Recycling/ Re-using aquarium water.

[Wildconservationist]

Hi all;

I have being having this thoughts recently .Anyone has ideas of how about doing this??

For those who are staying in landed property, they can simply use the water to hydrate their garden. How about those hobbyist staying in HDB?
And special ways to recycle the usage of water?

[WFA Filtration]

i use them to water my plants outside my hse and also to wash my medias

[thebaldingaquarist]

I take out 2 pails of water and use them to wash toilet floor.

[Wildconservationist]

Ok... Seems reasonable for those who have replied.

Have anyone thought of filtering and processing these water and than use back for the next water change?

Like this...

Change out aquarium tank---> Stages of filtration--> UV--> RO unit--> Collection point--> Back to aquarium.

[Wildconservationist]

WFA filtration;

Think this will be a good area to share with us your thoughts!! You are in the filtration business!

[WFA Filtration]

Ok... Seems reasonable for those who have replied.

Have anyone thought of filtering and processing these water and than use back for the next water change?

Like this...

Change out aquarium tank---> Stages of filtration--> UV--> RO unit--> Collection point--> Back to aquarium.

I did thought abt such idea.. but the steps are tedious and the final output is much lower than the input after goin thru the RO unit as most of the "dirty" water tt did not meet the specs will be rejected.. but nevertheless, still can be use for daily washing of external flooring outside our unit

[WFA Filtration]

using the "waste" tank water to water plants actually is a very good source of fertilizers.. noticed my "fa Cai shu" outside my hse been flowering for the past couple of months..

[Wildconservationist]

Hey Gereld;

"fa chai shu" flowering means really going to strike something soon already!!

Can you share with us the insight this process?? And what's the tedious parts of the process?
I got no real knowledge of RO unit.. So maybe you can enlighten me on this area.

[WFA Filtration]

Hey Gereld;

"fa chai shu" flowering means really going to strike something soon already!!

Can you share with us the insight this process?? And what's the tedious parts of the process?
I got no real knowledge of RO unit.. So maybe you can enlighten me on this area.

Haha, i wish so too.

Simple terms, RO - Reverse osmosis is a complicated process which uses a membrane under pressure to separate relatively pure water or with other solvents from a less pure solution.
A standard RO system will have a pre-filter followed by a number of carbon filtration, followed by a RO membrane.
In order to filter your "waste" aquarium water using the RO system, u will need to use a booster pump of certain flowrate to force the water thru the RO membrane. the whole system won't be able to work without a sufficient flow/pressure.

How "pure" the output of the water will all depend on the TDS readings.
The lower the TDS reading, the purer it is.
Alot of marine and wild caught fishes keepers are using RO system at home to help maintain a certain pH level for their fishes.

[bennyc]

I take out 2 pails of water and use them to wash toilet floor.

Eric, you always do water change? I notice my water will have a fish smell. Unless you do frequent WC, i assume the water out from the tank will be like mine?

[Wildconservationist]

So Gereld;

Coming soon already!! "Fa cai shun" flowering not really that common... Or Drop by the fortune god temple to enhanced the odds!(Near your place)

Anyway, back to main topic.. So if i were to use a powerful pump like eheim 1260 with ability to pump 2400L/H to "feed" the RO unit, i will be able to use the idea?

[WFA Filtration]

So Gereld;

Coming soon already!! "Fa cai shun" flowering not really that common... Or Drop by the fortune god temple to enhanced the odds!(Near your place)

Anyway, back to main topic.. So if i were to use a powerful pump like eheim 1260 with ability to pump 2400L/H to "feed" the RO unit, i will be able to use the idea?

The flowrate has no issue.. but u have to work out the cost whether is it worth the effort
The electrical cost to run the pump, the environmental damage when you use more electricity, as the incoming TDS will be very high, the change out frequency of your RO membrane is much faster.

I did thought of an idea whereby we hook up a storage tank to store the "waste" tank water, then use it to top up the water tank of our toilet bowls. I think it will be more useful and practical

[thebaldingaquarist]

Eric, you always do water change? I notice my water will have a fish smell. Unless you do frequent WC, i assume the water out from the tank will be like mine?

i do weekly water change. 2 pails each time.

but the water from my tank no fishy smell..

[thebaldingaquarist]

The flowrate has no issue.. but u have to work out the cost whether is it worth the effort
The electrical cost to run the pump, the environmental damage when you use more electricity, as the incoming TDS will be very high, the change out frequency of your RO membrane is much faster.

I did thought of an idea whereby we hook up a storage tank to store the "waste" tank water, then use it to top up the water tank of our toilet bowls. I think it will be more useful and practical

Second WFAFiltration. There is alot of use for WC water.
1. Wash toilet floor
2. water plants
3. wash door step / corridor
4. wash car rims
5. Flush toilet

I personally do 1 and 5. (5) only when i have excess from doing 30% WC.

[Wildconservationist]

Gereld;
Why would the in coming TDS be high??
Asumming that the ammonia and nitrite have have being used up by the beneficial bacteria in the pre-filtration like sump or moving bed.

And why are there RO units stating that it's not meant for human consumption?

[Urban Aquaria]

TDS is total dissolved solids, its everything in the water (all the particles, minerals, trace elements and macro/micro nutrients)... not just ammonia and nitrite.

Certain types of RO processed water are not recommended for long-term daily human consumption because they lack the essential minerals in normal water, so if a person drinks only RO water every day, their body could become depleted of essential minerals over time (ie. calcium, magnesium, trace elements etc) and that can result in health problems.

[WFA Filtration]

TDS is total dissolved solids, its everything in the water (all the particles, minerals, trace elements and macro/micro nutrients)... not just ammonia and nitrite.

Certain types of RO processed water are not recommended for long-term daily human consumption because they lack the essential minerals in normal water, so if a person drinks only RO water every day, their body could become depleted of essential minerals over time (ie. calcium, magnesium, trace elements etc) and that can result in health problems.

Well explained!! To add on, ur tank water tds will be pretty high due to the fertilizers we add in planted tanks, salt we add, etc..

[Wildconservationist]

So the removed water from planted tanks are or will be high on TDS. But if i'm assuming that my tank are purely for breeding purpose and no fertilizer are added in and might be higher in humic acid. So by removing ammonia and nitrite from the water, I can reuse these water back to the tank?

[Urban Aquaria]

So the removed water from planted tanks are or will be high on TDS. But if i'm assuming that my tank are purely for breeding purpose and no fertilizer are added in and might be higher in humic acid. So by removing ammonia and nitrite from the water, I can reuse these water back to the tank?

If the used tank water is not RO treated, the TDS in that used water will still be high, its not just ammonia or nitrites or fertilizer, there are also nitrates, phosphates and all the other minerals, nutrients, micro/trace elements accumulated in the water over time from food, fauna waste, soil, plants, wood, rocks etc... some fishes and shrimps cannot take high TDS water so they might suffer due to the increasingly unbalanced water conditions.

Thats why people do regular water changes with treated fresh tap water (which has lower TDS) or treated RO water (which has even lower TDS), this is to remove excess minerals and nutrients, and replenish any of those which are depleted, helping to re-balance the water conditions.

Note that RO water should ideally have minerals and trace elements added back into them when you re-use them in an aquarium (there are special additives/treatments for RO water available at LFS for such purposes), so that the water will still maintain a good balance of essential minerals and nutrients for the plants and fishes/shrimps to absorb.

[WFA Filtration]

Overall u can use the ro system to filter it then replace the lost minerals with add on minerals.. but overall it's not cost effective.. the cost to replace the ro membrane, the mineral cost, and the final output..