REAL salt water???

[tashana]

I live right beside the beach and am considering the option of using water straight from the ocean, instead of making my own salt water solution at home.

Is there anything I should know before dumping a bucket of salt water into my tank? Im pretty certain it cant be that easy!

Please tell me what to do and not to do in relation to this.

Thankyou

[reefermadness]

"Any water collected from less than five miles offshore will contain lots of pollutants including petroleum by-products, PCBs, and other nasty stuff which cannot be removed through ordinary filtration. If the water is purified enough to remove these pollutants, then much of the beneficial properties of the natural sea water have also been removed by default."-a quote from aquariumpros.com There are several others in the hobby who have done a bit more extensive laboratory research in this area.

 

The consensus of the reading I have done on the subject is that it is a bad idea. The biggest part is that you have no way of controlling the level of toxins you may or may not be introducing to your tank. In a much larger volume situation, like public aquariums near shores, they are able to pull it off because of ridiculously stringent testing and control of the water that comes in. I'm sure that it has been done in home aquariums, even nanos, but it seems inherently risky to me. Control is good.

[Chronicles]

I saw today at petco (went there for some new sand for the 20H upgrade) and saw they now have boxes of natural seawater. 5 gallon boxes for $9.99 but I think I'll be mixing my own

[mache62]

I bought 10g and started my nano a week ago. My LR looks fine, I've got algea starting and I've seen a critter or two late at night. My water parameters all are fine so far....

pH8.2

NH3, NO2, NO3 - all still 0

temp 78

SG 1.022 (a little low)

[MrKrispy]

I think a lot if not most of the San Diego reefers here at Nano-reef use natural salt water. However, the water is from a deep upwelling and is passed thru several sandbed filters. I would have no idea as to the cleanliness of Australian water, but people here in the States do it. A lot!

[nalbar]

the local san diego reefers talked me into it and i have not looked back. but then, in san diego we have a faucet next to a pier that is owned by one of the finest oceanographic institutions in the world. Scripps, baby! it is where Scripps gets their water also, i been there while they were filling up.

 

plus it is where all the local fish stores get their water. they don't mix it, they buy it from a company that picks up at Scripps and delivers.

 

thanks guys! i know i argued about it but i am now a believer.

 

nalbar

[reefermadness]

Scripps water isn't your average seawater dipped out with a bucket.....

 

From their site:

Approximately 4,000,000 liters of seawater is supplied daily to various SIO facilities. Seawater is pumped from inlets at the end of the SIO Pier (330 m long) and then flows by gravity through a prestrainer into a large settling tank. It is filtered through several large capacity sand filters and further pumped up to a series of 227,000 l holding tanks. The filtered seawater is then gravity fed to labs and aquaria at SIO, The Birch Aquarium, and Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

 

You guys are lucky! If I were to dip water off of Myrtle Beach (the closest beach to me at five hours or so) during graduation week, my fish and corals would be drunk from the high beer content. My point in the previous post is that it is not wise to go dipping water out of the ocean and put it in your tank. Your situation is a little different. The average person (even with a good boat) can't trust the content of the seawater they might collect nor do they have a means of filtering and testing it properly to make it safe to use.

[aj1au]

im in brissy and i take my water from Nudgee beach if really pushed, but mostly i take from the surf side of bribie island when im doing a bit of fishing (shock - horror). Just watch the rain - run off will lower sg and and send polutants your way. Try to pick a week with all sunshine and dont mind getting your feet wet.

 

This is what i was told at one of the MASQ meetings (the only one i have been too) and no one there seems to have any probs.

[nanocat]

Since I have a nano, I don't worry about the cost of Catalina water...but if I did want to save the 39 cents/gal I'd probably run by a local saltwater fishing store and ask if they'd mind bringing some water back the next time they're offshore fishing (just an idea if you have a charter store in your neighborhood).

[Empty]

For what it's worth, the Seattle Aquarium has a card system where you can get their highly filtered seawater(no clue how they collect it) from a tap. The card is $10 bucks. You swipe it, the water flows. You swipe again, it stops. The water itself costs $.05/gallon, which they will bill you monthly.

 

I have not used this system, but one reefer I know uses it and kalkwasser and he says it works fine. It makes it easier/cheaper to do massive water changes, too.

 

~Empty

[MrKrispy]

5 cents a gallon is pretty damn good, way better than using most salt mixes.

[ninhsavestheday]

who doses and use natural saltwater?

[mache62]

I use the natural seawater, by way of PetCo, from a compay called Catalina Water. I haven't dosed anything yet since I am barely 2 weeks into my cycle.

[MrKrispy]

I use the Scripps water and often find the calcium is below 400. I sometimes add some b-ionic to it before a water change. I use kalk or add my b-ionic to my topoff water when my Ca starts getting below ~410.

 

Oh, stronium seems to always be low in my tank, so I add some of that also.

 

Look for a thread by me about testing the Scripps water, I ran every friggin test available I think.

[cuteios]

I'm seeing very good reasons to resettle either in San Diego or Seattle when I move back to the US. I wonder if the Steinhart Aquarium in SF has similar supply.