Distilled water

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Cory
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Post by Cory »

I'm thinking someone maybe interested in this because like me you hate to do water changes. Here's my idea:

I'm going to take a spare 10g tank and use a float valve, like in a toilet to control the flow of water from my 40g into the holding tank. On top of this I'll put a sheet of acrylic and seal it temporarily with vasiline to help keep the condensation inside.

I"m going to buy a couple cheap cylindrical trashcans, then take maybe 1/2 inch or 3/4 pvc and go through the center/bottom to a few inches near the top. Around the bottom of the trashcan below the waterline, I'll drill a few holes that should always remain submerged. I'll probably put a little filter floss around the bottom as well to help keep debris out of my trashcans. Until I find a better way, on the top, plastic wrap weighted in the middle with a stone, held in place with rubber bands. This will get my water dripping back into the filter system.

The center tubes will go out the bottom of the aquarium and join, then go into the filter.    

I expect to add a couple heaters, I want the temperature to get between 90-110. I think to keep the temperature I won't need more than a pair of 50w.

Ultimately I'm hoping this creates enough evaporation that I am getting 10% water changes daily. If the evaporation is too slow I can raise the temperature, or rig up some cooling for the top of the stills. I only expect I'll get 2g/day per still. Under the aquarium I hope to have room for 2 10gallons,

I'm not sure if this is a worth while endeavor, but what else am I going to do at home during christmas?

I recognize the design flaws: Definately the use of plastic wrap, possible drop in flow rate, mechanical failure, waste of money(doesn't work), have to do something with sludge. Anything I missed?
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Ghazanfar Ghori
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Post by Ghazanfar Ghori »

Interesting concept. You're basically distilling
aquarium water, and putting the distilled water
back into the tank. Distlling will strip pretty
much everything from the water - cleaning it and
removing all nutrients in the process too.

I'll think about it tomorrow. Brain no worki right now.
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Ghazanfar Ghori

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SCMurphy
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Post by SCMurphy »

I'm not getting the point.

Why not just set up the cans as a sump and use the float to keep the water level up automatically and effectively increase the gallonage of your tank, triple maybe even. You can "dump" one of the cans monthly as your water change.

Benefits, stable water level, stable water chemistry, water changes done without disturbing the tank.

Cons, correctly plumbing the set up, buying the plumbing, buying the suitable sumps.
"したくさ" Sean

Aquascape? I'm a crypt farmer.

If you've got bait, I've got wasabi!

I wish I could be like Mr. Sarcastic when I grow up! ;)
Cory
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Post by Cory »

I know I dont want a sump per say because I will just be diluting my tank. I would have to fertilize a larger volume. I don't know which way would use less chemicals in the long run, but I comment on this later.

The idea is to move less water, I would like to have 15g of fresh water pumped into the aquarium daily identical water parameters but I can't do that. Plumbing locations where aquariums fit are just wrong in this house.

It occured to me that I will lose all the dissolved junk. I realize that I can't have my concentrations diving constantly, setting up the dosing is just the next step.

It would be interesting if I could harvest some of the sludge I make to regenerate the water. I'm also curious what that is particularly. I hope it all stays aqueous, then I could add a needlevalve and a drain to it...

That might work provided sludge doesn't start creating reducing conditions. I see that happening is if the water temp gets cool enough for some bacteria to grow. I think nearly everything but some sulfurous bacteria die out above 95.

I will plumb it such that if I can't control the situation in a cyclical fashion the water will go into a holding bin shut by another float. I hope I wont ever have to add more than a liter of tap water, at least when I spill that it isn't catastrophic.
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SCMurphy
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Post by SCMurphy »

Sorry but you won't find stability in less water.
"したくさ" Sean

Aquascape? I'm a crypt farmer.

If you've got bait, I've got wasabi!

I wish I could be like Mr. Sarcastic when I grow up! ;)
Cory
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Post by Cory »

I never really considered stability, besides the change would be over 24 hours at drip rate. I regenerate RO/DI water now, can't be much different. I'm under the assumption we do water changes to remove accumulationed organics.
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RTRJR
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Post by RTRJR »

Partly correct - we do water changes to remove tank-generated organics certainly, but also to correct (either by dilution or replacement) mineral/inorganic shifts in <strong>either</strong> direction. We get rid of exesses, whether tank generated or from our dosing above usage levels, and replace tap water minerals burned out in normal operation (especially carbonates/bicarbonates, but others as well).

But I'm all for experimentation - go for it and keep us posted on the results. I've done far more Rube Goldberg than that, and some gave beneficial results. I don't discuss many of the others...
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Archie
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Post by Archie »

Do you keep fish? i've read a couple of places that over time, the plastic of the trash cans will leach toxins into your water which will kill your fish. the worst thing is, usually is fish look bad the first thing you do is a water change. one solution is to scrub the inside of the cans with salt. you can also get barrels that have previously held food products, or one of the more expensive holding tanks from jehmco.

is all of this effort for just one tank? do you age your water now? if so what do you age it in? that 10 gal? just put it higher than the 40 and siphon. open your window and put the python outside and siphon the bad water of your tank outside. do these previous steps in reverse order <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley36.gif" border="0"> either way, make sure you take pictures and write up instructions for the website.
Cory
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Post by Cory »

I have a 55g barrel that my RO empties into, I only run a few tanks. I keep apistos, discus and lampeyes. Oh and 3 taeturdina ocellicauda.

I hadn't remembered that about trashcans, though I have read about difference between the rubber of food grade and chemical grade containers. I should have assumed so. Maybe just coat them with a paint, epoxy, or silicon. I'd like to use clear enamel on clear trash cans so I can see the condensation. The cans will be small only 8" diameter, 10" tall.

It's like this, if I could do a drip system I would. I can't so this is the next best thing. All I have to do is find out of the 10% I remove what do I want to put back.
<edited><editID>Cory</editID><editDate>37967.6372106482</editDate></edited>
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RTRJR
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Post by RTRJR »

If they are HDPE they are unlikely to be harmful. Rubbermaid makes a large variety of food-safe containers. Sometimes particular colors within a line are not food-safe, while the majority of the line and the base material are safe.
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