Toilet Water Changes?
- Thread starter badisbadis101
- Start date
I think this whole idea is incredibly simple. Aquarium water plumbed & gravity fed to toilet tank directly through the toilets normal supply inlet. THen you'd need the exact same float-valve device that's in your toilet's reservoir, used in your aquarium to replace exactly the amount of water used by the toilet. Get a couple of those under-sink carbon filters plumbed in to remove the chlorine from the tap-water refilling the aquarium.
You could use those chlorine tablets in your toilet tank to ward off any nastiness. You'd probably want the outlet in the aquarium set at a few inches below the water line so that the aquarium couldn't be drained empty by a leaky toilet. You'd also want a safety-overflow plumbed from the aquarium unvalved to the toilet tank or to a drain just in case the refill mechanism malfunctions.
If you wanted more water pressure at your toilet you could put an inline pump in with a float-switch in the toilet tank so when you flush the pump turns on, & back off again when the toilet tank is full.
You could always go fancier, but I don't think it's needed.
You could use those chlorine tablets in your toilet tank to ward off any nastiness. You'd probably want the outlet in the aquarium set at a few inches below the water line so that the aquarium couldn't be drained empty by a leaky toilet. You'd also want a safety-overflow plumbed from the aquarium unvalved to the toilet tank or to a drain just in case the refill mechanism malfunctions.
If you wanted more water pressure at your toilet you could put an inline pump in with a float-switch in the toilet tank so when you flush the pump turns on, & back off again when the toilet tank is full.
You could always go fancier, but I don't think it's needed.
if you want to go really green, setup a couple rain barrells, plumb them to some barrells in your house, use that water to refill the tanks (no need to remove chlorine but you still would probably want to filter) again where I live the rain water is pretty clean, may not be so much elsewhere (also having barrells inside the house give the water time to get to room temp at least)
and I think using the same mechanism th toilet uses for the sump would be best, or make it really easy and use a toilet bowl for your sump
hmmm, got me thinking, this might work well on my 700 gallon (planning all kinds of DIY filtration, but that is another thread for another day)
and I think using the same mechanism th toilet uses for the sump would be best, or make it really easy and use a toilet bowl for your sump
hmmm, got me thinking, this might work well on my 700 gallon (planning all kinds of DIY filtration, but that is another thread for another day)
ok here is my 2 cents on how this could work. setup a drip system on the tank with an overflow plumb the overflow to a reservoir. when you flush the toilet tank would be filled by the reservoir. put an overflow in the reservoir so if the bathroom isn't being used the reservoir wouldnt overflow. if the reservoir was say 50G then you would have significant holding volume. you could add the chlorine tabs to it then that would reduce maintainance. if you put a frefilter going into the reservoir your water wouldnt have any extras in it to plug anything up. you may want to plumb in a float for the rare occasions that more water gets used your tap water would maintain a minimum level in the reservoir. by going with a continuous drip you wouldnt need to worry about the water cooling to much and an overflow would ensure no backiups and overflowing the system.
ok this topic reminds me of this http://www.fishnflush.com/fnf-video.html
As oreo said, there really isn't much to doing this setup other then maybe the location of the aquarium for some people. I had all ready thought about doing this in my next house and have thought about the location of the bath room vs fish room.
I think the easiest and most manageable idea would be to pull the water from a sump setup via a fill pump to supply the standard toilet tank with water. As long as your fill pump doesn't have excessive pressure it would be no different then say city/well water pressure and the toilet fill valve would shut it off flow to the toilet once full. The fill pump could run off a relay of a power flush toilet and a delay timer to allow time to fill the tank.
Then all you would need is a automatic flow/fill control(easy to come by/do) to supply replacement water to the sump and maintain the level. Water conditioners could be added to the replacement water via a industrial chemical dispenser that adds a calibrated amount vs. the amount of water flow that passes through it. Think more complex weed and feed sprayer type setup or concentrated industrial soap dispenser. For ever gallon of replacement water that passes through it adds the predetermined amount of conditioner.
Up front setup costs wound be regained in water saved.
As oreo said, there really isn't much to doing this setup other then maybe the location of the aquarium for some people. I had all ready thought about doing this in my next house and have thought about the location of the bath room vs fish room.
I think the easiest and most manageable idea would be to pull the water from a sump setup via a fill pump to supply the standard toilet tank with water. As long as your fill pump doesn't have excessive pressure it would be no different then say city/well water pressure and the toilet fill valve would shut it off flow to the toilet once full. The fill pump could run off a relay of a power flush toilet and a delay timer to allow time to fill the tank.
Then all you would need is a automatic flow/fill control(easy to come by/do) to supply replacement water to the sump and maintain the level. Water conditioners could be added to the replacement water via a industrial chemical dispenser that adds a calibrated amount vs. the amount of water flow that passes through it. Think more complex weed and feed sprayer type setup or concentrated industrial soap dispenser. For ever gallon of replacement water that passes through it adds the predetermined amount of conditioner.
Up front setup costs wound be regained in water saved.
save your self the trouble and just put a drip system on the tank. it would work just as good if not better. you just have your drip emitter put water into the tank at a rate of 1/2-1 -2 gallons per hour and over a 24 hour period you can have either 12-24-48 gallons done per day. for get water changes for ever.. easiest way in my book.. and if I didn't have all this chlorine in mine i would have it set up on my tanks...
All this talk of running one's tank water to the toilet, I'm surprised no-one's thought to just go with a glass cistern. Why waste all the time and money on plumbing from one room to another when you could just mount a 40L straight to the bowl, fill it with fish and do a bit of tranquil fish watching or tank maintenence whilst taking a dump?? Although you'd need to sit backwards on the seat, which might not be too comfortable, it'd beat reading a book...
travis2k;2533038; said:
Not really a good idea to use roof runoff water for fish. Shingles, etc are dirty and the gutter system has metals that are not good for the fish. There is a pond in our city that is fed from roof water, and they can't keep any fish alive there. Suspected copper poisioning or something like that.
Maybe in some cases, roof water has worked for some people. Why risk it though?
Back to the toilet idea, I think you'd need to design the system so that if you happen to have 20 people over or everyone in the house gets the flu, they won't empty the fish tank. In other words, have some kind of backup system where the toilet could be switched back to tap water.
Also, will the wife get annoyed when snails start crawling around in the toilet? I dump water change water down the toilet for some of my tanks, and I have had snails that can survive the flush by clinging on to the bowl. Wife is not very happy about that.
what happens if you pop a 30 case of beers witha few friends over? once you break the seal its game over for your fish =[
I'm no plumber, but to those asking what about "taco night runs" and 20 house guest domino nights...
You usually get a at least a few minutes warning for either...
Why not just close the water line to the tank from the house when you want to use the fish water and open it when you don't?
It takes all but a minute....
You usually get a at least a few minutes warning for either...
Why not just close the water line to the tank from the house when you want to use the fish water and open it when you don't?
It takes all but a minute....
