in it. Now Tin is also used in antifoulant paints, so I'm guessing it's not terrible eco-pleasant.

So, the question is- can I get away with using high-lead solder to weigh stuff down, or is it reeeeeealy not a good idea? Can you suggest a coating: Wax? Liquid plastic? Electrical tape? Pattex? Silicone?
Yes, there are loaches involved... thus I'm staying that much further away from Copper wire, which is very easy to get and use.
A

"lead" plant weights that are available now do not have lead in them. They might have had lead originally, so they got that name.

Do not use any heavy metal in the tank.

To hold down plants try planting them a bit deeper, then putting some pebbles around the base.

D- thanks. But the pebble-burial can't work, or at least isn't working. I'm not weighing down plants, but air-lines. They float well enough that they're turning out to be a nightmare to get to stay under the gravel, and I've not even got the fish or MTS in there yet. What are the modern plant-weights made of if not lead- even if it's in a plastic matrix?
I'll very much agree that using (toxic) metals is a bad idea- i've gone nuts trying to avoid copper in this, and stainless is ridiculously costly. But I'm pretty much out of time and out of options, so I'm thinking that silicone-sealing 15cm lengths of high-lead solder (if I can find THAT) is my option- unless the wiser minds of this forum can suggest something else?

If the bottom of the tank is smooth glass, then put a suction cup on the air line, and suction it to the bottom of the tank. When you are positive you have the right location then you can use superglue to secure the suction cup permanently. The Gel type of super glue is aquarium safe.

Otherwise I would find a rock with square sides, like slate or flagstone and zip-tie that air line to that. A rounded rock might allow the zip-tie to come off. A flat bit of slate can also be buried under the substrate.