another use for RO waste line?

[100%hydrophylic]

hello, im sorry if this is in wrong forum but idk where else to ask:

so i usually give the RO/DI waste water to parents to water their plants or whatever, but i still have tons of it left over. so im wondering what exactly is in the waste water? is it safe to use for top off and water changes in my freshwater planted tank? right now im just using tap water with dechlorinator for top offs and water changes in my freshwater tanks btw. so is there any difference in ro waste water and normal tap?

 

[bigworm175]

I use it for my chiclid tank but I have only one plant in there plus those fish are practically indestructible compared to my marine fish. My wife has a million house plants but she prefers the water that is siphoned out after water changes for them. More nutrients I guess. I saw a thread a while back that mentioned washing machines and other uses but I don't know the specifics.

 

[Tadashi]

If you have a rain capture system you can run the water into the reservoir for the rest of the house to use (toilets, laundry, etc).

Water the lawn with it.

Should be okay for your freshwater planted tanks but probably too much to replace evap.

I am not an expert in this stuff but I would think it would be more pure than normal tap as the sediment and carbon would have pulled out stuff. I am not sure about the DI, but the RO stuff will be in that water.

 

[100%hydrophylic]

oh sorry now that i think about it the waste water doesnt even get to the DI stage, but tadashi what do you mean "too much to replace evap."? too much nutrients? honestly i use tap water for evap loss (in fresh tanks) so if anything there would be less nutrients going into the tank if i use water from the waste line than water from the tap... right?

 

[wetWolger]

waste water is still pretty clean...i mean it has already gone through the micron and the carbon filter (at least on my ro/di unit).

I tend to use mine for watering plants, putting it on the lawn in dry spots....as well as filling up the tank to the toilet in the room the RO/Di unit is.

 

[lordofthereef]

The waste water is simply a bunch of the dissolved solids (more concentrated than your tap water). People like to use it for watering plants like you said, laundry, and I have heard of some people actually hooking it to their main tap line for things like washing dishes. I imagine this only works if you have TONS of wastewater at a time.

 

[faulkincanyon]

i run mine into the washing machine to clean clothes

 

[Zestay]

someone made a kit that pushes the waste water into your hot water heater.

 

[widmer]

If you have a rain capture system you can run the water into the reservoir for the rest of the house to use (toilets, laundry, etc).

Water the lawn with it.

Excellent options.

Should be okay for your freshwater planted tanks but probably too much to replace evap.

I am not an expert in this stuff but I would think it would be more pure than normal tap as the sediment and carbon would have pulled out stuff. I am not sure about the DI, but the RO stuff will be in that water.

Not sure about this part tho.

 

[maroun.c]

Waste water eventhough having passed through a sediment filter and carbon is "dirtier" tha source water as everything not passing through the RO is concentrated in it. it might still be within acceptabe range for drinking but drinking water from the input then would be better.
my TDS from tapwater is around 240 my RO line is around 25 and my waste water is at 340. while anything up to 500 is usually drinkable I would find it better to just drink the tapwater in that case at 240 VS 340

 

[Tadashi]

Based on Maroun's measurements I guess I am wrong about it being cleaner. I would have thought the sediment and carbon filters would have pulled out more.

However, dirty water was not a big issue with my planted tank. I had a planted tank with the equivalent of a DSB (about 4-6" of filtered dirt from outside mixed with vermiculite). I had to harvest/prune plants constantly and had little to no film algae. I would not use that water for anything else (fresh or salt FO). I only used tap and the only replacement water was tap. Never did a water change. I did run carbon but had very small fish bioload. I suppose you should measure the TDS of your tank water. If it is less than the waste water do not use it.

You stated that you wanted to use the waste water for top off. I did not think you would have enough evap to use the top off. Then again I only had normal flourescents and a cover over my planted tank.

I would not run the waste into the water heater. It is bad enough you have to deal with normal build up, let alone a higher concentration. I would think you would have to drain your water heater every 6 mo versus 12 mo.