hey, i was wondering, if i use a drip system and the waste water from my 150g SW tank dripped into... say a... 1000gal rubbermaid container that was just one big refugium with plants and stuff, could i re-use the waste water and put it back into the system after its spent a period of time in the 1000g container. would it bring nitrates down. would it be practical, would it work? could i get away with a smaller rubbermaid container?
reusable water
- Thread starter zdoo2
- Start date
Rubbermaid makes a 1000g container ? I'd like to see a pic of that ! Why a drip system ? How were you going to return the dripped water back to the tank considering the slow drip rate ? What sort of filtration are you using now aside from the skimmer ? Why not have your overflow(s) drain into your 1000g(?) Rubbermaid which would essentially be a GIGANTIC (though not practical) sump/refugium and have your pump return water from there. Assuming you have baffles in there to accommodate the skimmer, sand/mud and to prevent microbubbles from returning back to the tank, it sounds like a killer filtration system. Post pics please ! 
stchris;1421158; said:
its not made by rubbermaid, but is similar, its on another thread called 1000g rubbermaid container or something, i have a 150g main tank with 75g sump/refugium/ w/d /skimmer, the 1000g container would be 1 floor down in the basement and pumping water that far up would be costly so a drip system with a tiny pump and a ball valve to control the flow (or just a tiny overflow wit pump). its just an idea it wouldnt happen anytime soon just wondering if it would work. the idea would be to just drain tiny amounts of water to the 100g to get rid of all nitrates and what not so its like new water. my question was if this system was implemented would it basically cut wc's down to like once every few months or more and save money on salt?
It is possible, but not practical space wise. Plus you'll have problems with evaporation and salinity.
I'm moving this to the salt side for some more comprehensive answers
.
Dr Joe
.
I'm moving this to the salt side for some more comprehensive answers
.Dr Joe
.
It looks like it will be just an additional refugrium but with a slow flow, and it might retard your plants. It will definitely help a lot but it working as a "real" drip system is a little doubtfull. There's more to water change than just nitrate reducer.fresh tap water have been processed and it isnot the same as output water from refugrium. What plants where you thinking of using? I read a lot uses mangroves for SW.
You would still not have pure water like it comes out of your RO unit. You would still be putting impurities back into your tank. Though the plants will remove some of the things you don't want in your tank they won't remove others that could be detrimental to your system.
If purifying water were as easy as using plants you would have a need for an RO unit.
If purifying water were as easy as using plants you would have a need for an RO unit.
but do impurities build up, i thought they just came with the tap water and stayed constant, i know that ro/di would be needed for making it true pure water but i mean will the system get rid of nitrates so that it matches the basic chemical composition of tap water?