Natural Seawater vs homemade saltwater

[Gort]

100% noob question here - I have access to natural sea water from the Seattle Aquarium - filtered and UV-treated. Is there a general consensus about using it for initial tank setup and maintenance thereafter? I see many posts regarding "reef salt" and other mixtures - what do they provide that seawater would not?

[StevieT]

Saltwater you mix is in your control. You know that starting off you are using pure RO/DI and control the trace elements with your salt mix. Who knows what they give you, which is probably made for fish only systems. How good are the filters where do they collect from? I don't really understand filtering saltwater since in the filter world salt would be removed meaning they use high micron media.

[Gort]

Saltwater you mix is in your control. You know that starting off you are using pure RO/DI and control the trace elements with your salt mix. Who knows what they give you, which is probably made for fish only systems. How good are the filters where do they collect from? I don't really understand filtering saltwater since in the filter world salt would be removed meaning they use high micron media.

 

Point taken - their saltwater is drawn directly from the Puget Sound then treated. Just for ####s and giggles should I get some and test it? If so - what do I look for??

[pumarjr]

The only saltwater worthy of introduction into the marine aquarium is saltwater taken at about 10 to 20' below the surface above a natural reef. Good luck. It's not worth your time to do it, just buy some salt mix and make your own.

[StevieT]

There is a lot of discussion about this here, try the search.

 

IMO it just isn't worth it. Even if you will never have a problem the trips alone to pick it up would get old, fast

[Gort]

There is a lot of discussion about this here, try the search.

 

IMO it just isn't worth it. Even if you will never have a problem the trips alone to pick it up would get old, fast

 

Apologies for "axing" a question that's been done to death - on a forum as populous as this; sometimes the search yields almost TOO much!! So far the small sample yields 100% against.

 

I'm near enough to the source that the voyage(s) are a non-issue. What do we get from our bucket/garbage can concoctions that I couldn't adjust for if I used NSW?

[jtgordon20]

If the water is good and easier than to make your own salt and save you money than do it, but I make my own water since there is no sea water to get around here in Vegas.

[Gort]

If the water is good and easier than to make your own salt and save you money than do it, but I make my own water since there is no sea water to get around here in Vegas.

 

OY!! - kinda dry in the desert eh ?? 5 cents per gallon from the SA - what does the home-concocted version work out to? I'm not dissing - just asking ...

[Nata]

I actually called there today getting info about it too..I wanna try but my main system is so large ..I have storage issues ...

[Gort]

I actually called there today getting info about it too..I wanna try but my main system is so large ..I have storage issues ...

 

Cool - a fellow Emerald City reef personage. I gotta agree about the storage question though ...

[wombat]

The only saltwater worthy of introduction into the marine aquarium is saltwater taken at about 10 to 20' below the surface above a natural reef. Good luck. It's not worth your time to do it, just buy some salt mix and make your own.

 

Sorry, but that's absolute nonsense.

 

Saltwater you mix is in your control. You know that starting off you are using pure RO/DI and control the trace elements with your salt mix.

 

One of the big problems with artificial salt mix is that many trace elements AREN'T controlled. The grades of salts used to make an affordable mix will have impurities from the manufacturing process. The concentrations of heavy metals are way way higher than is ever found in unpolluted sea water.

[pumarjr]

Sorry, but that's absolute nonsense.

 

 

 

One of the big problems with artificial salt mix is that many trace elements AREN'T controlled. The grades of salts used to make an affordable mix will have impurities from the manufacturing process. The concentrations of heavy metals are way way higher than is ever found in unpolluted sea water.

 

Nonsense huh? I'll respond with two words for you. " Trace Elements"

[wombat]

I think you might need more than those two words to explain your point. There are thriving reef tanks all over the world utilizing natural sea water that is collected thousands of miles from the nearest coral reef.

 

Here's one example:

 

and another:

[Kazooie]

Also, last time I was there, The Seattle aquarium had several coral tanks.

[Gort]

Zowie - looks like I kicked a hornet's nest. Seems to be more than one answer (often diametrically opposed) to almost every question

[gulfsurfer101]

Do it man, and tell us what happens.

[Gort]

Do it man, and tell us what happens.

 

You Texans - shoot first, ask questions later. Based on that reply it seems like not many nano-reefers go that way

[wombat]

Also, last time I was there, The Seattle aquarium had several coral tanks.

 

Yup--Steven Yong takes care of the coral tanks there and they are very nice. Pretty certain they use NSW for their coral tanks, but not 100% positive.

[bananahands]

There are tons of people here in San Diego that use filtered natural sea water from Scripps Aquarium. The water is usually a little low on calcium (in the 300's) and I believe a little low alkility but I can't remember. The people that really benefit are those with very large systems. They save tons of money. For the nanos its almost not worth it once you factor in the hassle and cost associated with picking up the water and the $$$ to dose the water to the proper levels. Now if you're having to dose anyway then its probably worth it. Just may .02

[ednangel]

Just think, who mixed the ocean water? Which salt they used? Nature I assume...

 

Have you seen an algae bloom in the public aquarium tank? Yes or no? Except for pollution, which shouldn’t be a problem in filtered system, I would say if you can afford to get natural filtered sea water do it. My somehow local aquarium takes water from the San Francisco Bay filters it and add some extra salt (water from the bay is brackish not salted enough) and pump it thru their systems and their tanks are amazing. Don’t let some jerks bully you otherwise just because they think they are right.

[Gort]

Just think, who mixed the ocean water? Which salt they used? Nature I assume...

 

Have you seen an algae bloom in the public aquarium tank? Yes or no? Except for pollution, which shouldn’t be a problem in filtered system, I would say if you can afford to get natural filtered sea water do it. My somehow local aquarium takes water from the San Francisco Bay filters it and add some extra salt (water from the bay is brackish not salted enough) and pump it thru their systems and their tanks are amazing. Don’t let some jerks bully you otherwise just because they think they are right.

 

Since it's 5 cents (yes - one lone nickel) per gallon - cost is not an issue. Gotta say I like your 'who mixed it - Nature" rationale - but neophytes such as me aren't paid a lot of attention

[Euphyllia]

You never know what kind of runoff or chemicals may be in the natural seawater. That's why I get RO and mix my own even though it cost $40 more.

[Captain Billy]

The only saltwater worthy of introduction into the marine aquarium is saltwater taken at about 10 to 20' below the surface above a natural reef. Good luck. It's not worth your time to do it, just buy some salt mix and make your own.

 

LOL...

 

Nonsense huh? I'll respond with two words for you. " Trace Elements"

 

LOL...

 

Trace elements are the same world wide in the ocean. You obviously have no idea what your talking about.

 

You never know what kind of runoff or chemicals may be in the natural seawater. That's why I get RO and mix my own even though it cost $40 more.

 

Depends where you collect from. Most sea water is far superior to mixes.

 

I use natural seawater in dozens of tanks and dozens more people use it privately in their own tanks.

 

Seawater works great, and is always superior to mixes in trace elements. The only real difference world wide in seawater is temperature.

[ednangel]

You never know what kind of runoff or chemicals may be in the natural seawater. That's why I get RO and mix my own even though it cost $40 more.

 

He is right that's why the aquariums got 50k gallon tank to do their water changes and buy 1 ton bags of salt.

 

Try it on a small scale if you got doubts and figure out if you want to keep doing it or not.

[Captain Billy]

Seawater is superior bottom line. Synthetic salts simply can't replicate the exact concentrations of trace elements and even major elements like calcium and other additives like bicarbs.

 

Seawater grows corals faster and is more consistent.