RODI waste water and hydroponics

[jong11]

The few hydroponic gardeners i know just use tap water. The tap water around here is about 30 TDS. The waste water is about 37 TDS. I'll have to check the pH level of the water before and after. I was thinking that while RO water would be the best choice for hydro, since the TDS level is so low, it might be a good way to utilize my aquarium waste water. It would be a DWC, so the water/nut. mixture would have little to no contact with a source of light, thus little to no algae. Plus the wste water would be free of chlorine.
Thoughts?

 

[BigCountry74]

Definitely need to find a use for mine. I feel guilty letting it drain down the sink. I like the plants/flower idea in the spring/summer for sure.

 

[sarmo]

. I need to check the pressure required to see if I can plumb the RO waste line directly to my drip irrigation system.

i use to run my RO waste water through a drip line for plants. the system worked great for years. (only in the summer, Montana) My drip line was 1/4" and close to 75' long. it had about 15 "T's" with adjustable drippers. i could get water all the way to the end by adjusting the drip rate of each dripper. during the winter it just went down the drain.

 

[PerfectRapture04]

The few hydroponic gardeners i know just use tap water. The tap water around here is about 30 TDS. The waste water is about 37 TDS. I'll have to check the pH level of the water before and after. I was thinking that while RO water would be the best choice for hydro, since the TDS level is so low, it might be a good way to utilize my aquarium waste water. It would be a DWC, so the water/nut. mixture would have little to no contact with a source of light, thus little to no algae. Plus the wste water would be free of chlorine.
Thoughts?

Using your aquarium waste water will be just like doing an aquaponic system where the fish waste is the nutes for the plants and the plants filter the water. Works great with dwc.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

37 PPM TDS is considerable lower than the tap water in nearly the entire country.

 

[andip3]

I use the waste water in my garden and the plants all love it

 

[SpectraPure]

We routinely hear from folks that store the waste in a huge vat in their back yards and use it for watering shrubs and plants with positive results.
Certainly a good effort at conservation!

Shane,
SpectraPure, Inc.

 

[dputt88]

i use it to fill up the goldfish pond behind the house.

 

[MarlinDreams]

We routinely hear from folks that store the waste in a huge vat in their back yards and use it for watering shrubs and plants with positive results.
Certainly a good effort at conservation!

Shane,
SpectraPure, Inc.

Plus if you really get into it, you can rig the waste water to go to a storage barrel. With our knowledge of pumps and the like, you can use a pump to distribute the water through a sprinkler system or through a drip hose that can be winded through a garden. I love that a lot of people are thinking responsibly.
Cheers guys.

 

[usmc121581]

I save mine in a trash can and when I need to do laundry I plug a pump in to fill th washer. I Lassus it to water all the house plants. I have heard of people putting it back into the hot water heater but that's not a good idea with all the minerals in it.

 

[solarmoonman]

Im with buckeye... no worries at all... I use mine to water the plants all the time...most goes down the drain...but I always try to use what I can..

 

[exterminatank]

Ok so I'm new to rodi water systems. I hate wasting all this water also. Curiosity had me wondering if anyone has heard of plugging the waste water hose into the incoming hose with a T plug so it just goes back into the filter and recycled again?


Mike

 

[discocarp]

I used mine for my freshwater tank for automatic water changes, and from that tank it drained into my garden. I've since shut down the freshwater tank, so now it goes straight into my garden.

 

[iced98lx]

We've got a pretty big rainwater collection/RO Waste water containment setup planned to use for watering the yard and flower beds. Right now it's in the planning phase but it would save us quite a bit of $$ when it comes to watering flower beds and the yard during dry summers.

 

[r-balljunkie]

I echo previous sentiments, depends on what you are growing. if you are going for bulk, quick turn around on a "crop", you want to push the edge, nutrient wise to the point of "most growth", without burning your plants. if you are growing basil and rosemary, go for it.