Waste Water

[PeterUK]

I have been searching the WWW for ideas on my up and coming fish house and have come up against a problem that is very rarely mentioned .... if at all.

What to do with the waste water ?!

My fishhouse to be is at the bottom of the garden, 25yrds away from the nearest drain and several feet lower than the drain and I can see my garden becoming a swamp after a few weeks of emptying around 100+ gallons onto it.

I have thought of 3 ways of solving this problem but they each have their own pro's and con's.

1)
Digging a large soakaway.
I would guess that I would have to remove at least 5-6 metric tonnes of earth for this to work, possibly even more which is something I don't fancy too much !!!
Also against this idea is that all of the earth will have to be taken through the house as I don't have a rear exit to the garden, the cost of a skip (£150 - £200 ?) cost of a wheelbarrow (£?) and the cost of enough hardcore to refill the large hole (which will also have to come through the house in bags or wheelbarrow)
Bad idea... really bad idea !!

2)
Emptying the water into a plastic dustbin which has pipe cut/siliconed into the side, low down. The water will leave the dustbin by gravity and would be empted into different area's of the garden in sequence so the water will have a chance to drain away.
The earth in my garden is mainly clay and in the winter is almost a swamp after a few days rain so an extra 100+ gallons a week is going to turn it into a hippo's wallow. !!!
Another bad idea thinks me

3)
Empty the waste water into a plastic dustbin and then use a dirty water pump to empty it to the drain 25 yds away. I cant see too much wrong with this idea apart from the cost of the pump and enough hosepipe to reach the drain.
The pump would be something like this .... http://www.screwfix.com/prods/65041/Pow ... -400W-240V

What does everyone else do with the waste water ?
Can anyone think of any other idea's ?

[apistomaster]

Idea #3, using a sump and pump is a time tested method of handling waste water lower than existing drains. Either pump to a drain or disperse to garden and lawn. The latter is a poor arrangement because sometimes your waste water is going to have detergents or bleach in it. Pumping to a sewer drain is best.

[Bas Pels]

I can only agree that pumping the water to a drain would nbe the best solution - but de remember to take measures for frosty periods - the drain itself my become frozen, the pipe can have restwater wich expands when frozen, just to name a few problems

I'm glad my FH does have a drain (although with the opening rather high, to high to empty the bottom tanks)

[MatsP]

Given the price of the pump as well as the trouble with the other solutions, I'd say that you have a #3 winner.

In the summer (and sometimes during winter), I drain my tank water onto the lawn - but my garden is reasonably flat, and not clay-based soil either.

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Mats

[apistomaster]

Since you seem to still be in the design phase of your waste water disposal i would recommend installing a "Y" or "T" section in your water water drains indoors so you never have to be concerned about the freezing problems of winter. it would be a minor alteration to allow switching between sewer connection and a ground surface discharge so "good waste water' may be used for water the lawn and garden.
I once had a basement fish room where a sump pump was necessary and these system was easy to install and reliable.
I did install a gravel trap since this was part of my old fish shop and we washed aquarium gravel routinely.
We merely broke out an area of the concrete slab then recast it with a greased 5 gal plastic bucket to form the sump. The base was grouted solid and the gravel would pile up requiring some routine maintenance to prevent the gravel from being pumped. Not ideal but it worked well enough for 6 years.

[Drean]

Have you thought about aquaponics at all?

Waste water would the feed your plants therfore no wasted water

very sustainable if you are that way inclined

[Liam50LB]

personally i would just get a 6ft pipe put it in the ground vertically and pour the water down that it would be deep enough that it shouldn't turn your garden into a swamp.

[MatsP]

personally i would just get a 6ft pipe put it in the ground vertically and pour the water down that it would be deep enough that it shouldn't turn your garden into a swamp.

But if your soil isn't very well drained - say it's clay - then it would probably just fill the pipe up after the first or second bucket, assuming by pipe you mean something more or less the size of a drain-pipe or soil-pipe. Of course a LARGE diameter (1 foot or more) pipe would work quite well - particularly if you dig a big hole and put a load of gravel down first.

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Mats

[Bas Pels]

living on clay myself, I would like to pioint out, that most - if not all - claygrounds are layered: that is, a layer of clay lies on top of sand, but further fdown another layer of clay might be available.

Still, if a pipe ends in sufficiently thick sand, the water will drain, and add to the groundwater, eventually

A pipe with - at the end - holes in its side will reduce the results of incidentally ending up on top of the clay anyway.

Further, instead of digging, one could also use a ground-drill, used to steady poles in the ground, such as by formers. Working for half an hour, instead of a day always has my preference

[MatsP]

Yes, of course. But if the first layer of clay is more than 6ft in this example, it wouldn't work. And where I used to live (and in some parts of southern England) the clay is several meters thick with no sight of sand anywhere. I'm not saying this is the typical case, but it certainly was where I used to live in Märsta outside Stockholm. When they dug up the street to fit new pipes, they would dig at least 3 meters deep, and aside from the first few inches of hardcore that the road itself is built on, it's clay, clay and more clay.

--
Mats

[apistomaster]

Sounds like you guys need a geotechnical report before you start driving drain pipes in your yards.

[MatsP]

Sounds like you guys need a geotechnical report before you start driving drain pipes in your yards.

Well, I guess you can simply drive one down and pour 5-10 buckets of water down there - but for long term relibale results, you're right.

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Mats

[hotsauce48]

Dump it on the plants!The plants willabsorb the nutrients in the waste and the water.

[MatsP]

Dump it on the plants!The plants willabsorb the nutrients in the waste and the water.

Sure, but it's not a good idea to do in the middle of winter when it's raining heavily already, and plants aren't "drinking".

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Mats