Tank Water For Gardening?

[FishAddict99]

Around the warmer months, my LFS has a small vegetable garden behind the store. The owner claims that he just uses cycled tank water to water the plants and swears that its "viagra for plants". Whenever anyone does water changes on the tanks, all the water gets dumped on his veggie garden. Has anyone heard this before? I'm intruigued to try it but I've treated my tanks with plant fertilizers, not to mention fish medication.

 

[abzorbd]

I used to do that. Worked great. I always used the water from when I vaccuumed the gravel though. All the waste acts like a natural fertilizer. I wouldn't worry about the meds unless you don't used the activated carbon to remove the meds after treating.

 

[rossyt99]

Hi, Yes I try to hoy a bucket of tank water over the grass/ soil every now and again, as I read it contains excellent beneficial properties; Have not tried it on actual Flowers/Plants yet but the grass at back garden is thriving!

Might not be good if med. has recently been added though.

 

[Honeythorn]

I do this all the time with my dirty tankwater. My Aloe Vera has gone beserk!

 

[invader]

I do the same thing. Why dump in down the drain, when you can give it back to nature?

 

[Darkerwhite2]

I do the same, it has really helped to revitalize some dying plants. I use the water that i get from the gravel vac, Sometimes there some 'real good' stuff in there. lol figure if farmers use manure to fertilize why can't i? i know its not exactly the same but close enough.

 

[nurglespuss]

Hi

Yeah its all good, I use it on my house plants.

and I wouldnt worry about meds, the plant can selectively eliminate quite a few chemicals at one stage or another, and also, the dosages used in tank are unlikely to be toxic to plants/humans anyway.

 

[Bignose]

Hi

Yeah its all good, I use it on my house plants.

and I wouldnt worry about meds, the plant can selectively eliminate quite a few chemicals at one stage or another, and also, the dosages used in tank are unlikely to be toxic to plants/humans anyway.

I think that is highly dependent on what the medicine was. If it was a formalin mixture used to treat ich then I wouldn't want that anywhere near anything I have frequent contact with. Both the ingredients in formalin -- formaldehyde and malachite green -- are dangerous stuff. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen (causes cancer). Malachite green, while not quite so bad, is still pretty nasty stuff -- it is known to be toxic to humans. Even fish treated with malachite green still have some toxicity to them -- which is why you read the bottle and it tells you to only use on ornamental fish, not on food fish.

Now, if it was Melfix, tea tree oil, I wouldn't worry. But, I don't want formaldehyde and malachite green or any of the other nasty medications in my house in my house plants, or in my garden, or anything like that. Is the risk high? Probably not -- it is indeed probably pretty low. But, why take the risk at all? There is no reason to take the risk unnecessarily. There certain risks you have to take everyday necessarily -- the risk of crossing the street or the risk of driving to work -- but the risk of leaving toxic dangerous chemicals in your house? Or the risk of leaving toxic chemicals in the dirt in your garden where at some point you are going to be digging you hands through it? That's unnecessary. If the water has medications in it, just dispose of it properly ... if your houseplants need food that bad go buy a little jar of plant food at the store -- $1 or less.

A fair number of terrestrial plants prefer nitrate as their nitrogen source. And, of course, the end product of the cycle is nitrate, so that is the reason plants take to old fish water so well.

 

[geo7x]

Surely a good guideline would be that if the med is safe for aquarium plants then it should be ok for house/garden plants as well?

 

[Bignose]

Surely a good guideline would be that if the med is safe for aquarium plants then it should be ok for house/garden plants as well?

Well, except that you probably aren't going to be spending a lot of time rooting around in the ground or eating your aquarium plants like you may with plants/fruits/vegetables from a garden.

The best place to look would be on the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for every chemical you apply to your tank. These are available from most manufacturer's websites, or at the very least available by contacting the company. The MSDS is required to explain all the hazards associated with any chemical. This isn't just for fish chemicals, either -- anything you use has an MSDS out there and they are exceptionally valuable to learn the risk associated with using any chemical for any purpose.

 

[vinylman]

If we have any plants in pots or vases, they always get the vacuumed gravel water; I've seen ordinary plants last for weeks. It's the best free plant fertiliser you can get.

 

[Egmel]

I'd agree with Bignose, if you haven't added any nasty meds then it's a great source of nitrogen for your plants.

I'm not sure it's the best fertiliser as it's likely to have a higher nitrate level than phosphates and potassium levels so will produce lots of leaves but not necessarily lots of fruit or flowers but as a top up then it's good.

I also use it on my acid loving plants as the pH is lower than my tap water.

 

[Gill]

Yep Use it on the Vegetable patch and on all the houeplants.
Had to stop using it on the Marrows, as they started to take over the garden, and starting to invade grans (next Door).

Had Really Big Runner Beans last year when using tank water. they flowered well thru the summer and kept producing Runner Beans well into September October.