Waste Water from RO/DI

CSS Reef · 07/31/2006, 11:09 AM

I want to run my waste water from my RO/DI to my garden outside. What are some of you doing to achieve this. In particular I am looking for what type of plumbing, sprinkler accesories you using to get the most out of the waste water and distribute evenly over a long run.

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 11:10 AM

It is aginst the law here for some dumb reason.

eclecticvibe · 07/31/2006, 11:19 AM

I've heard that waste water is particularly bad for plants since it contains all the waste products that are filtered out during the reverse osmosis process.

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 11:23 AM

We drink the water all the time before it is filtered.

CSS Reef · 07/31/2006, 11:44 AM

But all of those "waste products" are in the same unfiltered water that feeds my sprinkler system. ???

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by eclecticvibe
I've heard that waste water is particularly bad for plants since it contains all the waste products that are filtered out during the reverse osmosis process.

I don't think I understand your point. Are you saying that the filtering process somehow makes the waste water toxic?

Acroholic · 07/31/2006, 12:00 PM

I have my waste water run out of my house to a small french drain. No ill effects at all...actually the plants and flowers closer to my drain are the largest and healthiest. It has more to do with water frequency and not water quality........JMHO.

Roland Jacques · 07/31/2006, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hogpark7430
It is aginst the law here for some dumb reason.

????????????? are tax dollar/goverment at work. i would have to break that law.

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by yourfishman
????????????? are tax dollar/goverment at work. i would have to break that law.

I am shocked I tell you shocked

mg426 · 07/31/2006, 12:15 PM

I run mine down the washer drain, I sure cant seewhat it would hurt using it for a garden ??????

RandyStacyE · 07/31/2006, 12:43 PM

For instance in Chicago you get in serious trouble for watering your lawn durring a droubt. I'd bet that you shouldn't even have an RO unit running durring a droubt technically, but who would know. It's just not a responsible thing to do.

I'd bet that most water care companies like Culligan don't just shut down durring droubts, but who knows maybe I'm wrong.

I'm sure you could capture your waste water from your RO unit (in drums) and then feed your sprinklers using a water pump.

pat_man_ta · 07/31/2006, 12:59 PM

I would tend to think the waste water from a RODI system is still cleaner than the tap water. Mine puts the tap water through 2 stages before it reaches the RO module. The volume of waste water is so much larger than the good water that I cannot imagine that it is much worse than the original tap water unless it is creating higher concentrations of heavy metals and other poisons that are allowed in our drinking water supply. ;p

Mark426 · 07/31/2006, 01:09 PM

No the waste water from an RO unit is not toxic, its just not very good at all for you or your plants. Look at it this way.... you take a gallon of unfiltered water, take out as much pure water as possible....whatâ€™s left has ALL the metals/salts/etc. that was in the original water in a HIGHLY concentrated form. If your RO system was 100% efficient you would only have toxic metals and chemicals left and no H20 at all. I am not sure what the actual efficiency of our home RO units are, but I for sure donâ€™t want to use the waste water. I think it is best to send it down the drain and save water by other means. Would be interesting to have the waste water testedâ€¦I bet we would be shocked

jeffbrig · 07/31/2006, 01:24 PM

It's not as bad as you're making it out Mark. A typical RO membrane uses a 5:1 rejection ratio. That's 5 gallons of waste for 1 gallon of pure water. If we assume the membrane is 100% effective (it isn't), the impurities in the waste water will increase by 20% compared to normal tap water. It's simple when you think about it - 6 gallons worth of impurities are squeezed into just 5 gallons of waste water, 6/5 = 1.2 or 20% increase.

Unless you have some really nasty stuff in your water just under EPA limits, your 20% higher tds "waste" water is perfectly fine for drinking or any other purpose. I would recommend against long term storage, as your carbon filters removed the chlorine that keeps stuff from growing in the water.

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 01:43 PM

5:1 no wonder my H2O bill was 250.00 last month. Oh yea I left a hose on for 4 days while I was out of town.

jeffbrig · 07/31/2006, 01:44 PM

$250!!!!

Mine was ~$25/month before I started up my big tank, now it's ~$30. I make a couple of hundred gallons of RO/DI every month (250g, 55g, and 10g tanks).

The Grim Reefer · 07/31/2006, 02:05 PM

I run mine out the garage into a planter. If they want to nail me for watering on the wrong day I'll go to court on that one. I want video of a judge telling me I should have ran the waste down the drain instead of on the plants.

Mark426 · 07/31/2006, 02:20 PM

jeffbrig,
Point well stated. Thats the information I/we needed.
I guess I should have your avatar....."in over my head".

Roland Jacques · 07/31/2006, 05:10 PM

My waste water has a TDS of 60ppm after 3 membranes. It is great for most any plants. It is high in phosphates but plants love that, at least algae does. Not only that my waste water is filtered from most all solids and chlorines... by the carbon filters. At most it only going to be 20% higher tds than your tap. My tap fluctuates more than that, try 100%

eclecticvibe · 07/31/2006, 05:18 PM

I'm no botanist so I could be wrong. I had heard, as Mark said, that the buildup of heavy metals was higher in the waste due to the fact the impurities mostly came out in waste, and clean water was removed. If the fertilizers like phosphate outway the increase in heavy metals then I'd say go for it. Geez I hate chemisty.

RobbyG · 07/31/2006, 05:31 PM

Plants do not like water with a high chlorine or metal content, but they sure as heck like it better than no water at all.

hogpark7430 · 07/31/2006, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by eclecticvibe
I'm no botanist so I could be wrong. I had heard, as Mark said, that the buildup of heavy metals was higher in the waste due to the fact the impurities mostly came out in waste, and clean water was removed. If the fertilizers like phosphate outway the increase in heavy metals then I'd say go for it. Geez I hate chemisty.

That still doesn't make sense to me but I have been wrong before. I think we need an expert opinion.

8BALL_99 · 08/01/2006, 01:52 AM

Its 100% fine to run the water to your lawn or Garden.. The heavy metals an whatever else comes from your hosepipe anyway.. If you take a gallon of water from the tap poor it in your plant.. the water is sucked up and Evaporated... But any heavymetals and whatever else still goes to the plant... Doesn't matter if there is a lil more bad stuff per gallon.

LOL for that matter I live in the country so I have a septic tank.. All our waste water goes to the lawn!! The grass where my feild lines are grows 4X faster then the rest of the yard... That grass gets laundry soap,, Ro waste water, hand soap and what ever else we poor down the drain.. It doesn't seem to mind at all... Now if you want to kill some plants.. Saltwater works great

crash519 · 08/01/2006, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RobbyG
Plants do not like water with a high chlorine or metal content, but they sure as heck like it better than no water at all.

The chlorine is removed before the membrane. Sprinkler systems don't filter the water what so ever. Do something with the waste water besides put it down the drain. You are not going to hurt anything. Mine goes around my foundation and the greenest grass I have is where? You guessed it, around the foundation!

If your unit is working properly, your TDS will only increase 20-25% over your tap. Actually less since it goess through a few filters prior to the membrane.

I now someone that used the waste water for the water in his freshwater planted tank. That is one of the best FW tanks I've ever seen

CSS Reef · 08/01/2006, 09:13 AM

Back to my first question, how are the people running the waste water to their lawn? black hose pipe with holes?? etc.... OR Just Teeing off the tube and branching out??? Please be specific

07/31/2006, 11:09 AM	#1
CSS Reef Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 595	Waste Water from RO/DI I want to run my waste water from my RO/DI to my garden outside. What are some of you doing to achieve this. In particular I am looking for what type of plumbing, sprinkler accesories you using to get the most out of the waste water and distribute evenly over a long run.

07/31/2006, 11:10 AM	#2
hogpark7430 [this status is for rent] Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: 6374' Posts: 1,084 Blog Entries: 6	It is aginst the law here for some dumb reason. __________________ Mike __________________________ Current Tank Info: 2x 75g stock tanks, a 180 in progress

07/31/2006, 11:19 AM	#3
eclecticvibe Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 583	I've heard that waste water is particularly bad for plants since it contains all the waste products that are filtered out during the reverse osmosis process. __________________ Jay Current Tank Info: Taking it all down.

07/31/2006, 11:23 AM	#4
hogpark7430 [this status is for rent] Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: 6374' Posts: 1,084 Blog Entries: 6	We drink the water all the time before it is filtered. __________________ Mike __________________________ Current Tank Info: 2x 75g stock tanks, a 180 in progress

07/31/2006, 12:00 PM	#7
Acroholic Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hypoluxo, Fl. Posts: 1,000	I have my waste water run out of my house to a small french drain. No ill effects at all...actually the plants and flowers closer to my drain are the largest and healthiest. It has more to do with water frequency and not water quality........JMHO. __________________ "I don't always know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm right!" -Muhammad Ali Current Tank Info: 180 Diamante Oceanic, 3 400w 10k Hammy's w/IceCaps, 2 140w URI super actinics, AC III Pro, 30g sump, 30g refug, 1/3hp chill, PM Skimmer/kalkreactor/calcium reactor/effluent, 2 Tunze 6060's, 2 Gorman Rupp 1115's, 25w UV

07/31/2006, 11:44 AM	#5
CSS Reef Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 595	But all of those "waste products" are in the same unfiltered water that feeds my sprinkler system. ???

07/31/2006, 12:15 PM	#10
mg426 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: maryland Posts: 6,923	I run mine down the washer drain, I sure cant seewhat it would hurt using it for a garden ?????? __________________ I found a way to make a small fortune running a reef tank. Start with a large fortune. Unofficial President of the SEACLONE haters club Current Tank Info: 125 mixed reef 110 lbs LR, 1x250watt XM 20K MH 2x175watt XM 20K MH on Magetics 2X96 watt actinic PC, 220 watt VHO actinic, 30 gallon refugium, closed loop system powered by Sequence Dart MSX 200 skimmer 38 gallon sump, Oceansmotions squirt

07/31/2006, 12:43 PM	#11
RandyStacyE Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Indiana Posts: 2,659	For instance in Chicago you get in serious trouble for watering your lawn durring a droubt. I'd bet that you shouldn't even have an RO unit running durring a droubt technically, but who would know. It's just not a responsible thing to do. I'd bet that most water care companies like Culligan don't just shut down durring droubts, but who knows maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure you could capture your waste water from your RO unit (in drums) and then feed your sprinklers using a water pump.

07/31/2006, 12:59 PM	#12
pat_man_ta Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Somerville, MA Posts: 416	I would tend to think the waste water from a RODI system is still cleaner than the tap water. Mine puts the tap water through 2 stages before it reaches the RO module. The volume of waste water is so much larger than the good water that I cannot imagine that it is much worse than the original tap water unless it is creating higher concentrations of heavy metals and other poisons that are allowed in our drinking water supply. ;p __________________ est. 2003 Current Tank Info: 5.5g & 10g NANOs, 58g Reef

07/31/2006, 01:09 PM	#13
Mark426 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2,479	No the waste water from an RO unit is not toxic, its just not very good at all for you or your plants. Look at it this way.... you take a gallon of unfiltered water, take out as much pure water as possible....whatâ€™s left has ALL the metals/salts/etc. that was in the original water in a HIGHLY concentrated form. If your RO system was 100% efficient you would only have toxic metals and chemicals left and no H20 at all. I am not sure what the actual efficiency of our home RO units are, but I for sure donâ€™t want to use the waste water. I think it is best to send it down the drain and save water by other means. Would be interesting to have the waste water testedâ€¦I bet we would be shocked

07/31/2006, 01:24 PM	#14
jeffbrig Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Posts: 5,548	It's not as bad as you're making it out Mark. A typical RO membrane uses a 5:1 rejection ratio. That's 5 gallons of waste for 1 gallon of pure water. If we assume the membrane is 100% effective (it isn't), the impurities in the waste water will increase by 20% compared to normal tap water. It's simple when you think about it - 6 gallons worth of impurities are squeezed into just 5 gallons of waste water, 6/5 = 1.2 or 20% increase. Unless you have some really nasty stuff in your water just under EPA limits, your 20% higher tds "waste" water is perfectly fine for drinking or any other purpose. I would recommend against long term storage, as your carbon filters removed the chlorine that keeps stuff from growing in the water. __________________ Beware the power of stupid people in large groups..... Current Tank Info: formerly 250g room divider

07/31/2006, 01:43 PM	#15
hogpark7430 [this status is for rent] Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: 6374' Posts: 1,084 Blog Entries: 6	5:1 no wonder my H2O bill was 250.00 last month. Oh yea I left a hose on for 4 days while I was out of town. __________________ Mike __________________________ Current Tank Info: 2x 75g stock tanks, a 180 in progress

07/31/2006, 01:44 PM	#16
jeffbrig Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Posts: 5,548	$250!!!! Mine was ~$25/month before I started up my big tank, now it's ~$30. I make a couple of hundred gallons of RO/DI every month (250g, 55g, and 10g tanks). __________________ Beware the power of stupid people in large groups..... Current Tank Info: formerly 250g room divider

07/31/2006, 02:05 PM	#17
The Grim Reefer Ready for some NOBALL!!! Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Kingman Az Posts: 25,259	I run mine out the garage into a planter. If they want to nail me for watering on the wrong day I'll go to court on that one. I want video of a judge telling me I should have ran the waste down the drain instead of on the plants. __________________ America, the way it outta be! Current Tank Info: 120 Starphire with Illudium Q-288 Photon Regurgitator DIY LED lighting

07/31/2006, 02:20 PM	#18
Mark426 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2,479	jeffbrig, Point well stated. Thats the information I/we needed. I guess I should have your avatar....."in over my head".

07/31/2006, 05:10 PM	#19
Roland Jacques Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 2,848	My waste water has a TDS of 60ppm after 3 membranes. It is great for most any plants. It is high in phosphates but plants love that, at least algae does. Not only that my waste water is filtered from most all solids and chlorines... by the carbon filters. At most it only going to be 20% higher tds than your tap. My tap fluctuates more than that, try 100% __________________ Roland

07/31/2006, 05:18 PM	#20
eclecticvibe Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 583	I'm no botanist so I could be wrong. I had heard, as Mark said, that the buildup of heavy metals was higher in the waste due to the fact the impurities mostly came out in waste, and clean water was removed. If the fertilizers like phosphate outway the increase in heavy metals then I'd say go for it. Geez I hate chemisty. __________________ Jay Current Tank Info: Taking it all down.

07/31/2006, 05:31 PM	#21
RobbyG Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: 600 Ft From the Reef Posts: 2,099	Plants do not like water with a high chlorine or metal content, but they sure as heck like it better than no water at all. __________________ The Optimist says the glass is half full, the Pessimist says it’s half empty, an engineer only see's a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be! Current Tank Info: Insanely Automated Low Power Consumption 90 Gal Oceanic Bow System/Aquatronica Touch Controller/AQ Dosing Pump/AQT LEDS/AQ SMS/Seq Dart Pump/ASM G3/Ozotech Ozonizer/Koralin 1502/Chiller/Typhoon3 Ro/S.Squirt /Phos React/Rmt DSB

08/01/2006, 01:52 AM	#23
8BALL_99 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Toney, AL Posts: 3,724	Its 100% fine to run the water to your lawn or Garden.. The heavy metals an whatever else comes from your hosepipe anyway.. If you take a gallon of water from the tap poor it in your plant.. the water is sucked up and Evaporated... But any heavymetals and whatever else still goes to the plant... Doesn't matter if there is a lil more bad stuff per gallon. LOL for that matter I live in the country so I have a septic tank.. All our waste water goes to the lawn!! The grass where my feild lines are grows 4X faster then the rest of the yard... That grass gets laundry soap,, Ro waste water, hand soap and what ever else we poor down the drain.. It doesn't seem to mind at all... Now if you want to kill some plants.. Saltwater works great __________________ The problem with political jokes is they get elected. OK, so what's the speed of dark? Why do we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway? Isn't is it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"? Current Tank Info: Custom Starfire 300,92Gallon,35 Gallon Hex,Two 40Gallons,125Gallon,

08/01/2006, 09:13 AM	#25
CSS Reef Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 595	Back to my first question, how are the people running the waste water to their lawn? black hose pipe with holes?? etc.... OR Just Teeing off the tube and branching out??? Please be specific