Recycling Water plan

[luke_potts]

Hi All,

I would like to know if anyone has used a system where they reuse the water from one tank to another? Sort of a trickle effect from one tank to another.
I am currently designing my fish room and i sort of figured this was an important part of the way in which i set my room up.

The way that i had it planned is to have a large storage tank (10-15000L) and have this feed into the first tank on each bank of tanks. this feed would be a drip feed system. from this tank an over flow system would take the water from the first tank into the 2nd tank in the bank and then over flow from this tank into the 3rd tank and so on down the line to tank # 10 in the line.
before anyone thinks the fish in tank #10 in each bank is getting the rough end of the deal................ here is the second part of the design.

In each of the tanks from #2 down to #10 there will be an additional line into each tank with a drip line on the end. Each tank will have an increased amount of "clean/recycled" water than the previous. That is in tank #2 it will have an additional 10% than tank #1 and so on down to tank # 10 which will have 100% more water flowing into it than tank #1 (that is the same amount of clean/recycled water flows into each tank as "dirty' water flowing from the previous tank).

The water from the last tank will be cycled through a series of bio balls and peat filters and back into the storage tank.

I hope that this has made sense and everyone can follow me, if not please ask and i will try to explain ;D as soon as i get a bit of a design down on paper, i will post it here.

My Grand plan is to have 4 banks of tanks with 10 tanks in each bank, all running off this system, if u guys think it will work.

Any Comments and/or questions critisisms are most welcome.

Cheers
Luke

[dred]

Luke,

I think I understand what you are planning. And, it will certainly make an impressive piping display <smile>, but ... If your plan is to deliver "fresh" water directly to each tank, what will you gain by also cascading the water through each tank?

If I understand correctly, your water storage container willa ctually serve as a very large sump for a central filter system. So, all tanks in the system will be exposed to any nasties that make it into any of your tanks, so quarantining will become even more important. And, it makes very good sense to send "dirty" tank water directly to the filter. You water will not complete the nitrogen cycle until passes through the sump, so any water traveling from tank 1 to tank 2 will unnecessarily add to the bioload in tank 2 and this effect becomes more dramatic the more tanks you string together.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining correctly, but if you cascade the water through all the tanks, the tanks at the end of the line will have much larger bioloads even if you are also dripping in clean water - the only thing gained at the end of the line is an increased turnover, but that's only better if all the water is passed through the biofilter.

What you want to do (without changing your plan much at all) is tie all the overflows together for one large return to the filter on its way to the sump.

That way you simultaneously reduce the frequency and increase the size of water changes. But, unless you find a way to process the nitrates and other waste out of the water, it isn't really being recycled. Instead, you will be effectively keeping your fish in a larger volume of water.

That said, I do drip some of my tank overflows through a black worm holding tank before sending it back to the city. So, some of my blackworms live in recycled water. And, I've got plans for uses for the waste water from the tanks I'm planning to add. The pond in my entry way won't dry up from evaporation, and I'll be able to increase the fish load in the pond. But the best water the pond fish ever get will be the water that was no longer good enough for my Discus, so ...

If you are really big on the idea of consuming less water you'd need to consider perfecting a method of stripping nitrates and other nasties from the water in the system. This can be done. Look into Alge Scrubbers, or consider heavily planting that huge water storage container with good nitrate consuming plants.

hth, milton

[luke_potts]

thanks milton,

i know exactly what you mean when you say that i will be gainingnot a lot from linking the tanks together in this way. I also understand what you mean about linking the tanks together via an overflow pipe/outlet, i uses to have 2 banks of 5 tanks set up in that exact same way.

I dont really know where i got the idea about overflowing the water from one tank to the next, but i guess it was one of those things that once you get them in your head they are hard to get out without getting an outside opinion ;)

The type of set up you suggest would certainly be easier for me as i can have more tanks this way. Just what the wife didnt want to hear ;D

I would like to know if anyone can help me with the problem milton suggests i might have in regards to finding a way to process the nitrates and other waste out of the water. Any suggetsions would be welcome.

Another part of the plan that i left out and would like suggestions/ideas on is..............if i have my tanks setup side by side and with only the short side facing out, would there be any problems? effectively you would be viewing the fish from the end of the tank. the only concern that i had was would the fish have a problem with seeing another pair through the glass, would this effect them breeding, would it stop them or encourage them???

Thanks for your post milton and please post if you have any suggestions. I am also open to any other suggestions/ideas/opinions that aone else may have.

Cheers
Luke