Water change to grass

[paphater]

Does anybody run their water change water out to the yard? I'm replacing my 150g freshwater tank with a 200g saltwater tank and I prefer to run the water outside rather than down the drain (septic). The obvious thought is that the salt would be a no no but I've seen some people say they run to the grass no problem and some say they run it to where they want nothing to grow. Is there a definitive answer on this? I'd be doing about 30g changes at a time.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I wouldn't do it. Why can't you use the house drain?

 

[paphater]

We are on a septic and I'd like to avoid it going down the drain if I could.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Freshwater is fine, saltwater is not. Don't run it onto grass. Only certain species of plant can tolerate being exposed, even occasionally, to salt water.

 

[Animal Chin]

The salt will kill grass and plants, trust me!

 

[savetheocean]

If you put the saltwater down the toilet it will mix with fresh and be fine for the pipes. I also have septic.

 

[tdileo]

My tank is in my bedroom so I run it out the window onto the deck so theres no grass below it. The saltwater would kill any grass though

 

[paphater]

Good enough for me. I'll run it where I've got some gravel. I guess I'll have to water the lawn more but hopefully I'll have to weed the gravel area less.

 

[jrwoltman]

I dump it down the driveway, especially during the brisk Illinois winters. NEVER in the grass or near my flowers and trees.

 

[boozeman27]

I wouldn't worry about salt in septic. If you already have a water softener, then you are already dumping WAY more saltwater with the softener than a once a week water change. It wont hurt your septic.

 

[paphater]

I was more worried about adding additional water to it. I'm sure it would be fine but it's an older system and I'm a bit anal about keeping what I can out of it.

 

[MaddyP]

You might be surprised, the added bacteria from the saltwater might just improve your septics processing ability...

 

[Gladmaker]

I'm on a septic tank and won't run saltwater into it. It's old and border line useful. I pour my saltwater onto an area of my driveway that's gravel. It has killed the vegetation there. And, I'm not even disposing of a large amount at a time - usually 5 gallons to a maximum of 15 gallons every couple of weeks. I can only imagine what it would do to my septic system. Those of you that's been putting it in your septic may find it has shortened the life of your system. Salt doesn't go away, so you're filling the laterals with it. I don't think it's worth the risk. And no, I wouldn't drain a water softener into it either.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I take my 5g bucket of old tank water and toss it off the back porch... all my weeds are still alive. It won't hurt your septic either, I have one of those too.

 

[Captmcfly]

Run it on the grass I do yes it kills grass. I also dump it in the driveway as my drive is stone. Ny state sprays my road all winter long with salt brine . Don't put it in your septic it can rot the baffles out of your tank...

 

[CPL376]

Not sure where you live but where I'm at it's against building codes to discharge a water softener into a septic system because of the salt. So just using that as a general rule of thumb. I'm guessing that aquarium salts are also considered bad for a septic system

 

[Captmcfly]

Not sure where you live but where I'm at it's against building codes to discharge a water softener into a septic system because of the salt. So just using that as a general rule of thumb. I'm guessing that aquarium salts are also considered bad for a septic system

When I bought my house a year ago it had a water softener because we were on a well and it drained onto the ground in the crawlspace I have sense connected to city water so I no longer need the softener. Bad enough the salt left in the water was going in the septic I'd never let the back wash brine In their.

 

[Girthrockwel]

I throw my old water down a weed covered hillside on the backside of the lot and it's killing the weeds there.

 

[ducklady]

I drain mine in the weeds in my driveway but they never seem to die. I also have a septic so I understand how you feel.

 

[Big G]

I dump it out on our gravel driveway. The deer and squirrels like licking the salty gravel. Who knew?