[dawktah2]

Would there be any benefit in creating a system to ultra-filter and then run your discarded water through a RO/DI system? With water conservation becoming more of an issue would this be a way to reduce our footprint? I would think you would need to use an air pressurized vessel large enough to hold the discarded water and either connect to a manual or powered compressor. Anyone know what rejection would look like? Would you burn through membranes really fast? What would be the approach to calculate how many stages would get you to water you can safely re-use?

Lastly, is anyone already doing this?

 

[Savetheplants]

No, I'm not doing it but it's something I think about. I'm buying my RO from a water store. My landlord pays the water bill. It's a yesteryear hobby. Profligate water waste and CO2 gassing of the atmosphere. At least I don't have fish anymore.

 

[xrayguy]

have you thought of saving your discard water and using for other things. watering outside plants (non edible), flushing toilet, etc.

 

[ZChalk]

Glad I live in a place where there is ample amount of fresh water but generally I think our water footprint is pretty small unless you have a very large tank and are using ro/di water. Googling it, the average American shower uses 17 gallons and is 8.2 minutes long. Given you take at least one shower a day (hopefully), I think it is reasonable to say we don't contribute much with a weekly water change.

Not familiar with an ultra filter but I'd imagine you would burn through a lot of membranes, at least from a ro/di perspective with the dissolved organics. That would prove to be more costly than the money saved from trying to recycle the water. Even then, I would consider it gray water.

 

[dawktah2]

Ultra filtration would filter down to 1-10 microns. RO/DI at this point is no longer gray water. Since showering was mentioned I'd have to research to see if using gray water overall is an idea.

 

[Savetheplants]

Glad I live in a place where there is ample amount of fresh water but generally I think our water footprint is pretty small unless you have a very large tank and are using ro/di water. Googling it, the average American shower uses 17 gallons and is 8.2 minutes long. Given you take at least one shower a day (hopefully), I think it is reasonable to say we don't contribute much with a weekly water change.

Not familiar with an ultra filter but I'd imagine you would burn through a lot of membranes, at least from a ro/di perspective with the dissolved organics. That would prove to be more costly than the money saved from trying to recycle the water. Even then, I would consider it gray water.

That's a relief. I shower everyday. But I only change my aquarium water once a week. It's only a small aquarium afterall. I feel much better about this now. Maybe it's the showers I should cut back on. Then I could start another aquarium.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I wouldn't. You have to remineralize RODI water anyways unless you're doing a flow through system for like, panda loaches or something. And then the fish/shrimp/whatever contributes more stuff in the form of waste products like nitrates, phosphates, proteins, lipids, etc. Without running the numbers, long term, I think it would be ridiculously expensive.

Now, what might work instead, would be a solar still. Take the water you have, and use solar power to cause the water to heat up and evaporate, and collect the condensate. You could alternatively boil it. This results in essentially distilled water (plus a little bit of stuff from the still and maybe some other stuff). A shallow high surface area would work best for distilling the water since that would allow for a high surface area and therefore a high area for water to evaporate from and less volume for the water to not be at the evaporation point.

 

[dawktah2]

Another reason to try this has popped up Invasive Species of Zebra Mussels found in Marimo Balls.

Heads up guys! Zebra Mussels found in Marimo Balls sold...

Saw this on FB and am sharing it everywhere I can think of as Petco is a huge organization and we all ship things ourselves so even though this is in Oregon - it can SO EASILY be anywhere within a week! Please share this to any fish or tank keeping groups so folks can be on the look out and help...

www.plantedtank.net

I wonder if larvae in the water change water discarded down the drain can get into the environment if your wastewater isn't treated. You aren't suppose to pour it down the drain if you've treated with antibiotics. Just one more thing...