Hi,

I always like to re-use stuff and I was just wondering if its a good idea to use old fishtank water to water plants?

My 500 gallon fishtank is due for a water change soon and rather than pouring the water away I could perhaps use it for my plants?

Is it a saltwater tank

I use water change water from my fresh water tanks for my plants; it also adds nutrients.

Heath is right, Kevin, if it is salt water you can't use it on plants. But if it is a fresh water tank the plants will absolutely love it. Go for it! The more fish waste you can stir up into it, the better, too.

We have a lady on our Orchids forum who grows the most fabulous orchids, many of them watered with her fish tank water.

If it's not salt like Heath asked, fish water is great for watering- plants love all that nitrogen ... it will kind of stink though.

Its a fresh water tank. Excellent I had a feeling that it be good for the plants.

That's a big tank what kind of fish do you have?

Do you use any salt in your tank as a tonic?

I loved using fresh water fish tank dregs on plants. I use the gravel vacuum thingie and got a lot of fish waste/algae sucked up into it.

Here's my tank:

The thread "Aquatic plants (pics)" in All Things Gardening forum

I use the water to feed my plants every weekend when I do water changes.

If it's a freshwater tank, go for it! The plants love it and will thank you. I don't have a tank now, but I still use fish emulsion in my plant water.

plantcollector said:That's a big tank what kind of fish do you have?

I have 6 goldfish in there

crawgarden said:Do you use any salt in your tank as a tonic?

Nah I've never used salt, I use water conditioner when doing water changes but thats pretty much it.

I have a 75 gallon tank that not only has live plants but holds 1 algea eater, 2 clown loaches, 1 bala shark, 3 tetra (short fin and long skirt), 3 black mollies, 2 sunburst platys, and 4 neon tetras. I can't wait to use my tank water for my garden.

Now we can use it in the garden. Will the water work for house plants too?

Sure. It should be a safe source of nutrients for house plants too.

So long as you do not use salt in your tank, I had several freshwater tanks that I always used salt in

I routinely exchange about a gallon of my 30 gallon fresh water tank each week and 20% about once a month. It all goes onto my houseplants. If I have too much, it goes onto the flowerbeds.

Those 1 qt juice bottles "just" push into the open door of the hood. I wish they were 1/4" slimmer! LOL!

I can't think of anything bad that doing that would cause, and a regular dilute fish-fertilized water has to be better than tap water.