Charley

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Have to do my first water change on my 90 gal tank. Prior to this tank had a 29 gal. Now that I have almost 20 gals to dispose of, any suggestions on best way to get rid of the water? If you put down a drain in your house does the saltwater eat away at the plumbing over time? Thanks
 

theMeat

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Down the drain, septic or not.
Salt has actually been shown to improve the soils ability to absorb water, and help with bacteria growth. Especially if rich in calcium. It will however damage any plant life you pour it on in the yard, making the plant unable to absorb potassium and it will die.
 

Charley

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Ok, so to dump saltwater on your lawn is a no-no. If I have 20 gals of saltwater to dump,simply but down the shower drain and no worry to the pipes.....
 

theMeat

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No worries to pipes. I usually use a toilet or slop sink so i don't get the shower or tub dirty.

For those that have septic, and have heard salt is not good. Dig a lil deeper on your google search. There's a ton of bad info out there, that's how false rumors get going.
You'll hear salt will corrode cement, which is true. But on such a small scale it's a non issue. Just look to sea walls that have been standing for hundreds of years.
You'll hear it will kill the bacteria which brakes down solids. You'd need to throw in major amounts of straight salt to do damage. Any bacteria that's already down there will only feed off or grow into the new bacteria that is present in the water from your water change.

The best thing you can do for a healthy septic is flush a couple of cups oxygen bleach down, every few weeks or months. Rid x or any other bacteria additives are pretty useless, since everything your septic needs is already in there.
 

theMeat

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In winter the grass is dormant, and the salt has time to be diluted with precip before it starts to take in water again. so the damage isn't that noticeable. Throw your used carbon onto the lawn, great. Throw salt, is not good. You really can't argue that but...

20 gallons from your tank once or twice a month into septic is not an issue. If it is than your septic is/was bad regardless.
 

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