Good morning, afternoon, evening! I was reading in a previous post that you could use aquarium water in your compost pile; the ammonia would kick start the cooking process. My question is, is the water safe to use if you use a water conditioner? I would love to find a use for it, and I'd love to water my compost with it.

Thanks

frog

Hey paganfroglady,

I've had aquariums in the past and know that when you change the water the waste water is really loaded with nitrogen. Probably from all the fish turds and waiting too long to change the water.

In my opinion, instead of pouring the water on a compost pile, I'd pick out my favorite plant and use the aquarium water to water it. If you have a very large aquarium you may even be able to water several favorite plants.

I used to have a 110 gallon aquarium.

Oh, and welcome to the OG forum.

Funny that you mention aquarium water. We have a water turtle and last year everytime the tank was cleaned, my husband took the shortest route. He walked out the front and poured it into the grass.

Funny thing is, that is where our grass is greenest, this early spring!

when I had a tank of goldfish...eat, swim, poop...what a life....I used to water my houseplants w/it and they did wonderfully! If your fish can live thru the conditioned water, your compost pile s/b fine w/it!

And what is conditioned water? Do you have a water softener? I do because our ground water is soooooo HARD. The softner just removes the minerals from the water then uses the brine water to rinse the minerals off the element things that collect the minerals from the water. The brine water goes down the drain to the septic tank. We use a product called Nature's Own and it's potassium instead of salt. It's supposed to be more septic system and plant friendly. It may not be totally organic, but all my water using appliances last longer and I use a lot less soap.

But I digress(sp?) sorry...yes use the fishtank water in your compost pile!

The water conditioner I am referring to removes cholorine and other impurities from the water, and it also helps your critter to maintain their natural protective slime coating. I use one from Repti-Safe, but I haven't bothered to look and see what's in it. You only use a tablespoon per 5 gallons of water, so I guess it's not all that much anyway. Now if it would just get warm enough to venture outside...

Frog, did you mean a water softener/conditioner in your home's water system, or did you mean conditioner just for the fish tank? I know most fish require the conditioner to neutralize certain things in tap water.

Either way, the compost pile or thirsty plants is a good place for it.