As fish keepers, we may bear some of the brunt of the watchful eyes of neighbours as big water users. In my opinion, we would struggle to use as much water as those who have swimming pools or thirsty gardens with large areas of lawn. Regardless, we need to do our bit to save our most precious resource by utilising some of these water saving tips:
- When performing water changes, collect the water for watering the garden.
- Collect rainwater into clean buckets for use in your tanks.
- Use a denitrificator (available through good aquarium stores) to convert nitrates to nitrogen gas and oxygen.
- Use aquatic plants to utilise fish wastes so that the frequency and quantity of water changes can be reduced.
- Feed good quality fish foods so that they do not pollute the tank (good quality foods tend to be in the mid to expensive range).
- Use an aquarium cover glass to reduce evaporation from the tank.
- In ponds, ensure that fountains and water falls do not cause water to spill over the sides.
- Provide shading for ponds to reduce evaporation, protect fish from the hungry eyes of predatory birds and to prevent excessive algal growth from the excess sunlight.
Dr Richmond Loh, The Fish Vet.