Waste Water Disposal

First time posting, but I've been a follower of this forum since I started the hobby going on three years now. Not sure if this is the place to post the thread.

I have a 20g freshwater tank with sand substrate. My old apartment had a double kitchen sink and I would just dump it in the sink without a garbage disposal (learned very quickly that even a grain of sand can stop up a disposal lol). That sink never clogged up.

I recently moved into a new apartment that has a single kitchen sink with a garbage disposal. So now I'm in a bit of a predicament on where to dump my old tank water after a water change. Since I have sand substrate that sometimes gets picked up from vacuuming, I'm scared to dump this old water into the other sinks and get them clogged especially since these have sink plugs that can't be removed. This is a brand new apartment, and I'm the first tenant in this unit so I'd like to keep this place in decent shape. I also live on the third floor so taking this water in a bucket somewhere outside to dump would be a struggle and id look like a crazy man while doing it lol. Any ideas or help is appreciated!

 

I assume there is a bathroom with a shower. I imagine you could just pour it down the shower drain. Then run the shower for a few seconds to rinse it out and flush the pipes.

Any clogs caused by aquarium water would easily be removed with some drano.

Aquarium water certainly wouldn't be any worse than the hair and soap scum that builds up in bathroom drains. We're just as filthy as the fish.

 

Welcome to the forum.

I know others dump their dirty tank water down the toilet too, so is that also an option for you here?

 

Welcome.

It's really simple:
a. You don't vacuum sand. just hoover the hose above it, that way you still remove waste and not much sand.
b. Most waste water from a tank contains poop. Where does poop go? Right, down the toilet.

And I would really recommend draining it always down the toilet as in the kitchen you might contaminate your own food. Fish tanks sometimes have bacteria like salmonella. It's rare, it most often doesn't affect the fish and you won't get it from working in your tank.
But in a kitchen sink, you only have to do a waterchange in the morning and defrost your food or wash your veggies in the same sink in the afternoon.
Again, the likelyhood is very low, but you generally shouldn't handle animal waste where you prepare your food.

 

I assume there is a bathroom with a shower. I imagine you could just pour it down the shower drain. Then run the shower for a few seconds to rinse it out and flush the pipes.

Any clogs caused by aquarium water would easily be removed with some drano.

Aquarium water certainly wouldn't be any worse than the hair and soap scum that builds up in bathroom drains. We're just as filthy as the fish.

Would sand possibly getting into the shower drain be an issue?

Welcome to the forum.

I know others dump their dirty tank water down the toilet too, so is that also an option for you here?

I could do that for sure. Didn't even think of this option! I would just need to be careful with the sand.

Welcome.

It's really simple:
a. You don't vacuum sand. just hoover the hose above it, that way you still remove waste and not much sand.
b. Most waste water from a tank contains poop. Where does poop go? Right, down the toilet.

And I would really recommend draining it always down the toilet as in the kitchen you might contaminate your own food. Fish tanks sometimes have bacteria like salmonella. It's rare, it most often doesn't affect the fish and you won't get it from working in your tank.
But in a kitchen sink, you only have to do a waterchange in the morning and defrost your food or wash your veggies in the same sink in the afternoon.
Again, the likelyhood is very low, but you generally shouldn't handle animal waste where you prepare your food.

Okay that's a great idea. I would always stick the vacuum in the sand because I started with gravel and would do it with the gravel. That should eliminate any sand worries. And that is a good point about dumping in the kitchen sink, will avoid doing that at all in the future.

 

I'm generally not a fan of gravel vac, as most beneficial microorganisms live in the substrate and with a decently stocked and fed tank there shouldn't be so much accumulating.

 

I'm generally not a fan of gravel vac, as most beneficial microorganisms live in the substrate and with a decently stocked and fed tank there shouldn't be so much accumulating.

Yeah, I honestly don't pull much from the sand when I'm vacuuming nowadays since I've used it that way since switching to sand about a year ago. I didn't know that about the microorganisms though!

 

Would sand possibly getting into the shower drain be an issue?

The amount of sand coming out of a 20 gallon aquarium doesn't worry me very much.

I use sand in my tanks, and some of it inevitably ends up in the pail. But if I let that water settle for a few minutes, the sand sinks, and I can pour out the water, without all the sand coming with it.

So if you are concerned, just let the sand settle to the bottom of the pail, and then pour the water out at a speed that doesn't bring the sand with it.

 

The amount of sand coming out of a 20 gallon aquarium doesn't worry me very much.

I use sand in my tanks, and some of it inevitably ends up in the pail. But if I let that water settle for a few minutes, the sand sinks, and I can pour out the water, without all the sand coming with it.

So if you are concerned, just let the sand settle to the bottom of the pail, and then pour the water out at a speed that doesn't bring the sand with it.

Great, that sounds good. Thanks for the help!

 

pour it down the toilet?

 

Anyone got house plants?
Tank water is the very best water for watering house plants... even out door plants.
Its got most everything a plant needs, including Nitrates.

 

I hooked up the water changer to the bathroom faucet in the spare bathroom.

 

I'll try not to suck up the gravel and use the aquarium water to water my outdoor plants. You could pour it on lawn or some trees, else just feed it into the toilet bowl.

 

I'll try not to suck up the gravel and use the aquarium water to water my outdoor plants. You could pour it on lawn or some trees, else just feed it into the toilet bowl.

just make sure ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrates are at perfect levels before you water the plants. the perfect level are:
ph - 7
ammonia - (0-0.1)
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0

 

just make sure ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrates are at perfect levels before you water the plants. the perfect level are:
ph - 7
ammonia - (0-0.1)
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0

Why?

 

just make sure ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrates are at perfect levels before you water the plants. the perfect level are:
ph - 7
ammonia - (0-0.1)
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0

I beg to defer, your concept is already wrong. The water need not be perfect level. Plants loves nitrate, and by dumping the aquarium water to your house plants or garden lawn, you're helping your plant to grow. The only thing you need to take note is it must be FRESHWATER and not saltwater. Plants will die from the salinity. Water from quarantine tank also shouldn't be use too as it contains chemicals that is treating the fish

I don't know where you get this information from, please do not mislead others.

 

Having my own property, in the summer, I water the garden with it. Winter, it goes in the toilet along with a flush. The flow will flush virtually anything with it.

 

I beg to defer, your concept is already wrong. The water need not be perfect level. Plants loves nitrate, and by dumping the aquarium water to your house plants or garden lawn, you're helping your plant to grow. The only thing you need to take note is it must be FRESHWATER and not saltwater. Plants will die from the salinity. Water from quarantine tank also shouldn't be use too as it contains chemicals that is treating the fish

I don't know where you get this information from, please do not mislead others.

IDK about that since I'm still in school. as of now, they told me 0 ammonia and nitrates. no idea why.
but I can tell you it's better to have low ammonia rather than high. (that's for sure)

 

IDK about that since I'm still in school. as of now, they told me 0 ammonia and nitrates. no idea why.
but I can tell you it's better to have low ammonia rather than high. (that's for sure)

Yes the ammonia part I agree. Usually a cycled tank is 0/0/* whatever your nitrate count per ppm, so many in the group will say aquarium water is suitable to feed plant presume that your tank is fully cycled.

Even if your ammonia is at 0.25, you can still give provided you did not give your plant fertilizer. Fertilizer also contains slight amount of ammonia, just treat it as a micronutrients. As long as you don't give it too much, your plants will thrive.

 

IDK about that since I'm still in school. as of now, they told me 0 ammonia and nitrates. no idea why.
but I can tell you it's better to have low ammonia rather than high. (that's for sure)

Ammonia is a nitrogen compound. Ammonium Nitrate is a commercially available fertilizer commonly used on pretty much every crop grown.

If your water had enough ammonia in it to damage plants, your fish would all be dead.

 

Enough ammonia could certainly "burn" plants, but I can't imagine a situation where aquarium water would have a high enough concentration for that to happen.