Water Conservation

[ddhuyn]

All of us as reef-keeping or saltwater tank do change water weekly, bi-weekly or monthly from 10% to 25%, and it is a lot of water per yearly usage. However, many California cities and elsewhere in United States call out to people to conserve water usage due less of raining in recent years. For these reasons, I really want to save some water.
I do change 25% of my 100 gallons reef tank twice a month and I plan to store water taken from my tank to another empty tank (is stored in the dark) and try to reuse it for my reef tank again if possible.
Is there any one doing this? Can all Nitrate, Nitrite and or others destroy and water be used again? Please give me some feedbacks.

 

[yoggi58]

I wonder if you could pressurize it some how and pump it back though your RO system. It would probably kill the membrane quickly but you would be able to reuse some of the water. Or what about distilling the water. Not sure if the effort needed is realistic though.

 

[KafudaFish]

Why not use a 1:1 rodi unit instead of a typical 4:1 when making the water?

Change less water too.

This could easily "save" several hundred to a few thousand gallons of water per year.

 

[ddhuyn]

Water Con

Water Con

I don't use RODI for my water change. Just tap water for all. But Corals are healthy and growing.

I should try to pump the changed water to an active carbon filter which would reduce or eliminate all PO4, NO commponents.

 

[mstrpln03]

I have been researching turf algae scrubbers for a while but have not set one up yet. Everything I see suggests that they can completely do away with the need for water changes. I would run one with a good skimmer and just do top off and dose supplements.

Another option would be using natural sea water.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

I am pretty sure that if you leave your "used" salt water in a completely dark environment for about 60-90 days everything on it dies and all the nutrients go to zero. You would have to dose it with Mg and trace elements though before using it again...

 

[James77]

I am pretty sure that if you leave your "used" salt water in a completely dark environment for about 60-90 days everything on it dies and all the nutrients go to zero. You would have to dose it with Mg and trace elements though before using it again...

The nutrients won't go to zero unless they are exported somehow. Once everything dies, all those stored nutrients will also enter the water column.

I would get a high efficiency RO/DI from Spectrapure. Financially, they are hard to justify, but they conserve water.

You could also just to straight cati/ani resin, although recharging is a PITA.

Im sure you could also buy a RO pressure pump and refilter the used water through a RO/DI unit.

 

[Octoshark]

I think the amount of water we use for water changes is minimal compared to the amount of water people waste by leaving the sink on as they brush their teeth (and not just when they rinse out their mouth), taking extra long showers, overwatering their lawn, and other habits like that.

 

[JNye]

I think the amount of water we use for water changes is minimal compared to the amount of water people waste by leaving the sink on as they brush their teeth (and not just when they rinse out their mouth), taking extra long showers, overwatering their lawn, and other habits like that.

+1 conserve in other aspects of daily life to offset the wasted water. a couple rain barrels would cover you for the year probably. reclaiming old saltwater is much a less efficient way to conserve water IMO.

 

[Fishinboy84]

I might seem dumb, but i hardly do water changes. The only thing i ever do is replace the water in my tank because of the lights. Sometimes i will take out maybe 10% of water and put new in. Everything in my tank seems to be doing just fine.

 

[Tek_Diver]

Use RODI waste to water plants.

 

[gatorlover]

Can you use the old water removed during water changes to water plants?

 

[lordofthereef]

I do change 25% of my 100 gallons reef tank twice a month and I plan to store water taken from my tank to another empty tank (is stored in the dark) and try to reuse it for my reef tank again if possible.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your goal here, but I think this would defeat the purpose of doing the water change. Removing water and letting it sit for a while only to be put right back in later achieves nothing, really.

That said, I personally don't view 50 gallons a month (what you stated you were using) as a huge deal. I think most Americans can cut back on their shower time and get effiecient showerheads that spray less water.

I also like to just fill the toilet with waste until the bathroom smells too ripe to sand and do a single flush per day. That really cuts back on our water usage. :dance:

Only kidding on that last paragraph :clown:

 

[lordofthereef]

Can you use the old water removed during water changes to water plants?

No, this will kill your plants.

 

[N-dog]

it would be great at killing weeds lol