BornToHula Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 I'm in the process of building a new house where my 240 gallon aquarium will be moved to. The house will be on an aerobic septic system with a 1000 or 1250 gallon septic tank (not sure which yet). Behind the aquarium I installed a drain line for water changes, but I failed to consider the impact salt water may have on a septic system. I'll have the aquarium set up on an automatic water change system that will change around 30 gallons a week. Does anyone know if this amount of salt water would impact the performance of the septic system? What about if I did a manual water change of 30 gallons and dumped it all at once? Another option I have is to fur-out a wall and connect the drain to my water softener drain line (does not go to septic tank). Connecting to this drain is ideal, but the fur-out will cost money, space and look bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 I water change into areas of my yard that I do not want anything to grow, still doesn't really matter. I just bought some extra python hose attachments so I can put it almost 100ft into the yard away from the leach field, if I need to. But personally, I wouldn't put any saltwater more than cleaning equipment and washing hands down the drain intentionally. The salts alone are something a septic isn't meant to deal with and could cause buildup in piping as well as an increased chance of corrosion. I'm probably overly-careful but I know ridiculously expensive it is if something gets messed up beyond replacing a pump especially if it happens after the main storage tanks or in the piping below the leach field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 Thank you for the reply! What is your caution based on, if you don't mind me asking? Did the septic installer or engineer warn about the saltwater/possible damage or is just more of a don't want to take a chance thing? On my house, the septic installer does not know what the effects of salt water would be, and I have a call into the septic engineer, but haven't received a reply yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 The short answer is don't. Beyond the impact brine water will have on equipment the brine water will have a negative impact on your bacteria. Fluctuations in salinity will keep them killed off prohibiting your system from functioning correctly. An aerobic system is more sensitive to things like this vs a gravity system. A gravity system will cost double though. Last one I had installed was right at 20k for a 3/2 house vs 9800 for an aerobic. Plus depending on your soils a gravity system maybe out of the cards anyways. A Low dose system is in the middle price wise but has pumps and the same perceived sensitivity to salinity fluctuations. Remember to drop chlorine tablets into your pump tank monthly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Thank you for the reply! What is your caution based on, if you don't mind me asking? Did the septic installer or engineer warn about the saltwater/possible damage or is just more of a don't want to take a chance thing? On my house, the septic installer does not know what the effects of salt water would be, and I have a call into the septic engineer, but haven't received a reply yet. Nothing specific, more like numerous warnings of don't put anything other than human waste, septic safe toilet paper, and water down it. Ours is fairly old though, almost 30 years, which would have been a deal breaker if it wasn't a cement tank. We had a septic specific inspector tell us to remove the garbage disposal the previous owner had installed as well. My personal thought is that seawater is much more corrosive than fresh water and there's not really any mechanism for salts to be removed, so just deductively thinking, I'm assuming it's possible for them to cause problems in the piping if they are allowed to accumulate enough, septic salt creep for lack of a better explanation. You're not talking about crazy amounts so it might be ok, but at least where my tank is located, it's just not worth the risk IMO. Our house isn't new either so anything we can do to keep stress on the system as low as possible, we're going to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Also RODI waste should go outside if possible. A normal rejection rate is 3 to 1 with the best being 2 to 1, so for every 1 gallon made you waste 3. This will cause your pump to run at a higher then designed rate for the system. I do it. But I know i am shortening the life span of the pump. When I replaced my pump last year I also stepped it up a size to accommodate the extra volume. Septic system are designed for a specific load give how many bed/bathrooms. When you dump AC condensation, clothes washer water and water softner discharge water down it you up the needed capacity therefore the cost of the system. Also most septic designers prefer the water softner discharge to not be on the system since it's essentially brine water. For all the issues listed above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Seems to me the salt from your reef would be a lot less than the salt a water softener. Oops! Just saw Reburn's last comment. I've had this issue come up in the past several times and the clients water softeners was dumping a lot more. So if the powers that be don't want it you might try what one client did and installed a seperate drain and a leach tank with a gravel bottom that would hold a couple hundred gallons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 The short answer is don't. Beyond the impact brine water will have on equipment the brine water will have a negative impact on your bacteria. Fluctuations in salinity will keep them killed off prohibiting your system from functioning correctly. An aerobic system is more sensitive to things like this vs a gravity system. A gravity system will cost double though. Last one I had installed was right at 20k for a 3/2 house vs 9800 for an aerobic. Plus depending on your soils a gravity system maybe out of the cards anyways. A Low dose system is in the middle price wise but has pumps and the same perceived sensitivity to salinity fluctuations. Remember to drop chlorine tablets into your pump tank monthly. Thanks for the input. I am forced to go with an aerobic septic system due to the soils. Also RODI waste should go outside if possible. A normal rejection rate is 3 to 1 with the best being 2 to 1, so for every 1 gallon made you waste 3. This will cause your pump to run at a higher then designed rate for the system. I do it. But I know i am shortening the life span of the pump. When I replaced my pump last you I also stepped it up a size to accommodate the extra volume. Septic system are designed for a specific load give how many bed/bathrooms. When you dump AC condensation, washer water and water softner discharge water down it you up the needed capacity therefore the cost of the system. Also most septic designers prefer the water softner discharge to not be on the system since it's essentially brine water. For all the issues listed above. My plumbers are really letting me down here! I have a drain (that goes to the septic) that was specifically for the RODI waste. Seems to me the salt from your reef would be a lot less than the salt a water softener. Oops! Just saw Reburn's last comment. I've had this issue come up in the past several times and the clients water softeners was dumping a lot more. So if the powers that be don't want it you might try what one client did and installed a seperate drain and a leach tank with a gravel bottom that would hold a couple hundred gallons. On our house the water softener does drain to the front of the house - not to the septic system. I'm guessing this is to avoid the salt going into the septic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 It sounds like it would be a bad idea to drain the saltwater through the septic system. Unless I get direct word form the engineer saying otherwise, I will need to do a furr-out on one of the walls and extend the water softener drain to behind the aquarium. The water softener drains separately from the septic system, but with the added water volume I will probably need to make some modifications here too. Too bad I didn't think of this issue before the house was framed, its not a cheap fix now! Live and learn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sissy36 Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 I dump my weekly water change of 2 gal in one spot of our front flower bed to keep the stupid zenia's from coming back. And to spite my husband. Sent from Sissy's phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 It sounds like it would be a bad idea to drain the saltwater through the septic system. Unless I get direct word form the engineer saying otherwise, I will need to do a furr-out on one of the walls and extend the water softener drain to behind the aquarium. The water softener drains separately from the septic system, but with the added water volume I will probably need to make some modifications here too. Too bad I didn't think of this issue before the house was framed, its not a cheap fix now! Live and learn You can do a greywater system basically into a french drain in a yard for laundry in Austin. I'd put it all down that if you go that route at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 To give a small update, I talked to my septic engineer and he said not to dump the saltwater into it. I will be adding a furr-out to the wall and connecting a drain outlet to my water softer drain. He did say the RODI waste would be fine for the septic system. To be pretty liberal I estimated the RODI waste would be 30-50 gallons a day average, with a max of 300 gallons in unusual circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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