Is there a way to remove the salt from your weekly water change

[gkmartinez]

and use it for your lawn or for anything else useful? When I dump my water in the lawn it has certainly killed it. I Would like to somehow remove that salt (economically) and reuse the water

[derrikd]

the only way is to evaperate it some how. i wonder if you could boil it out. why do you want to reuse the water? i dont know if that water would be good with all the other stuff in it. good and intresing topic..

[gkmartinez]

With the drought here in colorado I would like to reuse it for water the lawn and my new garden. Maybe even reuse for drinking water. It just kind of seems like a waste.

[derrikd]

thats a cool idea. i hope some one chimes in who acctually has tryed it.

[DgenR8]

If there was a cheap, efficient way to remove salt from water, there would be no such thing as a drought, we would just drink the oceans. Converting your used tank water into drinking water, as far as I know, would require distilling it. I would think that if you diluted it enough, it would be okay for flowers and grass, but I don't know how much is enough.

[gkmartinez]

Originally posted by DgenR8
If there was a cheap, efficient way to remove salt from water, there would be no such thing as a drought, we would just drink the oceans. Converting your used tank water into drinking water, as far as I know, would require distilling it. I would think that if you diluted it enough, it would be okay for flowers and grass, but I don't know how much is enough.

With that I wonder if it can be diluted from the waste portion of our ro/di units. there is another water wasted aspect. I do have mine emptying into the yard. so if i mix the two together test the salinity then water the yard. of course now it is winter so it does not matter as much. but I can start planning for next year.

[DgenR8]

During the warmer weather, I do use the waste from my RO/DI to water my yard. It's not connected to a sprinkler, but does get pretty far into my wife's flower garden. During the winter, the waste is just waste, and goes down the drain. Using the RO/DI waste to dilute the "used" salt water is a pretty good idea. I'm sure your plants will love the nutrients coming from the tank water (phosphate, nitrate).

[ReeferAl]

Unless you have very salt tolerant plants, like those that live near the sea shore, even small amounts of salt are going to be stressful to the plants and grass and likely to kill most of them. It would be hard to dilute it down enough to be safe at all I suspect.

[gkmartinez]

Thanks for the responses. I have often pondered this 'dilema'

[pubily]

Arid areas that are irrigated over a period of time develop a salt crust that eventually kills vegetation and that is a salt crust that results from 'normal' water...not salty water. I suspect the same would happen even if you significantly dilute the tank saltwater. I suppose you might switch watering areas often to delay this process. I have a 120 gal. tank and remove about 20% at a change...so...that's about 24 gallons of saltwater...if I dilute that with another 24 gallons I still have somewhat salty water that will require that I water different areas to avoid salt crust and I also have the hassle of storing, blending and somehow pumping that water out of containers I'd have to keep. For me it seems like a big pain in the neck for relatively little (and questionable) benefit...but then I have my own deep well and it rains a lot in Illinois so irrigation isn't ever an issue. I'm sorry it might even be desirable in other parts of the country for people to consider this option.

[gkmartinez]

I remember way back in jr high we did an experiment that involved to holding tanks joined by a tube. as one tank evarorated into the other the salt was left behind... or something to that effect. Maybe I saw on mr. wizard

[reefdood]

FWIW I use the water from my waterchange to kill tall grass between my fence and my neighbors fence. It kills grass. Not sure how dilluted you'd need to make it.

[gkmartinez]

Yeah I have a nice dead spot in my lawn I was dumping my water in a bunch of rocks and the water seeped over and killed the lawn. I then started dumping in the bathtub. the lawn is still dead.

[nexumia]

Okay, I have a crazy idea, that might work if you want to try it. Every toilet has a resorvoir, this resorvoir has clean water that flushes your toilet. Siphon this water out and use it to water your plants, then replace it with your saltwater, and use it to flush your toilet.

[DgenR8]

Originally posted by nexumia
Okay, I have a crazy idea, that might work if you want to try it. Every toilet has a resorvoir, this resorvoir has clean water that flushes your toilet. Siphon this water out and use it to water your plants, then replace it with your saltwater, and use it to flush your toilet.

It's not uncommon for people to use the waste water from their RO/DI to fill toilet tanks, and clothes washers, but that sounds kind of extreme to me.

[kenny77]

i just pour the water in the frnt of the house, in an area were i haev gravel and i dont want any grass to grow. and i dont know but it works for me

[Ropes4u]

Pour it along the fence line or on the weeds that gow in the driveway...

[ACIDRAIN]

Another option in the winter (depending on where you live) is to use it on the driveway when it snows. It will not freeze and will evaperate after melting the snow and ice. Leaving a dusting of salt for the next time. I do this with every SW water change in the winter.

[PRC]

RO/DI will remove salt from salt water, that's what watermakers on boats are. It's probably not very efficient or even realistic depending on how much water you're changing. Boat watermakers are typically very slow, require a fair amount of maintenance and are rather costly. I wouldn't try running it through a regular RO unit.
If you're really serious you could get whatever kind of grass I have, I think it's St Augustine. I don't think battery acid would kill the stuff. The water table in my yard changes with the tide, literally, and at high tide in the fall it's about even with the yard. The grass actually gets mushy. Some of my neighbors yards are actually under several inches of water at high tide this time of year. It's mostly brackish where I am, but at high tide it gets pretty salty.

[Laker]

could you reuse r/o water by putting the waste water into your tiolet bowl or something, so u shut the water going to the toilet off or something...lol? or would the bowl just overflow...that would suck...lol

[Reefologist]

Glaciers are frozen salt water, the fisherman and whalers native to the glacier area's use the frozen ice to render drinking water. I am no expert but somehow the salt percipitates form the water when frozen. The water around the glaciers is very salty for this reason. As for how long to freeze and exact conditions required you will need to look furthur than my post. I do know they boil it for purity.

[pubily]

I'm not sure but don't believe that glaciers are frozen salt water. I believe they're compacted snow/ice and move toward the shore in some areas due to their tremendous weight. Believe we've all heard of glacier and calving...but those icebergs are fresh water and not salt. I used to live in Lima, Peru and there was some whimsical talk of towing icebergs to the Atacama desert to provide fresh water for agriculture. Of course, it never happened but who knows in the future!!

[SE TX HYDROPONICS]

ok....i have the best idea yet....why not set up another tank....FO...take the old reef water and put it in the F.O tank and put new water in the reef tank....i have been doing this the last couple of months and works great.....also great excuse to set up another tank with things you can't keep in your reef...

[Reefologist]

Some glaciers are frozen salt water and the salt precipitates from them. Research it , it is true. I'm sure not all glaciers are the same but some are salty.

[greenbean36191]

Glaciers are compacted snow, so they are freshwater. Sea ice and ice shelves ARE frozen saltwater, and they are much less salty than the water they froze from. I just finished reading a book about this for one of my classes.