dakotak 225 Posted October 7, 2012 So I have a bit of a crazy idea I want to do once I move out and have ample space. I want to take a horse trough and grow aquatic plants in it, since my goldies just love to eat plants and I love to grow them . What I was thinking was while doing a water change, put the old water in the trough with the plants, the plants remove all of the waste so its basically clean water right? Well use that water that was in the trough with the plants to fill the tank back up after a water change. Would that work? I feel like that would be a really easy solution, a bit too easy and I feel like I am missing something. Sorry if this is a stupid question. I just feel really guilty when I don't reuse water or when something goes to waste when there could be a totally better use for it. Especially since my town has been in a drought this year. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LovelyChaos 869 Posted October 7, 2012 (edited) I would imagine that it might have some ammonia, from dying leaves and debris as well as poop, especially without a filter to circulate water and to polish it with BB. If plants worked like that, I'd imagine we would never need to do water changes! It might be a fun experiment though! If you could rig up a filter and keep from getting mosquito eggs and poop back into the water it might be doable, but I can't even begin to understand how that would work! Edited October 7, 2012 by LovelyChaos 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kortniee 452 Posted October 7, 2012 There are things in the water we take out that we don't or can't measure for that aren't good for the fish to have around. So even if you have a lot of plants actually IN your tank and never get any readings with your test kit, you still need to give your fish fresh water. You can certainly put the old fish water into the plant tank (and I recommend it! I've done that with much success before) but once the plants are done with it, the best use for it would probably be to water your land plants. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dakotak 225 Posted October 7, 2012 I would imagine that it might have some ammonia, from dying leaves and debris as well as poop, especially without a filter to circulate water and to polish it with BB. If plants worked like that, I'd imagine we would never need to do water changes! It might be a fun experiment though! If you could rig up a filter and keep from getting mosquito eggs and poop back into the water it might be doable, but I can't even begin to understand how that would work! It would be in the fish room. You can find pretty small horse troughs but I see your point. There are things in the water we take out that we don't or can't measure for that aren't good for the fish to have around. So even if you have a lot of plants actually IN your tank and never get any readings with your test kit, you still need to give your fish fresh water. You can certainly put the old fish water into the plant tank (and I recommend it! I've done that with much success before) but once the plants are done with it, the best use for it would probably be to water your land plants. I knew it was too good to be true. We water our land plants with some of the water now but we don't have enough buckets to hold all of the water I take out from my 110 so a good amount goes down the drain until I can extend my python to go out my window to water the outside plants. Thanks for answering my silly question guys. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neeceee2 2 Posted October 7, 2012 Ive wondered if those warer purifiers would work. the ones use to give poor countries. like a straw that cleans dirty water as they drink. Or maybe a condenser type that heats it up and then collects the dropplets . 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mlegion1988 44 Posted October 7, 2012 I do not think that would work. When we do water changes it isn't just to remove waste from our tanks, but when we add water back into the tank we add essential minerals that the fish need for their slime coat and skin. That is why frequent water changes are superior to any filtration. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shakaho 6,313 Posted October 8, 2012 The principle is good, but the scale and extent is too small. I know of some koi people who have set up a water purification system. One uses a series of planted (fishless) ponds, a variety of filters, and moves the water from pond to pond. Eventually, he polishes the water with sand filtration and treats it with potassium permanganate before using it for water changes. Of course, he tests extensively for things that aren't The "new" water you get from the tap is reused water. It has been restored almost entirely by biological activity. You could restore your water, but it takes a lot more than leaving it in a tub with some plants. I've considered making a water purification system, but, at present, I prefer fertilizing and watering my garden plants with my used water. I rather doubt the importance of depletion of essential minerals by goldfish. Mineral depletion is important in marine aquariums where one has to maintain a highly mineralized and complicated artificial sea water. But "fresh" water is variable in mineral content and goldfish thrive in all of it. If there is a mineral essential to goldfish that is depleted from their water I would be interested in learning what it is. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ridewithme38 3 Posted October 8, 2012 This is essentially Aquaponics...The 'dirty' fish water is pumped into a rather large 'planter' filled with all kinds of plants and those plants absorb those 'nutrients' from the fish water and the 'cleaned' water goes right back into the aquarium 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mlegion1988 44 Posted October 8, 2012 The principle is good, but the scale and extent is too small. I know of some koi people who have set up a water purification system. One uses a series of planted (fishless) ponds, a variety of filters, and moves the water from pond to pond. Eventually, he polishes the water with sand filtration and treats it with potassium permanganate before using it for water changes. Of course, he tests extensively for things that aren't The "new" water you get from the tap is reused water. It has been restored almost entirely by biological activity. You could restore your water, but it takes a lot more than leaving it in a tub with some plants. I've considered making a water purification system, but, at present, I prefer fertilizing and watering my garden plants with my used water. I rather doubt the importance of depletion of essential minerals by goldfish. Mineral depletion is important in marine aquariums where one has to maintain a highly mineralized and complicated artificial sea water. But "fresh" water is variable in mineral content and goldfish thrive in all of it. If there is a mineral essential to goldfish that is depleted from their water I would be interested in learning what it is. Totally agree with everything you say! It would be a awesome DYI project, but it would take a while to master the system. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
