mineralrock Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 I didn't feel like going further down the road than petco to get RO water....so I just bought their "real ocean" sea water. What's the deal with this stuff.....salinity/trace elements etc? Link to comment
yOyOYoo Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 i think it's Catalina brand saltwater. at least the Petco in my area sells that. Link to comment
TroyT Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 That water is trash. It smells really bad and had negative effects on my tank. I used that stuff for about six months and was wondering why I had so many algae problems, corals looked bad, heck everything looked unhealthy. I switched to Oceanic Salt and started to mix my own again and now the tank is as healthy as any nanoreefer would ever want. Save yourself the heartache, mix your own salt and drive the extra distance. Link to comment
slickchick Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 I've been using Catalina water for about 4 months and everything looks really great. It doesn't smell bad at all...I get it from a lfs that has a huge holding tank of it so maybe it is better than the stuff sitting on the shelf at Petco. Link to comment
yOyOYoo Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 OOOO nm mineralrock, are you talking about the bagged up boxes of real sea water that petco sells? Never used it before, it seems WAY overpriced. Link to comment
onthefly Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Been using it for 5 months......all the way up hear in P'land.....no algae, no smell.....perfect results! You need to check the SG cuz' it can fluctuate from batch to batch. Link to comment
schaferfred Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Been using Catalina Ocean water as well for last 3 months and I think it is absolutely great. My tank has no fishy smell, my fish seem to be doing great, and as for algae ???????? what algae? Salinity seems to stay right at 1.025 to 1.026. I would recommend it to anyone with a nano just because of it's ease of use but it's quality seems to be awesome as well. I mean, hell, it's real purified ocean water, you can't beat that. Link to comment
myfisharemean Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 What about that bottled stuuf from the company that makes Arag-Alive? I know it's 20 bucks a bottle, but with a nano, it might make a GImoungus difference. Oh, and my parents have a old RO unit i found, and offered to set it up and everything, and they said no, so now I'm all pissed off, because they said that even if my dad did set it up- it would be used for dinking water, not to hook up to my fish tanks. I heartily laughed at him for awhile than said I just want to use the WATER, not the unit, then got talked to or whatever about being respectful of something, and then asked if i could use the water, then he laughed at me and said it couldn't be used for fish, people come first (sercw that). I'm sure my tap's LOADED with crap b/c I have lots of algae, including corraline, but I don't have anything exept LR, so It's not really hurting anything. How about distilled, b/c there's a food lion right at he beginning of my sub-division Link to comment
mineralrock Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 thats kind of wierd you just had an RO hangin around the house...haha but yea....I tested the water today it smelled nice it made nice sounds it tasted nice it felt nice it looked nice so i put it in the tank!! no but seriously 0 everything! it seems to good to be true...the RO I had been using had nitrate problems i dont think its really that overpriced....but ehh I have cash to burn thanks for all your responses Link to comment
myfisharemean Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Ya, my great-aunt or whatever got a better one, so she gave us her old one, she's loaded, and I just happened to find the 5-stage RO chillin in the garage when i was scoping a place to cut some acrylic. Link to comment
gusmcab Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 i have been using NSW since since day 1, and so far no problems . a bit over price but it's worth every pennie, no hassle in mixing anything Link to comment
myfisharemean Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 I REALLY want to use it, but it would be for "People water only" even if I could hook it up, lol. Link to comment
mineralrock Posted August 7, 2004 Author Share Posted August 7, 2004 "dad...I'm taking these buckets of RO upstairs so I won't have to come downstairs to get CRAPPY tap water to drink for a few weeks. It's not going in the tank though I promise. Thanks" Link to comment
Steve973 Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I've been using the Catalina natural salt water that petco sells for the past 3 weeks. It is 5 gallons, and it comes packaged in a bag-in-a-box. My results are anecdotal at best, but what I've seen is less algae growing on the glass (under metal halide) and the fact that my fire coral extends its "polyps" nearly IMMEDIATELY after a water change. At ten bucks per week, it's pretty affordable. Steve Link to comment
reverai Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I've been using the Real Ocean Water from the Catalina Water Company almost since I started my salt water tank. If one is having problems with algae after using this water it has something to do with the tank rather than the water as I could see perhaps one box of water could be bad but not several in a row. I've never had the water smell or cause problems in over 9 boxes of the water. I actually paid money to have the water tested before I started using it and it was ocean water to all parms and had no nitrates or any chemicals that weren't supposed to be in it.The PH is stable and one doesn't need to add anything to bring the water up to specs One can't say that about most salt mixes And even now my problem isn't to much algae, but to little as I have to feed my snails and other things that eat algae! Steve Link to comment
myfisharemean Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Ya, that would be one approach, but he won't even hook it up b/c it need some $$ put into it, like the filter media, I said I would pay for it, but nooooooo, lol. Link to comment
holyherbiness Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Originally posted by Steve973 At ten bucks per week, it's pretty affordable. 10x4x12=480 dollars a year. That's a lot of money. A lot more than using artificial salt mixes. Why, with the 400 dollars you could be saving (just an arbitrary estimate), you could put that money torwards a better computer.. a new cell phone..or more fish stuff. But whatever floats your boat haha Link to comment
reverai Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Well, I change one gallon per week so a box will last 5 weeks. $120 per year for water I never and I mean never have to worry about? Priceless! Steve Link to comment
Wonder Boy Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I have used this water exclusively since I started (6 months?) and have never had any problems. My nano (cube) is thriving despite the fact that my LFS has nothing but diseased and dying livestock . As a side rant they sold me a queen conch who I must feed seaweed three times a week to keep it going as I never have any algae for it to graze on. Same goes for my snails who I'm considering getting rid of; they don't have anything to do. My JBJ is stock, with the exception of overflow holes. I change one gallon per week. Never has a smell, and in an apartment it becomes extremely impractical to mix salt. Link to comment
phishen Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Originally posted by holyherbiness 10x4x12=480 dollars a year. That's a lot of money. A lot more than using artificial salt mixes. Why, with the 400 dollars you could be saving (just an arbitrary estimate), you could put that money torwards a better computer.. a new cell phone..or more fish stuff. But whatever floats your boat haha Well, since there actually 52 weeks in a year and not 48 (4x12) it would really be $520. I swear it's the truth, I minored in math Link to comment
holyherbiness Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Lol. Thank you for the correction. I knew there was more (months with 30,31 days). Link to comment
phishen Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Haha, you're welcome. You are just lucky you didn't spell anything incorrectly. I was also a spelling bee champion ... : Link to comment
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