Gray water into AP

[Pete I]

  Just finished plumbing my gray water filter into grow bed, tested on small system OK,  pretty basic but functional.  We're in dry season here now,  need water,   should be able to replace evaporation loss.

  Two new broods of Red Talipia this week. 

  New  [2nd]   Bio-filter working,  water clearer,  algae down,  pH under control

[Nate Storey]

cool. Keep us informed on how that works out for you.  I've thought that would be an interesting experiment to do sometime.  Grey water can be fairly high-quality.  You might have to police a little what goes down the drain though. . . Good luck!

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Pete,

Good stuff! What is the source of your water before it goes to AP? If it contains soap water, how are you planning to deal with it? Sure would like to see your setup.

[TCLynx]

yea, gotta be real careful of soaps going into a fish system as they are sufficants and if they coat the fish gills, it can kill them right quick.  Also soaps are not so good for bio-filters either.  So I'm curious too about how you are dealing with the gray water.

[Pete I]

Bathroom shower and sink,  into 5 gal bucket filled crushed charcoal, {not briquettes]   prefiltered threw window screening, that removes a lot of soap scum, into 10' bamboo trough filled with gravel, more charcoal, getting bio activity going,  sprayed all with EM,  tried sending photo's,  net here is unbelievably slow........

[TCLynx]

what is em?

 

[RupertofOZ]

Would be OK feeding wicking beds... or drip to waste fruit trees.... 

But personally... I'd keep the grey water away from my fish tank & AP system...

[Pete I]

EM, is Essential Micronutrients , a bio activating bottle of bacteria, some Japanese AG Dr. developed, use on compost, inoculates plants.

[Mike C.]

If you get your water from a municipal source don't forget it is treated with CL2 (Chlorine).

Here is the The commonly used measurement of primary pollution.  BOD ( Biological Oxygen Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)--the amount of oxygen extracted from water by bacteria when pollutants decompose. The more organic material there is in sewage, the greater the amount of oxygen needed to decompose these pollutants and, consequently, the greater the primary pollution. One way of getting rid of most of the issue is to aerate the snot out of it. This process will make what is called mixed liquor. 

 

The general arrangement process for removing carbonaceous pollution includes the following items:

• Aeration tank where air (or oxygen) is injected in the mixed liquor.
• Settling tank (usually referred to as "final clarifier" or "secondary settling tank") to allow the biological flocs to settle, thus separating the biological sludge from the clear treated water

This is just an a  overview of how wastewater is treated. There is a lot more involved in bigger systems,but the general idea is aerate the Grey water somehow and then put it in a clarifier to settle the solids out. So air pump and a small tank or barrel to settle out the phosphates (soap and such) and other biologics that you don't need before going into fish or plants. If you let water set in aerating tank the sun will take care of CL2 for the most part. UV (sun) is a great disinfectant...

[Pete I]

I'm going into 2500+ gallons of water,  much dilution,  pretty sure most CL2 is gone, will measure with pool tester.

Thanks for input......

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Pete,

I think that processing Grey Water for AP will become very important in the near future. In my country(third world) water availability is already of major concern. Any forays we make toward utilizing Grey is of important in the world, so best of luck. I think sand is great for mechanical filtration and Chlorine to disinfect. Including this study below.

[Pete I]

So far no causalities,    pH is up,     suspect lye in soap,   not adding much.

[Aaron]

What is the 2500gal of water now? 100% Clean , 100% grey, 99% clean fresh to 1% grey. I think the ratio is important considering the fishies and you will be consuming the result.

Pete I said:

So far no causalities,    pH is up,     suspect lye in soap,   not adding much.