Recycle your used tank water!

Discussion in 'The Bucket' started by Seano Hermano, Jun 23, 2010.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2010
    Messages:
    10,056
    Location:
    Northwest Ohio
    I did my water change yesterday & forgot to dump out the old water. As I was looking at the old water today, I noticed the detritus had all settled to the bottom...:) I put my hand in the bucket & look at that..the water was clear. I am going to test the water for nitrates once detritus settles to the bottom again.

    Could I reuse my "waste" water, once run through a filter? It would be kind of neat to be able to recycle the same water over, to then use it in the tank again. That is, as long as it is not loaded with nitrates/ammonia. This would use less water overall & I think would save some money in the long-run too.;)
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. pgoodsell

    pgoodsell Horrid Stonefish

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2009
    Messages:
    2,059
    Location:
    Sparks, Nv
    Taking the water out then putting the same water back in kinda defeats the purpose of a water change. If all your doing is filtering it you could do that in the tank.
     
  4. bama

    bama Humpback Whale

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2009
    Messages:
    2,788
    Location:
    Houston, TEXAS
    great idea. I would really like to see this one.
     
  5. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2010
    Messages:
    10,056
    Location:
    Northwest Ohio
    Not necessarily. That would be fairly difficult to do, as your detritus is in you substrate. For what you seem to think I mean, you could use a filter sock over your siphon...But I mean to rid of not just detritus, but nitrates/ammonia too. & other bad things we don't want in out water.;)

    I was thinking maybe run our used water through some form of filter, the same way tap is run through an RODI unit. Not sure how. Let's collaborate upon this one.
     
  6. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2010
    Messages:
    10,056
    Location:
    Northwest Ohio
    When the water in my bucket settles, I'll upload a pic to show.
     
  7. browntrout

    browntrout Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2009
    Messages:
    323
    Location:
    Hemet CA
  8. Click Here!

  9. crappyballer

    crappyballer Corkscrew Tentacle Anemone

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2006
    Messages:
    723
    Location:
    630, IL
    by doing water changes you are not only removing bad things but with the new water you are adding good things. also if your in-tank filtration is sufficient you shouldn't really be seeing ammonia or nitrates
     
  10. pgoodsell

    pgoodsell Horrid Stonefish

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2009
    Messages:
    2,059
    Location:
    Sparks, Nv
    ^^^^ was just going to say this. I do water changes more to replace trace elements than lower nitrates, mine stay pretty low.
     
  11. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2010
    Messages:
    10,056
    Location:
    Northwest Ohio
    Simply filter used water, dilute with good, new water. This theory I am sure would work better in large tanks than small ones, where room for error, isn't really there.

    My ammonia is 0. My nitrates are at about 15-20 right now, thanks to me getting cc substrate in the start.
     
  12. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2010
    Messages:
    10,056
    Location:
    Northwest Ohio
    This could be dine i the seam way an RODI unit operates, going through a series of filters...as mentioned on op.