# Saving water



## naughtymoose (14 Jan 2015)

Hi folks.
Not sure if this is quite the right forum to ask this, but here goes:

Is there a way for us to reuse the water taken from our tanks back into the tank straight away?

*Yes*, I know tank water is good for the garden etc etc.

How difficult would it be to process the extracted tank water at WC time and then send it BACK in to the tank?


----------



## Michael W (14 Jan 2015)

I think it will be hard, some of the reasons why we remove the water is due to the waste of the fish, waste chemicals that plants release and excess nutrients after a week of EI dosage for example. Therefore, it is counter productive to reuse the water in the aquarium, even if you have the means to remove the impurities, it will probably not be economically friendly.

Like you said the water will be great for gardens. A lot of the member on here will use their water to water their houseplants such as orchids.

Edit: You can also collect rainwater for water changes, although caution will have to be taken in cities or near industrial methods. I am sure I have seen Darrel commenting before that you can usually test if the water is safe to use by introducing Daphnia into a barrel of water, if the Daphnia population is good then it will be safe for fish. This will provide a source of water and food for fish. This will be effective if you have several barrels as the Daphnia could be harvested from each one while not depleting their population through the constant collection of water.


----------



## naughtymoose (14 Jan 2015)

Thanks Michael. I thought as much, but in the interests of water conservation I thought it might be worth asking.

I shall use it to water the missus' Christmas Orchid, and my other houseplants!


----------



## ian_m (14 Jan 2015)

Problem is you will consume more energy and water just to purify your waste water.

If you choose a water still (about £1500), it consumes 3000W (so 45p/hour to run) and produces 4litre/hour BUT consumes 60litres/hour cooling water...so about 11p (+5p tap water) a litre compared to say £3 for 1000litres (0.3p per litre) for tap water.

You could try RO purification, but again you will get say a 5:1 waste ratio, ie 5litres waste for 1litre output. Better than a still, but I doubt the RO filters and membranes will last long using dirty water so £40 every 1000litres or so.


----------



## naughtymoose (14 Jan 2015)

I'll just water the plants then!


----------



## GlassWalker (14 Jan 2015)

I had wondered if some kind of recirculating RO system would be an option myself. It wont be cash economic, but purely for the principle of reducing water usage. You will need a pump to get pressure for it to work. The ratio I'd argue isn't too important anyway, as you would put the waste back into the input. Of course, it will concentrate after a while so at some point you will still have to ditch it and start again when it becomes unmanageable. Also you need to occasionally flush the membrane. The usual pre-filters used in RO systems may not be totally needed. These usually have a a sediment filter which you probably want to keep, but also carbon to remove chlorine and heavy metals, which shouldn't be a problem if they're already removed.

Taken to an extreme, maybe build a sunlight powered algae scrubber to help consume whatever is left in the "used" water before feeding it into the RO filter. Perhaps put a light sensor on a pump so it only works while there is enough light. To reduce energy usage, maybe a solar panel could power that pump and you get both functions in one, with only the up front cost to set it up.

I like thinking up these possible ideas, but as long as water costs remain as they are, I do recognise they're not economic.


----------



## parotet (14 Jan 2015)

Watering plants... And probably also perfect to be reused in the toilet where high quality water is usually used (our grandsons won't believe this stupidity)

Jordi


----------



## Mortis (24 Jan 2015)

If you get a decent amount of sunlight and some free space in your garden you could make a solar still to purify the water. It would produce pure water and cover atleast some % of your weekly WC. You might even be able to grow some daphnia in there for your fish


----------



## naughtymoose (24 Jan 2015)

Hi Mortis. Yes, the solar still would work, but as you suggest, needs a considerable investment in space (which we don't have )

I'm sure as the years go by and more people realise the importance of water and its scarcity more people around the world will be using such devices.


----------



## Mortis (26 Jan 2015)

Do you have a shed in the garden ? If so you could make one on top of it


----------



## Wolf6 (23 Jul 2020)

Just wondering, its been a few years since this topic was active. Drought has become more prevalent the last few years, at least here in the Netherlands, so I've been looking at our water comsumption. Anyone else busy trying to conserve/save water? I use the water from waterchanges for the garden, but during wet periods, when the garden is saturated, it just feels like such a waste to just throw away half the tank's water every week. Anyone else have clever water saving idea's in use? 
What alternatives are there for weekly 50% changes that people here have used with succes in combination with high co2/ferts?


----------



## dw1305 (23 Jul 2020)

Hi all, 





parotet said:


> Watering plants... And probably also perfect to be reused in the toilet where high quality water is usually used (our grandsons won't believe this stupidity)


That one.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Melll (23 Jul 2020)

I can remember the Summer of 1976, yes showing my age,  we reused bath water to flush the loo.  



parotet said:


> (our grandsons won't believe this stupidity)



Kids these days don`t know they are born


----------



## hypnogogia (23 Jul 2020)

Melll said:


> I can remember the Summer of 1976, yes showing my age,  we reused bath water to flush the loo.
> 
> 
> 
> Kids these days don`t know they are born


So do I.  Brilliant summer as a kid.  Stand pipes in the road for water.


----------



## Melll (23 Jul 2020)

It was,   apart from the suburn


----------

