Recycling/Reusing old water

[fragit]

Not sure if this is the right spot, but it seems appropriate to me. I have a well as a water source and a septic tank for sewage etc. There is a growing water crisis in the western part of the country. Filtering our own water all be it cost effective produces a lot of waste that goes down the drain. I'm sure many people don't give it a second thought being on municipal water and sewer services. Any way, it got me thinking is there any way to repurpose the water we remove from our systems with our weekly water changes? Are there more efficient ways of purifying our tap water we use for topping off our systems? Seems to me that we have a responsibility to keep a healthy environment for our tank inhabitants that came from wild places at some point, but we also have that same responsibility to protect the environments of those animals that live in the sea and on land. By flushing so much water down the drain just to keep our tanks clean we are damaging ecosystems around the country. So... How can we do this better? Go...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No water changes. (10 years ?)
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-dsr-method-dutch-synthetic-reefing.162872/
not sure about this one.

Also Melev gave a great talk on rodi . A water softener to reuse the waste.
food for thought.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, there are more water effective, if not dollar effective ways (such as DI only, which has no water waste), and there are many threads on what to do with RO/DI waste other than down the drain. Things like watering plants, washing clothes, etc.

One can also run the waste through a second RO membrane to product more water, and some RO/DI systems are 2:1 instead of 4:1 waste to product.

That said, whether water down the drain is a waste or not depends on where you live. Many places take water from the same place the waste is returned, so none (or little) is wasted. People living along the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, etc.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No water changes. (10 years ?)
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-dsr-method-dutch-synthetic-reefing.162872/
not sure about this one.

Also Melev gave a great talk on rodi . A water softener to reuse the waste.
food for thought.

Not sure I understand what purpose a water softener would have on what sort of waste, and what you'd do with it?

 

[fragit]

Not sure I understand what purpose a water softener would have on what sort of waste, and what you'd do with it?

Randy, any reccomendations on zero waste RO/Di systems?

 

[TheEngineer]

If you have a septic tank you are returning most of the water back to your well (eventually). Your waste water goes to the tank and that water is pumped into a leach field where it permeates back into the ground water that fills your well.

 

[fragit]

If you have a septic tank you are returning most of the water back to your well (eventually). Your waste water goes to the tank and that water is pumped into a leach field where it permeates back into the ground water that fills your well.

Not at my place...Well in back of house, leach field in front on a down hill slope from the well. Waste water never makes it my well, but does for my neighbors!

 

[TheEngineer]

The aquifer you are pulling from is almost certainly larger than your entire neighborhood. Groundwater is constantly moving. While it may be going downhill and away from you, you are assisting the overall system by returning water to it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, any reccomendations on zero waste RO/Di systems?

No, I've not really looked into them. For those who do not know they take usually the waste and send it back into the hot water line of the house (so you are not drinking it, presumably). Most such units are smaller since you can't send much water into the hot water line unless it is running, withoput backing the hot water up into the cold line. I'm personally not a big fan of sending unchlorinated and possibly bacterially contaminated water back into the potable water system.

 

[fragit]

No, I've not really looked into them. For those who do not know they take usually the waste and send it back into the hot water line of the house (so you are not drinking it, presumably). Most such units are smaller since you can't send much water into the hot water line unless it is running, withoput backing the hot water up into the cold line. I'm personally not a big fan of sending unchlorinated and possibly bacterially contaminated water back into the potable water system.

What do you use on your systems then?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What do you use on your systems then?

I just use ordinary RO/DI water using a Spectrapure system. Sediment filter, carbon filter, Ro membrane, and two DI's.

We do not have any special water crisis. There's no environmental damage here, aside from needing appropriately suized water processing facilities. All our water comes from rain runoff in the MWRA water system. We are not depleting underground water.

Is that what you meant?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Have you looked into the NatuReef system where you do little to no water changes. Their "reactor" removes both nitrates and phosphates from the water, supposedly eliminating the need for water changes.

 

[jason2459]

Have you looked into the NatuReef system where you do little to no water changes. Their "reactor" removes both nitrates and phosphates from the water, supposedly eliminating the need for water changes.

I think some fact checking needs to be done on that site...

 

[ermartin]

I run my waste water into my 300 gallon outdoor water feature . I never have to top it off since i do this and the plants and fish seem fine . and if it gets a bit over filled I run it into a 5 gallon bucket that is outside and use it to water plants that are under my roof line and don't get the rain and outside moisture on them