Recycled water.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

I was doing some daydreaming yesterday and had a startling realization. If I ever do end up with my dream tank (somewhere around 250 gallons) I will be spending a small fortune on salt. I know this hobby isn't cheap, but I started to try to think my way around this large expense. One idea was possibly recycling the water. Does anyone know if this is even possible? The process in mind would be to remove the water, then run reactors, skimmers, etc on the water until applicable values zero out, replace trace minerals etc, then put the water back in. This would be an ongoing process, treating the water for days or weeks (really however long it takes) before adding it back. Any thoughts?

MaccaPopEye · Nov 7, 2016

My thoughts would be why bother removing it?

Just run the extra filtration on the system to begin with to keep levels where you want it and dose trace elements straight into the tank. I am pretty sure this is called the triton method. Some very nice tanks using it that don't do water changes.

saltwaterpicaso · Nov 7, 2016

yeah triton method or run zeovit

donnievaz · Nov 7, 2016

My guess is that by the time you replace all the minerals and elements it would cost as much as the salt...

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

MaccaPopEye said:
My thoughts would be why bother removing it?

Just run the extra filtration on the system to begin with to keep levels where you want it and dose trace elements straight into the tank. I am pretty sure this is called the triton method. Some very nice tanks using it that don't do water changes.

That makes far more sense. I'm still new enough to to this that I'm always learning something. Thanks know you!

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

saltwaterpicaso said:
yeah triton method or run zeovit

Looks like I'm going to have to look into this Triton method! Thanks for the info.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

donnievaz said:
My guess is that by the time you replace all the minerals and elements it would cost as much as the salt...

Makes sense and is something I guess I didn't think about. It's been suggested to look into the Triton method, I haven't looked into it yet, but it sounds like what I was suggesting without taking the water out first. Ha ha, I think I was over thinking it.

jason2459 · Nov 7, 2016

What type of salt are you using and how much are you changing every month?

I get 200g boxes of IO fairly cheap and its always going on sale.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 7, 2016

If you mean recycling water change water, it is not worthwhile since you cannot easily"fix" the problems in it that relate to organics, accumulated or depleted trace elements, major ion imbalances (chloride/sulfate), etc.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

jason2459 said:
What type of salt are you using and how much are you changing every month?

I get 200g boxes of IO fairly cheap and its always going on sale.

Right now I'm doing 15% every other week. I go the same route for salt. This was more for after an upgrade to a large tank (hopefully somewhere around 250) when water changes won't be feasible with my 20 gallon brute trash can that I'm using now.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 7, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you mean recycling water change water, it is not worthwhile since you cannot easily"fix" the problems in it that relate to organics, accumulated or depleted trace elements, major ion imbalances (chloride/sulfate), etc.

That seems to be the consensus. I think I was leaving a lot out during this thought process of mine. Ha ha, and I thought I might be onto something!