Anyone run a BIG tank on well water?

[Rayne]

We're looking at purchasing a rural home that has a shared well with the neighbor. I've been planning on putting a big 450G or 600G tank in the unfinished basement and finish the basement around it. It'll be awesome, dedicated room behind the tank for servicing and to hold my QT tank and all my equipment. Really excited! But then I started thinking about the water supply and the drainage.

I have a question about the well though as I've never lived in a house with a well. When I go to fill this tank up would I run the risk of running the well dry since thats so much water? Would I be hogging all the water so that the neighbor wouldn't be able to get any when he needed it?

Also, since we would be on a lagoon would I be ok with running an automatic drip system? Would it be able to handle a constant 24/7 draining of the water from my tank? It's obviously wont be a huge load all at once on the lagoon but it would be constant.

 

[Nate Dogg]

it just depends on your well, I have 800 gallons in tanks and on well water and have had no problem (knock on wood). The drip I would think you would be ok. Like I said before it all just depends on the well you have.

On a side note finish the basement then add the tank. You don't want to have to work around the tank or get drywall in said tank. (we are finishing our basement and have had to work around a pool table and a 20 fish tank not fun).

 

[David R]

The tank size doesn't determine how much water you use, the stocking does. Go for the 600g tank, stock it lightly and run pothos in the sump to consume nitrates and you shouldn't need to do huge water changes.

 

[KAWAMIKIE]

Being on a joint well may be a problem. You could slowly fill the tank over several days. It depends on where the water is coming from. Check the well water with your test kit, don't assume it will be ok for fish.
My well water comes out of the tap at a ph of 5.5 with zero on all other parameters.

 

[deeda]

You may want to find out the rules regarding the use of the shared well. There is usually some kind of agreement that was signed between the original owners that must be adhered to by any new owner. It would also be helpful to know the quality of the well water.

By lagoon, do you mean a private sewage system?

 

[Oughtsix]

I am on a shared well with my neighbor and give my neighbors a heads up before I fill my pool in the spring. We also have to time our sprinklers so they don't go on at the same time. We both have 5 Acre lots.

I fill my tank directly from the kitchen sink with no treatment which is kind of nice.

If you decide on a continuous drip system you might want to upgrade the pressures tank to a bigger one so your pump doesn't have to cycle as much.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Rayne]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. Some really good advice and things I wouldnt had thought of. I've sent an email to my realtor requesting any information on the well he can find. It would be good to know what the GPM the well is rated for. I'll be going out to the house again today so I'll bring along my test kit for sure. Does each house have its own pressure tank or is it shared?

@Dee - Yes, its a private sewage lagoon.

 

[Oughtsix]

My well has two pressure tanks but there is no check valve between them so the pressure tanks are shared.

You could add a check valve then an additional pressure tank... this way when the power goes out and the pump stops you have a private reserve of water. I.e. my neighbor always drains all the water from the pressure tanks when the power occasionally goes out.

The major wear on a well pump is starting and stopping... not running. The bigger the pressure tank the less starting and stopping the pump will do. Cost me about $3000 to replace my well pump. Being on a shared well I only had to cover $1500 of it.

P.s. I hate drinking city tap water at my gf's house! I am spoiled by fresh pure well water.

Since we are on a shared well there is a separate electrical meter on the well pump. There are also water usage meters on the lines to each house. We multiply the KWh's used by the cost per KWH then divide it by the percentage of water we each use. Since the well goes though my electrical service he cuts me a check every month (actually about every six months) for his portion of the electricity to pump the water. Works out ok and water is usually less than $10 a month total to pump... much much less than what my GF pays the city.

Your septic system should have plenty of capacity for a few gallons a day of continuous water change. But I would recommend piping the fishwater to the grass or garden... in the summer at least. I use my water changes to water my house plants. Standard practice is to have the septic tank pumped when any house is sold around here... whether it needs it or not. Here in central Oregon we have very sandy volcanic soil. Septic field leach rate is a non issue around here. When I lived in Texas I did have backup issues with the clay soil when there were very heavy Texas rains.


A well's GPH rating is usually not a reliable stat because it varies greatly from summer to winter in most cases. I had a friend that had all the water he needed during the winter but his well would run dry during the summer. Made for a heck of a headache and substantially reduced his property value! Have the Realtor ask the owners if they have ever experienced any kind of well water shortage, especially during the summer. Then have your Realtor also ask the neighbor. The Realtor is making plenty of money on the sale... you might as well get a little work out of them. Also have them specifically ask if there have ever been any septic problems. You should get the owners answers to both of these questions in writing.

A professional well water analysis is usually part of any sale, in my neighborhood at least. It is a cost usually covered by the seller during the sale. I would insist on it!

Here in Oregon it is pretty easy to get a well report from the county showing when the well was installed, how deep it is and any work done on it. I can look mine up online as well as all of my neighbors.

 

[Dan F]

I run 485 gallons of tanks (210, 135, 75, 65), all on auto water change. I change out about 120 gallons/day of water and it has never been a problem. I do have a pretty good well, though.

There are a lot of variables with wells, so you do need to find out the specifics of yours. The gallons per minute rating will tell you how much you should be able to pump continuously, although this figure does tend to decrease over time as the well silts in. "Static head" refers to how high the water column will rise when not in use, basically how much reserve you have if the pumping rate exceeds the GPM the well can deliver. Ideally your pump should pump less than the well produces so you will never run out of water.

I think auto water change would actually be best in a shared-well situation, as the slow trickle of water won't affect the pressure the way that a weekly 200-300 gallon change would.

Congratulations on the new house, I am jealous of the basement!

 

[JimA]

I am on a well also, my own not shared. You should be able to obtain a well log, not sure if it's mandatory where you are but pretty sure it is here. Basically it's a read out of what exactly is in the water. Might be worth checking into..