melbournebetta Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Hey Everyone, I've been pondering lately, how it's the rainy season (in Melbourne) at the moment, and I have less guilt about the quantities of water I'm using for water changes and such. But in comparison to other countries, we aren't a water-wealthy land.... and the endless summer is creeping upon us. (Like the opposite of game of thrones) I've always tried to do things with an environmentally minded approach, and wondered if anyone else has some ideas about how to make the practice more "S" s"S"SS" sss.s. s.s sssustainable? ~hate a buzz word~ There's plenty I do at home and around the house - but I wondered if anyone could share ideas on fish keeping (specifically) While a lot of it is very "prayer flag-hippy" ...these things help me sleep at night: - Re-using waste water for plants (obvious) - Re-using waste water to flush the toilet - Skipping my second 4 min evening shower the days I'm doing water changes for multiple juvis - Using a timer on my lights to ensure plants are getting enough light to help condition the water = less power used in filtration Any other clever ideas? -lightsomeincenseNess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kertaz Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 If space isnt a constraint, -theoretically-, we could have a set up where there's a few tanks that contains algae/plants and one tank of fish. The waste water would be transferred for the plants/algae to be 'filtered' out, and then the water from the plants/algae's tanks are used for -new- water changes for the fish, after the nitrate's been used. That way we wouldn't actually need to get fresh water from the tap, except to top up the evaporation. I'm not sure about this one, but maybe we could use the waste water tank to culture our own live food? Blackworm, microworms? To hatch the brine shrimp eggs? I'm not sure how nitrate will affect the hatch rate or the blackworm/microworm reproduction, that's why I'm a bit unsure about this idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbournebetta Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Oh I like the waste water as brine shrimp hatching - I'm going to try when I get home (also need to get in the BBS hatcing zone soon) Nice one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 (edited) The planted tank only is an excellent idea in theory but would not work in a small setup. Other than nitrates there's a number of other organics or inorganic substances produced from fish that does not get absorbed into the plants, even fully planted tanks that needs constant nitrate dosing need water changes every few weeks. Also the fish only produce a small number of nutrients for the plants and does not produce all the necessary elements for the plants to grow. There's also the fact that plants do not take up so many nutrients as quickly as fish produces them (it depends on how many fish you have). The reason it works in the wild is because there's a constant in take of fresh water from rain or stream etc, also the fish to water volume ratio is much smaller than it is in our aquariums. I use my water to water my plants (outside) and flush toilets... although I do not skip out on showers but the first two usually uses up all my water changes (considering I have a planted tank, not a lot of water changes are necessary. Edited July 17, 2011 by fishbites no need to quote entire post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kertaz Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Yeah, I figured. That's why I mentioned a few algae/planted tanks to one tank of fish. Theoretically, it'd be just for controlling the nitrate though. ... Maybe I should start looking into potted plants next :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 lol... I thought the same thing before I started a planted tank... once I did I realised it's actually not as easy as I thought it would be. The balances in a tank can be tipped with one little thing that may affect the whole tank. Right now I'm trying to battle slow plant growth that resulted in green spot algae, suspected to be low CO2 so trying to add that without suffocating my fish or turn my tank too acidic... it's hard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 I use this method Ness. It doesn't work with the planting density I show in the tutorial, I added heaps more plants and thats when amonia dropped off. In my 4 foot tank I went at least 4 months with no waterchanges, juvi fish grew really fast. My endlers gave birth 2 days ago in the smaller tank and they have just about doubled in size, I donh't even feed them, the tank is full off little critters they eat, it means I'm not producing co2 in a MW culture. The other thing you can do is have a 4 hour siesta in the afternoon, Dianna Walstad says when she uses this she can have a photoperiod of 12 hours and the plants go nuts, so she has teh lights on for 8 and off for 4 somewhere in the afternoon and they grow so much more than if they had an 8 hour photoperiod with no breaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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