[vince-1961]

Hello everyone.

I just acquired 225 gallon with plenty of life in it already. Filtration = live sand, live rock in the aquarium, then in 65 gallon sump, the water from aquarium runs as follows: large grain sponge, small grain sponge, drip tray, then lava rock that is 12inches length vy 12 inches width by 15 inches height with water line at 10 inches so that there is about 5 inches of lava rock above water line, under/over baffle to refugium containing some sand and a chunk of that green bushy brillo-pad-like plant that consumes nitrates, then another under/over baffle in which there is polyester fill, then to reservoir, then to main pump, then to Tee with a diversion to a protein skimmer which dumps well-aerated water back into refugium. The rest of water from Tee goes to aquarium.

Am losing about 2 gallons of water per day to evaporation. (No metal halides....just T5 flourescents.) My dehumidifier takes about the same amount per day from the atmosphere in the aquarium room, which otherwise would be a very dry room. I used tap water to replenish and got a major bloom of diatomes which I've since brought under control with silicate/phosphate removing beads in a bag.

The dehumidifier does not appear to have copper coils. I cleaned it as thoroughly as I could. I'd prefer not buy a RO/DI.

Should I be using dehumidifier output for refilling aquarium?

[RyanG]

Vince, I would really recommend a quality RO/DI filter, with a dehumidifier you are getting things besides water that are being absorbed thru the water.

[vince-1961]

Like what?

No-one smokes in this house and I can't think of what else might be getting absorbed by the condensated water.

[unclejed]

You lost me when you said; "My dehumidifier takes about the same amount per day from the atmosphere in the aquarium room, which otherwise would be a very dry room". A dehumidifier takes moisture out of the room making it a more dry atmosphere. If you weren't dehumidifying the room, the tank may not evaporate that much water because the room would be more humid.

[pogodzib]

I wouldn't use the water from a dehumidifier. Many people have thought about it, but I have heard of very few people doing it with success, and even then, it wasn't used for a long time frame. Dehumidifiers not only often use copper coils (which you say yours doesn't have), but they also are pulling any chemical floating around (cooking fumes, household cleaners, hair spray, etc...) in your homes air through the dehumidifier. The majority if these chemicals will get attached to the water molecules sitting on the coils are the air passes over it and end up in the dehumidifier water. Additionally, even though dehumidifiers have a filter, the filters on them are cheap and not very effective, so dust particles also would get into the water.

[vince-1961]

Thanks for the responses. I decided to go ahead and pay the expense of purchasing RO/DI unit. (I'll be able to use it to bottle my own drinking water!) I figure the cost of the RO/DI is less than the cost of having the condensed water that comes out of the dehumifier tested for contaminants.

Yes, the room was very dry before the aquarium. With the aquarium, it is very humid as about 2 gallons of water are evaporating from the aquarium per day (before I turned on the dehumidifier). I know from past experience in another building that the dehumidifier's maximum output under any circumstances, meaning under the most humid of atmospheres, is about 2 gallons per day. Running the dehumidifier in the same room as the aquarium will undoubtedly increase the rate of evaporation; but in the 4 days I have had it running, the increase has been negligible. I was hoping that I could set up a "secondary water cycle" (so to speak) .... from liquid in the aquarium to gas via evaporation, condensed back to liquid via dehumifier, then manually pour the liquid back into aquarium.

I'd like to cover the tank to reduce evaporation, but can't because it'll overheat, meaning I have to run a window air conditioning unit in the adjacent room during the day, but that's just south Georgia in August! I am determined to avoid a chiller if at all possible.

[ry77]

the water from mine is not very and I would imagine the it would contain pollutents from the air in your home as well as any sprays you might use. The manual for mine also says not to drink or cook with the water it collects, if I cant drink it I wouldnt want to swim in it. I would reccomend against it.

[LReefer]

Hey Vince, you can drink the RO but not the RO/DI. It will leach nutrients from your body.