Fish tank water on compost heap?

level200

Hi Guys

I have a new tank and will be changing the water every few weeks, i was wondering if this water will be good for the compost heap as its full of fish waste etc..

Cheers
John

valk_scot

Might make the compost a bit waterlogged but I can't think of any other reason not to use it. In summer, why not just try watering any outside you have directly with it? (Try a couple first...and only mature plants, not seedlings or edible plants) I make liquid feed by the time honoured method of soaking a hessian bag of manure in a barrel of water and the plants love that. Why should a dilute solution of fish poo be any different?

k.o.d

Agree with the above, fish tank water is full of nitrates and would make excellent water for the garden, rather than put onto the compost.

scubaqueen

This reminded me of last summer when my OH bought a pond vacuum and we had fish poo going all over the place! Not sure if it worked but because we had loads of it(8 years worth of poo) we had to pump it out onto any available beds including one I had lettuce and other things in. Didn't do any harm to them but made sure I washed everything we took out well

DKLS

I hope you mean partial water changes and not a full change.
It does make fantastic plant food tho!.

MrsTinks

Personally I wouldn't... the amount of bacteria etc in fish tanks that are actually harmful to people would surprise you... if it's not going to be used on edible things then I guess... but if you grow your own I wouldn't just to be safe.

Gingham_Ribbon

Fish tank water is perfect for the garden and the house plants. I wouldn't put it on the compost heap, but if you have a sponge filter, when you're cleaning one of the sponges, you can drain the water of the compost for extra nutrients. (Incase you don't know, don't wash it in tap water or you'll kill the bacteria. The water you've drained from the tank is perfect for cleaning it.)

Also, you'll probably need to change the water more than every few weeks. Most fish will appreciate at least a weekly partial change. (About 25% is fine for most fish.)