Wastewater

[alexkharden]

Well, I have no idea what the water pressure to my house is, hopefully it's enough, but i definitely won't put a valve in the line!

That makes perfect sense jamie1981. I didn't think of the other filters, was just thinking of the ro runoff.

So that begs another question, would ALL of the water in the RO runoff continue to be runoff if someone ran it through the RO filter again? It was said previously that most RO filters have a good/bad ratio. Like 1 part good to 2 parts bad or whatever. If you saved to 2 parts bad in that equation, and used a pump to send it back through the RO filter, would you be able to reclaim some of that waste by the refiltering process?

 

[jamie1981]

Well, I have no idea what the water pressure to my house is, hopefully it's enough, but i definitely won't put a valve in the line!

That makes perfect sense jamie1981. I didn't think of the other filters, was just thinking of the ro runoff.

So that begs another question, would ALL of the water in the RO runoff continue to be runoff if someone ran it through the RO filter again? It was said previously that most RO filters have a good/bad ratio. Like 1 part good to 2 parts bad or whatever. If you saved to 2 parts bad in that equation, and used a pump to send it back through the RO filter, would you be able to reclaim some of that waste by the refiltering process?

Yes but but you need to take the dissolved ions that the membrane rejects away. The membrane does not really filter it rejects dissolved ions and sends them down the drain line. Running it in a closed system would prevent this and eventually clog the membrane.
(your pre filters actually catch sediment and impurities and hold onto it) Carbon filters and sediment filters can not filter dissolved ions because they are dissolved in solution, the only way to remove them is through Reverse Osmosis.

 

[bhofosho]

So please do not dump aquairum water outside!

So it can only go in the toilet? There's gotta be a better way!

 

[alexkharden]

I'm piping it directly into my sewage lines. That's what I'm doing tonight in fact.

 

[Dria]

Does anyone know if water change waste from a reef tank is safe to put down the drain if you have a septic system as opposed to sewer?

 

[alexkharden]

I'd be wary, but I don't know. Septic systems use bacteria to break down waste, the salt might kill the bacteria. This is me guessing though, I don't know for certain.

 

[Scorpius]

Dump your used saltwater on your driveway. No more snow. :lol:

 

[Dria]

Yeah, I'm wary too. I'm not going to have a huge tank so my change volume will only be 4 gallons a week or so. Other options I'm considering: the driveway since we have some nuisance weeds growing through the gravel or maybe try it out as a weed killer for the giant blackberries we have out back.

 

[jamie1981]

I'd be wary, but I don't know. Septic systems use bacteria to break down waste, the salt might kill the bacteria. This is me guessing though, I don't know for certain.

Well look at it this way the average home with a water softener uses 40-60lbs of salt per month to regenerate all goes down the drain...... far less than most hobbyist are dumping down the drain.

 

[Dria]

Oh! That's something I hadn't considered.

I think the volume of salt water is pretty small compared to the total we use assuming I won't have to do a lot near full volume changes.

 

[woodnaquanut]

Does anyone know if water change waste from a reef tank is safe to put down the drain if you have a septic system as opposed to sewer?

This comes up every few months. The general consensus is it causes no harm. It's a small percentage of the 'stuff' that goes down the drain it's a non-factor.

 

[nuvuku]

I fill my hot tub with rodi waste, fish pond, water plants, hose the dog down. I would like to get a 200 gallon IBC with some sort of mechanical or pressure pump (non electric) so that I could use it for all sorts of stuff instead of drawing more water for the same task that could have been done with the wasted water.

I have noticed the water from my water change keeping my toilette clean at times, kinda neat! I cant de-ice my driveway with sw because I have a storm drain on ether side of the driveway otherwise I would be all over that like a tang to some algae.

I was thinking of cultivating bring shrimp and using the old water from my tank to be the brines "new" water. Or make a huge turf scrubber and then scrub the water clean then UV sterilize it and add in missing elements and recycle it. Sounds a little utopian but Id like to try. A mangrove/macro algae forest that was grown with old tank water would be neat too!

Anyone else with any green ideas?

 

[alexkharden]

Well this doesn't do anything for the saltwater waste, but check this out for the RODI waste. Actually found this info on RC.

http://www.premierh2o.com/products/watts_premier_501026_zerowaste_retrofit_kit

Now THAT seems like a worthwhile investment!

 

[Louis Z]

I remember reading in a recent Coral mag issue. That some aquarist in Germany never changes the water in his tank, he uses ozone too . Been thinking about that, recycle waste with skimmer, ozone and algae turf scrubber. Remove N, P , protein and yellowing compounds

 

[alexkharden]

You're talking about the saltwater waste, not the Rodi?

 

[WilRams]

Mines plumbed into the drain. The best I could figure was upgrading my unit to reduce waste water. I feel a little better now about all that water going down the drain...

 

[FunFishin24]

This was a very interesting read. Great thread. I currently use my old tank water on driveways but am definetly gonna figure out a better system for my ro/do waste water rather than sending it to the septic. I like the idea of a 200 gal tank with a pump....[emoji106][emoji4]

 

[Fish4ead]

The long and short of it is you should dump it down the sewer, not the sink/toilet/tub. Your plumbing goes to a wastewater treatment facility where your taxes pay to convert it to clean freshwater. If you dump it in the street, well, all drains lead to the ocean. At least for those of us who are fortunate enough to live near one. So you see, it's a matter of geographic necessity, which is best for your area.

 

[jamie1981]

The long and short of it is you should dump it down the sewer, not the sink/toilet/tub. Your plumbing goes to a wastewater treatment facility where your taxes pay to convert it to clean freshwater. If you dump it in the street, well, all drains lead to the ocean. At least for those of us who are fortunate enough to live near one. So you see, it's a matter of geographic necessity, which is best for your area.

Terrible advice
All drains lead to the ocean?? Seriously thats your logic here?

Your sewer IS your sink/toilet/tub drains and taxes do not pay for this. Your water/sewer bill does and your sewer fees are based on your water usage so you are paying for the wastewater treatment anyway. Your storm drains are what you are thinking of....not the same thing. I suppose if you want to get rid of that lion fish and your near the ocean you should just dump it there......right?:facepalm: If you in FL you probably know what I am talking about

 

[glweek]

kinda makes me sad to see all the people that just dump rodi reject water down the drain...haven't paid for the water in my washing machine for over 3 years.