Recycling waste water

[Trevor W]

Just looking for any advice or ideas from people who have larger scale fishroom/fish houses(homes) lol. I am looking for ideas or experiences people have done for recycling the waste water from high volume water changes, not waste water from a small handfull of tanks but from an entire fish room. Please keep in mind I am from Canada (Saskatchewan specifically) and my climate does not allow for simply using this water to feed my lawn or flower beds year round. Has anyone ran this water through a series of specialized filters and than re-heated the end result and re-used it for another water change? Or any other great ideas out there, I find it hard to believe that absolutly everyone out there with large scale fishrooms simply just dumps it down the drain or maybe they do. I know that when my fishroom was in full effect I just dumped all the water from water changes. So I am now looking for some inspiration from the countless number of diverse and knowledgable fellow members of this great site. Please keep in mind I am not looking for an absolutle answer or quick fix but more so just wanting to start a discussion where people can share there ideas and experiences so that we may all learn from these and compare "notes" so to say. I am always interested in seeing others opinions and ideas.

Thanks,

Trevor

[Trier20]

Great discussion idea! During warm months I'll use waste water to water plants flowers etc. pretty much the normal thing. In the winter it all goes down the drain. I could see how this could work for all tank excluding breeding tanks that need the tds to be in a certain range. Looking forward to see what others have to say.


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[dpete9]

The one thing I have been able to do is re-capture some of the heat from the waste water. I have large waste water barrels, pump my waste water in to them. I then have many meters of reverse osmosis line coiled through the barrels and that is the line that feeds my freshwater storage barrels. it's pretty effective.. But it's not recycling the water.

[TURQ64]

I posted some large scale recycling a while back. A search might yield my setup.. I have since stopped due to the cost versus the price of 'new' water...should actual drought make conservation necessary, I would return, but at this point, it's not cost effective. Just to alleviate misnomers, I consider RO reject as 'waste', and wc tank water as ' gray water'...I still recycle and use all my reject..I'm a 14,000g a month, @ 2,000g up and running, and you don't get any colder than I do regarding winters........since it's summer, I suggest digging a hole, installing a few drain culverts for a cistern, and plumb to it for winter discharge...

[Trevor W]

Thanks guys! lets try and keep the ideas coming, once again I'm NOT looking for a definate answer or solution just simply looking for a discussion on peoples ideas and experiences. I really like the idea of using the "water change" water as a method to re-heat new water. I have never thought of this and honestly I think its a brillant idea. Turq64 I will definatly search out your thread and check that out would be interesting to see. As far as winters go I am guessing you must be close to where I live because trust me not many here get as cold as it is here in winter, unless you are waaaay up north. I also seen your thread on using R.O reject or "waste" water for juvies and I thought it was a great idea and a awesome thread to document that, this is a very good use of the often highly overlooked R.O waste water. Also yes it is summer and digging a hole and installing drain culverts for a cistern is a great idea and one that would be well worth the time and effort. I would also like to hear if anyone else has found that trying to re-use or recycle the "water change water" is just simply not cost effective and essentially more trouble that it is worth. Any and all ideas or experiences are welcomed.

[TURQ64]

Many of us Dakotans went to Alaska in the 70's to build the pipeline, and warm up!( and listen to Texas oil men in cowboy boots and hats tell us 'how to stay warm')..On a serious note, it takes a lot of cash investment to properly recycle, as positive death of bacteria is expensive. Sterilizers,filters, additional RO units,pumps, tanks..you can kinda get the picture...

[Trevor W]

hahaha that is funny! So are you from North Dakota I am assuming? Not to bad my assumption was close so Yes we do see the same winters. How far would you be from Minot? Maybe I could drive down sometime and get some fish from ya. So yea I am obviously not from Texas. Good point on the large additional costs of such an undertaking I can see how it would easily add up very fast.

[TURQ64]

I'm in the NE corner of S Dakota, where -50 keeps the riff-raff out (along with 80+mph winds).....I lived near Minot when building Coal fired powerplants and a Coal Regasification plant. The Yukon River Bridge when I was an Alsakan, among other projects...now retired....sort of..(dang fish keep gettin' in the way)

[Trevor W]

Hahahaha thats awesome well I would think that I could make the drive might be a bit of a stretch though and yes I live where there is definatly -45 to -50 celcius in the winter and the winds are like no other the joys of living on the bald prairies of Saskatchewan. Unfortunatly there is still some riff-raff from time to time hahaha. Thats awesome that you built the Yukon river bridge, I actually build bridges well atleast I did I recently just moved up to inspecting them for my provincial government last september. I wouldn't mind getting some of those stendkers from you, I have never brought fish across the border so I will have to look into what is all involved.

[secuono]

Could put it through filters and water indoor plants and pets or use it for cleaning, dishes, sink water or even shower.
My dogs/cats drink tank water, as long as you don't put in chemicals, it should be fine.

[TURQ64]

You should study the circle of the lifecycle of some pathogens..Many fish pathogens are also dog and cat pathogens..a shame to give your dog tapeworms...in my case, there is no indoor answer to 14,000 gallons of gray water..