| Yes, I would and do choose to use lead weights on every one of my 250 airlines in tanks and ponds ranging from 2-gallon to 20,000 gallon. It is much easier to wrap a strip of sheet lead around the end of the air line than gripe with tying or crimping on a piece of stainless.
Lead shot and lead fishing weights were banned because they are picked up off the bottom by waterfowl and eaten. The lead is ground up by the bird's gizzard as if it were a seed or other food item and is machanically and chemically converted into soluble lead salts which are toxic.
Lead toxicity in fish is confined to fish exposed to runoff from smelters, refineries (where lead gasoline additives are used) and lead battery recycling facilities. These processes create the toxic soluble lead compounds. Lead fishing weights do not kill fish.
A solid piece of lead is stable in water almost forever. The fact that it does not degrade in water is part of the reason that they had to ban lead shot and lead fishing weights. A surface oxidation layer protects the material from further degradation. The toxic soluble compounds are not created until the lead is eaten, macerated and chemically attacked. Koi do not eat lead weights.
-steve hopkins |