Neptune Aquatics

King's Landing Aquarium

I have a septic system.

Septic systems can tolerate some salt, but not a lot. In a septic, everything you dump in has to either be broken down, diffused, or taken up by plants. What this means for all practical purposes, is that all salt dumped into septic will
1) likely kill off the bacteria over time
2) create very salty soil in the leach field killing all plant life that taps into it.

I'm lucky in that I have a relatively small tank and can lug a 5g sealed bucket of old salt water to dump into the drains at work (which is on city sewage lines). At one time, I was pondering to make an evaporation pool, but nothing became of it.
 
When I mentioned it, I was wondering how you would get rid of lots of SW. Even a salt marsh pond would soon turn into a mini Dead Sea. Maybe evap. ponds, harvest salt and sell it as gourmet salt on the web???? :)
 
I can haul it to my office, that wouldn't be too difficult using some water bladders I have. Now my buddy needs to get a truck. If I can keep it to 10% water changes once a week, that is doable. I don't know much about evaporation pools, will look into it. Any recommendations?
 
I think a 300 gallon fuge filled with sea grass should cover you for critters and whatnot...I'm not sure about nutrient uptake though. That exhaust system sounds crazy...but 13.5 scones ? Is it audible in the fishroom ? I would talk to Chris at Aquatic Central, he has a surge on one of his large tanks. It can be noisy (you don't want to hear toilet flushing sounds) and salt creep can get everywhere.
 
The fish room is being sound & water proofed, and the mount in the roof is solid. Also, since it is controllable I can set it to whatever level needed. Hopefully won't have to have it on full blast all the time.
 
Like Jim says, I wouldn't do surge. It can be loud and very dirty over time and not to mention the annoying amount of micro bubbles it create in the tank in between surges. Great for frag tank but that's the only place I would use it. Vortech and Tunze will probably give you the best alternative. Combining both, you shouldn't have issue with creating any wave pattern you desire in any tank size.
 
h20player101 said:
I can haul it to my office, that wouldn't be too difficult using some water bladders I have. Now my buddy needs to get a truck. If I can keep it to 10% water changes once a week, that is doable. I don't know much about evaporation pools, will look into it. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Evaporation ponds may not work so well in the winter without some fancy solar collectors.

You might look into a service agreement with the companies that do septic tank pump-outs.
Store the water in a tank, and have it removed every month.

Another thought is to reclaim some of the water by hooking up an RODI system with a small high pressure pump.
It would likely clog the membranes rather quickly of course.
But you could perhaps get the volume down by a lot, which makes transporting and dumping
into a sewer a lot more manageable.

But if it is a big problem, look at other filtration methods instead of large water changes.
There are alternatives to dilution. Probably none as foolproof, but might be worth it.
 
rygh said:
h20player101 said:
I can haul it to my office, that wouldn't be too difficult using some water bladders I have. Now my buddy needs to get a truck. If I can keep it to 10% water changes once a week, that is doable. I don't know much about evaporation pools, will look into it. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Evaporation ponds may not work so well in the winter without some fancy solar collectors.

You might look into a service agreement with the companies that do septic tank pump-outs.
Store the water in a tank, and have it removed every month.

Another thought is to reclaim some of the water by hooking up an RODI system with a small high pressure pump.
It would likely clog the membranes rather quickly of course.
But you could perhaps get the volume down by a lot, which makes transporting and dumping
into a sewer a lot more manageable.

But if it is a big problem, look at other filtration methods instead of large water changes.
There are alternatives to dilution. Probably none as foolproof, but might be worth it.
Click to expand...

IIRc Cargill's local salt production was/is year round.

I looked into septic removal of saltwater. Larger volumes will get taxed as the city has to deal with the salt just like we would, so they add a surcharge. May be different in your local area though, we're in a national marine reserve down here.

A friend of mine had a local wholesale outfit. He was contacted by the water district due to the amount of saltwater discharge. It was not that much, 500g or so a week.
 
Gomer said:
I have a septic system.

Septic systems can tolerate some salt, but not a lot. In a septic, everything you dump in has to either be broken down, diffused, or taken up by plants. What this means for all practical purposes, is that all salt dumped into septic will
1) likely kill off the bacteria over time
2) create very salty soil in the leach field killing all plant life that taps into it.
Click to expand...

+1
I set up a grey water line that dumps in a dry rock creek that all my down spouts drain in to. All that water goes in to the ocean eventually :).
That way it does not go in to the septic.
 
There is a dry creek bed on the property (creek was diverted) that is not near the leach field. It is mostly boulders and gravel, do you think I could have the water drain there?
 
you can, but the same rules apply. Salt won't evaporate where you dump it. It will accumulate.

whether you do it or not, depends on what is near the creek (things near the dump area likely will die) and any local regulations you are about (following).

If you are dumping 10% weekly water changes (~150 gallons), that is the same dumping a bucket of salt. After a year, you just dumped 50 or so buckets of salt into a localized area of the dry creek bed. That may be a really bad thing, or might be trivial if it is a barren dust expanse. You be the judge :)

Personally, I like the idea of hauling smaller amounts (small water changes by way of maintaining balance rather than replacing balance).
 
should you feel like taking the equipment approach, you can combine hauling with something like this :
http://www.foreverpure.com/products_SWRO-70.htm
 
No clue whatsoever. I just came across that small unit while searching for "home desalinization plant"
I know nothing about it besides what is listed on the link. Not sure if you need a "waste" flow like with a normal RO unit. or if the waste flow is simply the high salinity concentrate that you'd end up dumping. Best bet would be to call one of these companies with your list of questions.
 
houser said:
Is this even legal?
One bucket of salt a week - damn. What a visual.
Click to expand...

In Jon's case, he's super close to the ocean and his area has saltwater intrusion so its not so bad...

I think it really depends on your local codes. I know I cannot dump ANYTHING into my local creeks, FW or SW, dry creek or running creek. Watersheds are highly protected in my area, and even more so since the MBNMS was put into effect.
 
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