boiling vacuumed water

[xeniawarrior]

i know my tank likes the minerals from fresh salt. But in between water changes..why can't i just boil my disgusting vacuumed water/crap from the bottom of the tank. It should kill any organic matter in there. Is ammonia the problem with doing that? That formula of replacing 30% of the water every month is complete overkill for my tank. I just have a couple fish, a few inverts, a carribean sea star, and xenia that grows like mad all over the tank. No one in there seems to complain about not getting enough minerals. I've had it and the inhabitants forever (7+ years). In past years I've gone 6 months or so without a water change with barely a problem caused by that.

Has anyone actually tried this? Just boiling their vacuumed water. letting it cool and adding it back?

[brandon429]

Will not remove organics, n or p, won't work. Algae fuel.

[Metal Man 1221]

You cant really "kill" organic matter. Yes you will kill any bacteria in the water, but all that crap you pulled out of your system still resides in the water. Thats just like boiling sewage and assuming you can use it for drinking water.

If you are trying to save money with WC and you feel you can get by with fewer, then do just that. Otherwise, reusing water is totally pointless. Boiling it will do nothing but kill what is in the water and lead to die off which will result in ammonia, and will ultimately do more harm than good.

[Neptunes World]

Well put sir......

[Anemone]

Yep, what was said above. The point in water changes is not removing living organic matter; it's removing excess nutrients you don't want (nitrogen and phosphate compounds primarily) as well as adding back chemicals that have been depleted through organic processes (calcium and many, many others). Boiling the water will do nothing other than increase the Specific Gravity - it won't remove the excess nutrients you want to get rid of and won't add back any chemicals that have been depleted.

Kevin