Natural sea water?

[Mr_slinky_dragon]

 

Im setting up a second, smaller aquarium (of about 30 litres) to house the food items for the mantis shrimp, its simply going to be sand, a few rocks, some seaweed and an air powered filter. Im planning on using sea water from either herne bay or whitstable (for those unfamiliar with the uk, they are coastal towns situated on the north kent coast/south north sea), the water there should be clean as there are a lot of commercial oyster beds there . Would i need to cure it first or would simply dumping it in be alright? 

[Belikin]

I've heard mixed opinions on this. Some claim, you are opening yourself up to nuisance hitchhikers, etc. if you use sea water. Others claim you need to keep it in a dark closet for 2 weeks to kill off any organisms and then run through a filter sock. I have also heard that the nutrients and planktons, etc are good for your tank. Curious as to what others say, as I have access to fresh sea water during the summer months, and have wondered the same.

[Clown79]

When using natural sea water unless its filtered by a company then sold, there is always potential for introducing anything from pollutants, parasites, hitchhikers, etc. 

 

As for curing. You still will need something to provide biological filtration, sand and water alone will not provide this.

 

So what will be used for bio filter?

[Mr_slinky_dragon]

I was going to add seaweed and other bits, not too sure what to get for a cold water marine... the tank is literally only going to hold some winkles, clams and small crabs before being fed to the mantis shrimp...

[Pjanssen]

What about running it through a UV sterilizer?