Been Offered A Marine Tank

[TigerIssey]

I didn't know they charged for water waste, seems like it should be cheap since it's just gravity fed!

What you are actually paying for is the pipework that takes the water the sewage plant / water treatment works and then for the water to be treated and reused.

Septic tanks are expensive initial outlay, but you just need them emptied regularly depending on their size and then restarted using a dead animal carcass, usually a fox or something. Similar to cycling a fish tank, a septic tank has to be cycled too.

 

[jtnova13]

our sink is very tight and there are pipes everywhere i highly doubt we'd have the room for a reservoir unfortunately. may possibly have the room for a smallish one in our airing cupboard perhaps.

do you think a 10% weekly change would be sufficient? that's only 1 trip to my LFS a week which I suppose I can live with.

I think they make valves which oyu can use instead of a reservoir tank.

PM me a picture under your sink and i'll draw on it in paint

I think water changes are entirely dependent on your livestock and filtration. If not keeping alot of corals and you have a good skimmer, you could prolly do 10% bi-weekly or something.

 

[SkiFletch]

So wait, I'm confused, are you on a meter or not? And do you have to pay for waste or not?

RO units are generally very cost effective, even if you're on a water meter. Dunno about this whole paying for sewage concept, foreign on my side of the pond.

As for water changing, I'd reccomend 25% biweekly to start off and as you build more experience with the whole concept of seawater chemistry and how your specific tank behaves you could go with like 50-70% quarterly

 

[TigerIssey]

There was a thread on here a while back Ski, there were some costs thrown about in it. I worked mine out to cost less than buying from an LFS.

We have to pay for waste water to be taken away on this side of the pond. I have just got over £300 refunded to my water account because they were charging waste and surface water drainage when I am on a septic tank. We also got £25 in compensation for the delay in sorting it out.

The OP is on a water meter, says so in first post I think, will depend on the method of getting rid of waste as this is actually really expensive over here compared to the cost for the water itself.(along with all utilities atm).

The costs I saw in a thread a while ago also estimated the amount of waste per gallon of RO so that you could work it out. Only way I know to rid the waste without it going via water meter to the treatment works is to use it in the garden, there may be too much for that though.

EDIT - Sorry its not more expensive but nearly as expensive. Have looked at our old bill. The standing charge for waste water is £13.00 per yr, plus £1.064 per cubic metre. Water itself costs £25.00 per year, plus £1.294 per cubic metre.

Bear in mind that we use 0n average 80 cubic metres per year, this is presumed as the waste you are sending down the waste pipes too.

Therefore if you use mains sewerage, you are paying £38.00 plus £2.358 per cubic metre. Bear in mind also that on this bill there is no RO unit. Therefore our water costs would be £188.64 usage plus £38.00 standing charge plus £31 highway drainage charge. So for a years water that would be £257.64 on average per month that would be £21.47 . That would not include your RO water.

Take off the highway drainage and the waste water and the same bill would be £103.52 + £43.00 standing charge (do not ask why the standing charge is more if you don't have waste services aswell, I intend to find out)

A years water without waste services would be £146.52 or £12.21 per month.

Basically if you have to pay waste, it doubles the cost of your water. Depending on the size of your system and the water pressure and size of RO unit which will affect the amount of waste, it can work out more expensive than the LFS.

I think the figure I saw quoted said for every gallon RO water you got 4 gallon wastage. You would therefore as it is based on usage have to pay waste water for all 5 gallons to get 1 gallon of water.

Hope this makes sense to you and helps those people who have to suffer water meters.

 

[SkiFletch]

Humm, interesting, thanks TI. Over here, we don't pay for waste, but we're ALL on meters. So long as you don't live in the south here, water is generally cheap, even on a meter it's cheap. And in my own locale (next to the largest freshwater resevior in the world) water is just a bit cheap... I pay around $30 per quarter (3 months) for water...

 

[jtnova13]

why not run the waste hose to a big trashcan and then dump it in the sewer?

 

[TigerIssey]

Because regarless of whether it goes in the sewer or in the pipes as it should, your wastage is based on your usage anyway, so you will still get charged for waste.

ie if you use 20 gallon through the RO, it pulls 20 gallon through the water metre. You will therefore automatically be charged 20 g usage AND 20 gallon waste. I checked my old bills before they took us off the sewerage costs.

 

[Jonno]

wow thanks for the replies, seems like i've sparked up quite a conversation

i will take a couple of pics tonight of under my sink and will see what you guys can come up with, but i'm not getting my hopes too high!

and yes I am on a water meter. any idea why these systems are so inefficient?!

 

[jtnova13]

oh, i got you tina, that's smart of them!

I can't find a technical breakdown of why RO systems are so wasteful, but I think it's because there are so many impurities to filter out, that by the time it passes through 5 filters, most of the makeup of your tap water is "waste".

 

[john.o]

Well I believe that the ro man units are fitted with a 5-1 flow restrictor. So if you where to do 5 uk gallon water change you would produce 20 - 25 uk gallons of waste water {remember this is max performance with a boost pump running at recommended psi low pressure will produce more waste} so if I were you I would put my waste pipe from the RO unit into a large water container and use it for washing the car house windows watering the garden ect.

 

[TigerIssey]

John'o thats great as far as recycling goes, problem is if you are metred, you WILL get charged the waste for it anyway. They are extremely crafty over here are water companies. They charge exactly the same in waste as you have actually used.

Regardless of what you do with the waste. This means you are also paying for waste on the RO water you use to top off during evaporation.

I have also looked at a recent bill, the actual charges have been increased again in this yrs bills from April. The price I quoted was last yrs charges.

 

[SkiFletch]

You could also consider throwing money on a fire and building your own distillery

Any chance you go to or work at a university with science labs? That might be a good free water source...

 

[jtnova13]

good suggestion, or bug someone local to let you have some haha

 

[Jonno]

good suggestion, or bug someone local to let you have some haha

good idea that

anyone live in nottingham/derby area?!?!

not had time to take a pic under my sink, will do asap though, thanks a lot