Theoretical Way to Save Money

[Oscaror]

So I want to know if this would work. This is especially useful for big tanks. What if you just pumped water out of your tank, put it through and RO DI filter, put in the salt and put it back in the tank? Would it work? If it would it would surely save large aquarium owners money, doing maybe 50 gallon water changes weekly

 

[redfishbluefish]

I greatly appreciate people who think outside the box.

Here's my thoughts. The salt is the money part of your water. It's the impurieties you need to get out, while still leaving the salt. I think there are other ways that are better in doing this that an RO system.

Saltwater has to have a TDS of something in the area of 20 thousand +.....maybe Randy can give us an actual number. Even with a good membrane of 98 percent rejection, that would leave you with 400 + TDS. The DI resin would last seconds with that TDS, and I would image the RO membrane would be stressed to it's limits within a short period of time as well. So I don't feel it's the best way....but I do like your thinking.

 

[lexinverts]

Yup, your RO membrane would be toast in a few weeks. Better to get the nitrates and phosphates out of your water and leave the minerals in.

 

[Oscaror]

I greatly appreciate people who think outside the box.

Here's my thoughts. The salt is the money part of your water. It's the impurieties you need to get out, while still leaving the salt. I think there are other ways that are better in doing this that an RO system.

Saltwater has to have a TDS of something in the area of 20 thousand +.....maybe Randy can give us an actual number. Even with a good membrane of 98 percent rejection, that would leave you with 400 + TDS. The DI resin would last seconds with that TDS, and I would image the RO membrane would be stressed to it's limits within a short period of time as well. So I don't feel it's the best way....but I do like your thinking.

What if you evaporated the water (into a collected area where it won't get into the air and lost), harvested the salt, cleaned the water, put the salt in the water, mixed it, put it back into the DT. I want to upgrade and don't want to spend a fortune weekly.

 

[Oscaror]

hmm, yeah that suks, still I really hope there's a way to reuse resources

 

[kschweer]

Good thinking Oscar but I think the time and effort that would be needed to do something like this would eventually turn out to be more expensive in the long run. Maybe look into some of the "newer" systems where water changes are reduced or not needed. Ie; triton or a natureef reactor. May cost a bit more upfront but can pay off in the long run. Just a thought.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What if you evaporated the water (into a collected area where it won't get into the air and lost), harvested the salt, cleaned the water, put the salt in the water, mixed it, put it back into the DT. I want to upgrade and don't want to spend a fortune weekly.

The evaporated water would be pure water (distilled water). The remaining salts would still contain the nasty stuff you're trying to get rid of. And I won't even mention the energy consumption of doing all that evaporation....very costly.

Look into something along the lines of a NatuReef Denitrifier system.....biologically remove N and P. There are claims of no or minimal water changes with this system....but it's costly. I'm kicking around the possibilities of doing a DIY of this, since it is a very simple biological means of getting nitrates and phosphates out of your system......a tank to grow bacteria with a dosing pump to dose methanol.

 

[Oscaror]

Lol you guys are just throwing my ideas into the trash! I guess you're right, at this point it's more work to change the water than to make the money you spend changing the water. Oh well I tried, I'll look up what you said @redfishbluefish

 

[redfishbluefish]

@Oscaror keep the "blue-sky" ideas coming. This is one way new products are discovered. Love the mind thought.

 

[reefingnoob]

BTW there's a system call dialyseas(hope that's the correct name) which takes your water through a ro/di like system then adds depleted salt and then adds the water back to the tank.
System cost:2500
Yearly maintenance: 800
So that should tell you something.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

What if you evaporated the water (into a collected area where it won't get into the air and lost), harvested the salt, cleaned the water, put the salt in the water, mixed it, put it back into the DT. I want to upgrade and don't want to spend a fortune weekly.

Interesting Idea Oscaror. Evaporating the water from the saltwater would give you pure water (evaporative distillation). However, when you evaporate the salt, you will precipitate out calcium carbonate (CaCO3). You will have to go through various pH's to get CaCO3 to redissolve in water (look up solubility constants if you want more information). You may be able to separate a small amount of phosphate outs by precipitation, but nothing worth the headache. You will not be able to remove the nitrates this way, you will simply make sodium nitrate in the salt concentrate.

We need a more permanent solution to absorb nitrates, phosphates and add micronutrients/minerals.
Let's aim to keep it cheap, simple, and easy to implement.

Option 1: Live Phytoplankton (Absorbs nitrates, phosphates, and contains vitamins, minerals and various essential nutrients!). Feeds your tank and keeps it clean!

Option 2: Macroalgae(Absorbs nitrates, phosphates, and consumes minerals and essential nutrients) You will still need to add micronutrients or perform water changes to add back deficient minerals.

Option 3: Carbon Dosing (Bacteria culturing in a marine aquarium, you add the carbon source). This one is the easiest to screw up. I would not recommend this option for the faint of heart. You need to do a lot more research than I can expand upon here.



If you have any questions, please ask!

Sean