Recycle your used tank water!

if you're fighting a nitrate issue with water changes you'll keep chasing your tail. water changes are primarily to keep the elements all balanced. yes it does remove some nitrate from the water column among other things both good and bad.

if you were to re-RO/DI this water and re-salt mix it might work, but id like to see a professional water test panel done on it and compared to a fresh RO/DI output. also you realize it wont be a 1:1 ratio, you'll have more waste water than good water when the process is over. for how much water costs id just start with 'new' water.

 

Just thinking of possibilities though & different way to do things.

I will try to test this theory with my 75g, in a few months..

Keep thoughts/comments coming.

 

^This

You'll completely defeat the purpose of changing water to replenish Ca, Mg, Kh, etc, etc.

 

lol u might as well just buy 5g of new water for 2.50$ and save the time,and filter pads. so rlly this could coast u more..

 

thats mainly your salt mix not the fresh ro/di water if im correct plz correct me if im wrong.

 

By the time your done with all that extra filtering and then adding the depleted trace elements back into the water it would have been cheaper to make 5 gallons of fresh RO/DI water and mixed up a fresh batch of saltwater.... oh wait, your trying to avoid that aren't you?

 

Doing water changes isn't about putting clean water in. It is about replacing and replenishing essential minerals, compounds, and other things people who don't do water changes often have to dose for. Water changes also lower the levels of toxins in your tank.

Taking old water out and re-filtering it is a waste of time, $, and is a lot of extra work for no reason.

 

You wouldn't try this if you had a tank full of corals. even with a calcium reactor or a doser, your corals are depleting the tank of it's trace elements. recycling the water won't get you anywhere that you want to be with these elements.

Now, if you had a FO tank, maybe this might work to an extent.


This thread reminds me of Bear Grylls giving himself the SW enema to re hydrate.

 

lol. So I take it horkn is saying this is a horrible idea, or at least a last resort. Well it sounded logical when I first thought of it.

 

That was kind of the idea. To save money..but not the main reason. But more, I was trying to recycle, rather than dumping that water down the drain or outside. I am trying to make a use for it.

Now, no, I did not come up with this just to rid of my excess water. I just thought it would be a way to "recycle" & it seemed to make sense:-/.