Fishtank Water

[The Green Reaper]

Good to use?

The Green Reaper Reviewed by The Green Reaper on 06-27-2007. Fishtank Water Good to use? Rating: 5

[the yeag]

not the one in my home it is saltwater...I know ya meant freshwater i was breaking ballz as usual. people say yes but the pope says no , you can get more nitrogen from other sources. if your curious measure the h20 in question with a ph stick or a hottub paper strip find out what's in the water. i think you would be wasting your time and you might encourage bugs and fungus.

[rhizome]

Couple of things-

Fish excrete nitrogen in the form of raw ammonia, which is way too hot for your plants, esp after evaporative concentration in your media. The filter medium is designed to host several specia of bacteria, one of which converts the ammonium to nitrite- Still on the hot side. Another specia convert the nitrite to nitrate, which is acceptable as a nitrogen source.
Tank water contains all three of these forms of nitrogen in varying porportions, depending on filter load, tank pH, time of last feeding, etc. While a carefully managed system can produce a nute that won't actually kill your plants, the output of the system day to day is very difficult to track- you'll have no idea what your relative nitrogen concentration is, and what form it is in, unless you want to spend a lot of money on lab gear, and a lot of time learning how to perform the tests and a lot more learning to interpret them.

Almost all commercial fish food contains salt. Fish tanks accumulate sodium at a really rediculous pace. Fish are more tolerant of NaCl levels than your plants are. As the tank in question matures, the sodium levels will render the solution toxic. Again, this can be managed, if you have a half hour or so a day for labwork. And a lab.

"Fishtank dechlorinator" is sodium thiophosphate, which binds to the chlorine to produce, you got it, sodium chloride- salt. Again, sodium levels are too high for plants.

Most fish require a pH of between 6.5 and 7.2, which is too high for your purposes. This will cause micronutrient lockout, esp iron. You can "fix" this with a foliar feed, but the irregular availability of metals will inhibit growth.

If you want to hit your plants w/ tank water maybe once a month as a special treat, ya probabley won't kill anything. Probabley. They will respond to the nitrite spike by growing hard for a few days, assuming light is available. I wouldn't do it more than that , tho. In fact, I wouldn't do it at all.

Keep in mind that most " freshwater" tanks will show an EC of 1.0 or more- not what I'd call fresh. Unless you're really religous about water changes, it'll be higher. Most fishkeepers end up keeping the tank on the edge of toxic for the fish, forget about the plants- the tank gets bad, you clear it up until fish stop dying, you slack off, fish start dying, you clear it up....

So yes, tank water can be used, if you happen to have a good lab in the basement. And at least a Bachelor's in organic chemistry. And a lot of time.

Save yourself 10k in lab gear and another 80k in education- use tapwater.

[rhizome]

Oh hey Yeag- como esta?

[The Green Reaper]

Thanks for the indepth reply. I have fed my cannabis and tomatoes with tank water a few times with no ill effects. After reading your post I will stick to other sources. What product do you reccomend for veg and flower that is easily obtainable?

Is earth juice any good? I have to travel out of town to find a hydro shop :-(

I haveused terra cycle..any good?Its expensive but seemed like my tomotoes and other plants blew up when i used it..

[davejohnwright]

I remember reading about success and failure with aquaponics at overgrow, havent heard shit about it since before they went down.
Aquaponics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[the image reaper]

Thanks for the indepth reply. I have fed my cannabis and tomatoes with tank water a few times with no ill effects. After reading your post I will stick to other sources. What product do you reccomend for veg and flower that is easily obtainable?

Is earth juice any good? I have to travel out of town to find a hydro shop :-(

I haveused terra cycle..any good?Its expensive but seemed like my tomotoes and other plants blew up when i used it..

Earth Juice has good nutrients ... I used them for a long time, before switching to some Fox Farm nutes ... the Earth Juice tends to be in weaker concentrations, so it is gentler with your plants ... either are good quality ... :smokin:

[rhizome]

Aqua's a funny thing- it actually gets easier as it gets bigger. Little twitches are more easily absorbed.

A rig big enough to be stable actually looks, runs, and smells a lot like a sewage treatment plant.

Recirc aqua is also a differant ball of fish than extracting tank water to use as a nutrient in a soil-based system.

It'll work ( and be a signifigant food source in the near future), but I'd say that home aquaponics is about as practical as home tissue culture.

[Weedhound]

Super informative post guys....thanks. :thumbsup:

Ps..Rhizome I have fish and you are dead on about the nitrogen/ammonia thing. You are a wise soul.

PSS....Tank cleaning and 25% water change every 7-10 days for my fish. Sorry about jacking the thread.

[rhizome]

Ps..Rhizome ... You are a wise soul.

My wife would piss herself if she heard that.

Thanks.