Watering Bonsai With Aquarium Water?

Goober69

Besides bonsai (or in my case potensai) I have a few aquariums in my house. These require the periodic water change and cleaning. I have used this "waste water" to water house plants. The house plants seem to thrive on it. I guess the fish waste is a natural fertilizer.

Would using aquarium water to water bonsai be ok to do? I haven't tried this yet and I am curious what others think?

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bonsaial1

Fresh water would be OK. I used to raise my bald cypress in my koi pond.

Salt water bad.... I have a salt water reef tank. In fact I just did a water change tonight...can anyone say instant death!

Bonsai-al

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W3rdSmyth

I've been an aquarium hobbyist for 20 years, and a professional in the industry for 10 years now. At home I keep a salt reef tank right now, but my last home setup was a heavily planted freshwater Discus tank. At work....15,000 gallons...at home...right now just a small tank since I took down my 135 gallon.

If you are adding salt to your freshwater setup, as in a livebearer tank, I wouldn't use the water on your trees but as long as you aren't salting a lot and don't have any medications or other unnatural additives in your tanks, I don't see anything wrong with the occasional watering with fish tank water.

I used to water my house plants with water change water from my fresh water tanks, and my mom and dad water their vegetable garden with their water change water.

People pay good money for "fish emulsion", make your fish earn their keep. haha

susieq

I kept a large fresh water aquarium for many years and always put the water from the water changes on the bonsai. I would just becareful if you had to medicate the tank for any reason, not to put that batch on the bonsai. But it worked out well for me.
We have occasional droughts here and it didn't make sense to waste a perfectly good 20 gal water change.....

John Dixon

I personally can't speak about the water, but I did use the old gravel from a fresh-water tank as growing medium for bonsai. It was the type of gravel that is used for aquatic plants, and it worked very well.

John

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Goober69

Oops...yes, I should have been specific about using fresh water.

I am glad to hear others have tried it. I do like that it conserves water instead of just throwing the old water down a drain. I'd like to try an experiment with one plant watered with tap water, the other with aquarium water and see what type of results I would get.

Al, I am not too familiar with raising cypress. you said you raised them in your pond. Do you mean the pot literally sat in the water? Do cypress like that much water?

Goober69

I never use salt in my fish tanks and to my luck the fish have been healthy and have not needed medication.

Thanks for all of the advice. I feel more comfortable using the water now.