Recycling used saltwater

Ok might be wasting my time with this topic but here goes.

The water that is removed with a water change would it be possible to reclaim this water and use for a later water change. This is what I'm thinking a tank with out lights or heater. Divided into two parts with circulation pumps. One half for taking out the bad  the other for putting the good back.
 Now to the questions:

•  What is in the water that is removed?  I know that there would be phosphates, dissolved organics, ammonia,  nitrates and of course the Ca Alk Mg would be off... anything I'm missing?
  
• Does the salt mixes we use go bad or breakdown over time?

 Thoughts?

 

I'm with Fat on this one.  My tank looks better when I give it a fresh batch of salt water (water change).  So those trace elements are vital.  I tried for a while just dosing Ca, Alk, Mg but found a much better looking tank with water changes and dosing.

There are a ton of trace elements you cant test for or supplement. Look at your salt mix and you will see what I'm saying. I do about a 30% wc every 2 weeks on my home tank and 50% once a month on my office tank.

I do a 10% every month to 6 weeks.  I also add in Kent Marine Essential Elements weekly.

I run a turf scrubber aka algae scrubber

Edited by LaRue - February 15 2014 at 5:54pm

Aloha,
I agree with much that has been said already. Sorry, I didn't intend to write a "dissertation", but I just got going and couldn't stop.

laroc wrote:  What is in the water that is removed?  I know that there would be phosphates, dissolved organics, ammonia,  nitrates and of course the Ca Alk Mg would be off... anything I'm missing? Does the salt mixes we use go bad or breakdown over time?

Yours is a very common question. Over the years, many products and equipment have come into the hobby with the intention of doing just as you suggest. Most of them however are gone and forgotten. They didn't work.

Twenty years ago I(we) changed water because we needed to reduce the build up of pollution. The pollution was mostly the things you mentioned; the three Nitrogen compounds(Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate), Phosphates and other dissolved organic compounds.

Things are different today with what I see as three major advancements in knowledge and technology. 1) We learned how to set up a tank with a biological filtration process which completely decomposes the N pollution. 2) We also learned how algae growth absorbs N and PO4, as well as other dissolved organics. 3) After many designs that worked only marginally well, the development of the venturi driven skimmer changed everything.

Over the years, salt mixes improved to be better for coral growth. Gosh, in the day when I entered the hobby, keeping soft coral alive for a year was a real accomplishment. Stony coral was hardly even considered.

Everything has changed
Today we typically don't do regular water changes to reduce pollution. Instead, we do water changes to replace natural saltwater components that have been eaten/utilized by coral, clams, snails, algae, shrimp, bugs and worms. The salt in salt water does not change and essential elements found in salt water do not break down, but many of them just get depleted.

With the advancements of these last 20 years we have even discovered that water changes can be unnecessary during two critical situations.  1) After an unexpected tank mishap, well illuminated algae quickly reduces N pollution and Activated Carbon removes toxins, effectively eliminating the need for emergency water changes . 2) During tank set up the use of well illuminated algae practically eliminates the N cycle, so water changes are not needed for up to 3 months.

My final comment has to do with the components of salt water and what one very enterprising person did to make his own saltwater. It is the article in the current (Q1 2014) Reef Hobbyist Magazine titled A Flourishing Dutch Synthetic Reef
The magazine is free at many LFS. This is the cover.



Of course this post is just one man's opinion. Contrasting opinions are always welcomed.
Aloha,
Mark


Edited by Mark Peterson - February 15 2014 at 8:19pm

My display is 90 gallons and my sump is 75. I run activated carbon abit every 2 months. In my sump I only have chaeto, but would lie to add different types soon. I also have a protein skimmer.

Thanks again all.
Mark yes I would like to stop by. You also pm me last week and said you would like to come and see my tanks( they multiply like rabbits). Maybe we could set something up this weekend. I will give you a text .
W/C scheduled for this weekend. If it is not broke don't fix it right guys. Might have to redesign the sump since picked up a awesome skimmer  a couple weeks ago. It looks a blown big block. Tim Allen would be proud.

WMAS best website ever!

while I don't follow the method myself (actually the exact opposite in that I run continual water changes of 2 gallons a day), you should take a look at the Triton method of reefing.   It advocates doing no water changes at all.   It uses macro to pull out the pollution and has high accuracy tests to tell you what to replace.   There are some great tanks following this method.