Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ooh i forgot to say - don't tell my council I'm doing it, apparently it's not legal here....

SHHHHH

creative1 - yep, I'm moving it along about a foot every washing load. Was going to join up a second hose but we are dead flat here and I'm a little worried that it might blow my washing machine pump if I make the journey go too far...

Funny you should say that as I was thinking the same.
For a while we set up a separation tank with baffle and syphon, though we have the luxury of plenty of fall

Surprising how many antennae were installed in the roof cavity...antenna police checked to see if you had a license if there was one stuck on the chimney in plain view

This has been suggested over here in the west before. would be ok if we also got a refund on the savings of bypassing the water authority ie cost of employment, cost of maintainance etc etc etc. I think they have already put in place some sort of "dam tax" on farmers.

on the grey water, i was given a leaflet by andy the local bloke at thre trade link here. its not all happy times with grey water. top loading washing machines can have a ph of 10+ from the wash cycle...............

any one ever thought of all the sodium build up (not to mention other salts......) in the ground............

what about when we have eventually have big rains and the ground soaks nice and good, and all that stuff rises and runs straight off to the bay in one hit with out any further treatment?........................

just a different opinion. i guess its just a case of "grey water aint grey water"

i'd be happy using final rinse water et. al. on lawn + trees, but i PERSONALLY know of one bloke that uses primary washing machine suds water on their veggie patch

i think it depends a lot on the washing powder you use. I am very careful with what i wash in - therefore happy with what comes out of the hose.

living in a rural area, as we do, we don't have council supplied sewerage or drainage from our property. All of our waste water stays on site, but "grey water systems" as such didn't exist when the house was built (at least not in the eyes of the council). We have 50mm flexible pipe from the kitchen, from the bathrooms and from the laundry. All washing chemicals stay here.
The water is used on ornamentals or fruit trees. We use phosphate free detergents.

steve, could you please let me know if you find more info on this? Laundry detergent has changed a lot over the years, and it would be good to get some facts on this one.

pH we can measure ourselves of course I have a few different brands in the cupboard (result of moving house a lot)...I'll test some when I get the chance.

Powdered laundry detergents are generally a no-no as they use loads of salt as a filler. Councils usually have at least some decent advice online.

http://www.westernwater.com.au/library/ ... ywater.pdf

I was thinking of a better link, but can't find it atm. P6 for a little general info. P10 gives P and Na of lots of detergents sold in Aussie - done by lanfax labs, might also be worth a google.

Another angle for household chemicals in general is a back-to-basics approach (vinegar instead of certain cleaners, for example). Sorry, can't find that link atm either.

And for those concerned about clear-felling of rainforest in places like Indonesia, sodium lauryl sulphate and things with similar names generally come from palm oil plantations where rainforest used to be. These compounds are what make pretty much every liquid soapy thing bubbly. It is possible to get alternative shampoos, etc though from what I've seen so far it's pricy.

On the topic of palm oil - apparently lots of the 'vege oil' that prepackaged junkfood is cooked in is palm oil

... nooo ... must ... stop ... ranting....

Where does the water go when it passes through the deep sewer systems,
and what pH is likely-- I was under the impression it was mostly mixed with storm water and ends up at the beach after a brief treatment.

Probably almost time for a new thread, but just to add to the previous post - http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm for basic home soap (etc) recipes. Of course, should look into the chemistry of the ingredients before grey-watering your garden with them.

I don't have grey water from my washing machine yet. All from shower and bath. Not much soap in that, certainly not with a pH of 10!!! I imagine that would hurt somewhat!h

You might be surprised to find more pathogens in shower/bath water than laundry.
What soap do you use KP?

scented natural animal fat soap.

shower bath is actually considered black water, as is kitchen sink..................

steem, got a huge document on it somewhere, no, it was a website. bugger all chance of finding it, but will try. may even have been linked from here!