[mboley]

So one of my tanks is in a room within my garage. In the hotter months the garage gets very humid so I started running a dehumidifier; it collects about two gallons per day.

I was just dumping this water on the lawn or garden but then, with the drought being in the news almost daily here is SoCal I researched using this water again in my aquariums. I concluded that as long as I keep the dehumidifier clean I could use the water collected as make-up water. I felt even better about it when the TDS reading on the water is just 10 even though the tank reads 350.

For you scientists out there, is the explanation that the solids in the 350 TDS tank water dont evaporate, just the pure water? Going further it seems I could conclude that if you dont use RO water for make-up, then the TDS of your tank will continue to rise?



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[somewhatshocked]

Solids don't evaporate. If you don't top-off with 0 TDS water, solids will rise, correct.

Be careful about using dehumidifier water with sensitive species. Lots of grody junk tends to grow in those collection buckets and filtration on them isn't great. What's in your air is going to vary from day-to-day, as well. Especially if you're collecting from a garage. I'd consider giving it a good filtering before use along with a dose of Prime.

I collect quite a bit of water from dehumidifers - sometimes about 10 gallons per day (😑). Because I keep sensitive species like shrimp, it's not worth the risk for me. So I save the water in my gray system for use in watering house plants and containers outside.

 

[ghyti]

Make sure you check for Ammonia before using the water. The water from my dehumidifier in the fish room measures 8 ppm Ammonia, always has. I have no idea where it is coming from.

 

[DoubleB]

I would also consider what you have in your garage...Gas cans, open paint/solvents, and other household compounds could impact your water quality.

 

[mboley]

Thanks everybody, I did read about all of these concerns and I cleaned out the tank thoroughly, just the tank though.

Im now going to take the whole thing apart and see what the filter and other parts look like. The jury's out on whether this is a good idea.

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[somewhatshocked]

The jury's out on whether this is a good idea.

The good news is you can test it out and let everyone know how it goes. And since you can test the water before using it, it may work out to be something useful. Only one way to find out.

At the very least, you've got some water for terrestrial plants.