TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
I live in New York about 32 miles as the crow flies NNE of NYC. So we get regular seasons. So here we are in winter. The temp outside right now is 17F (-8.33C). I have one 75 gal. still running that I normally take out the water for the regular via a pump which runs out of a window.
But at 17F the ground is frozen and the water would not be absorbed into the ground and it would have just enough time to make it to the walkway in front of the house before it turns to ice. So I cannot pump water out the window with my small Eheim pump as I normally do. Now I need to haul out the Python hoses hooked to my 500 GPH Danner pump and send the water down the bathroom toilet.
Interesting thought here. NY, especially my area, is in a bit of a drought. But it is a watch not yet a warning nor an officially serious drought. The cause is mostly a lack of rain for many months. But we have both our own well and septic system. So, when I change water it isn't evaporating into thin air. Whether I punp it out a window onto the ground or down a toulet and through the septic system, the "waste" water is going back into the system. Natural forces will clean it as it some of it makes its way back to the aquifer. Some will be used by the plants and trees along the way. What matters is the fact that a lot of my tank water stays within the system rather than evaporating without resulting in rain which would send it back to some extent.
If one is on a municipal water system all the waste water is combined and sent to a water treatment plant. But what evaporates into the air can only be replaced by rain sending it back to where we can still use it in some fashion. Because of the system I have for my fish, there is very little water actually leaving the system and not returning due to no rainfall.
But at 17F the ground is frozen and the water would not be absorbed into the ground and it would have just enough time to make it to the walkway in front of the house before it turns to ice. So I cannot pump water out the window with my small Eheim pump as I normally do. Now I need to haul out the Python hoses hooked to my 500 GPH Danner pump and send the water down the bathroom toilet.
Interesting thought here. NY, especially my area, is in a bit of a drought. But it is a watch not yet a warning nor an officially serious drought. The cause is mostly a lack of rain for many months. But we have both our own well and septic system. So, when I change water it isn't evaporating into thin air. Whether I punp it out a window onto the ground or down a toulet and through the septic system, the "waste" water is going back into the system. Natural forces will clean it as it some of it makes its way back to the aquifer. Some will be used by the plants and trees along the way. What matters is the fact that a lot of my tank water stays within the system rather than evaporating without resulting in rain which would send it back to some extent.
If one is on a municipal water system all the waste water is combined and sent to a water treatment plant. But what evaporates into the air can only be replaced by rain sending it back to where we can still use it in some fashion. Because of the system I have for my fish, there is very little water actually leaving the system and not returning due to no rainfall.
