NSW nano tank

[Fabs110]

So after years of having large tanks ( not an expert by any means in this your always learning) I have moved recently to a beach side property in the Middle East . Still got my 1000 gallon tanks in the uk but thought this would be a unique opportunity to try something different . So the parameters of this 30 gallon tank were as follows as I set out on this journey . It has to be NSW from the ocean outside my door , it’s got to be hands off LPS corals with limited 10-15% water changes one a month. Fish limited to four ( yet to be decided ) , basically I am a lazy bugger and this is a bit of an experiment. 
 

looked at a number of setups , tanks etc and plumped for a Red Sea nano , then promptly upgraded the pump and figured out a way to run a UV off the return pump . So spent a lot of time reading about how to collect NSW and came with two ways . Either collect through a 10 micron and store for two weeks in the dark so everything dies off or collect and run through a UV store till settled . Then came the well where to collect it from ? Obviously a high tide is good but NSW inshore can be full of algae blooms , so long story short I have managed to get a mate to take me offshore to collect the initial 30 gallons which I am going to store in the dark for three weeks . Then came the live rock bought religiously from Fiji . Arrived and thought try something different so I have taken the the rock in a mesh bag and anchored it in the ocean while the water does it’s thing in the dark . My thinking on this which may prove to be deeply flawed is this will give the rock time to build a biological filter . 
 

so my plan now is to combine the rock and the offshore water in three weeks in the tank . Then I am just going to measure the system daily to see if there is a nitrogen cycle , I am guessing there should be as the tank matures before adding fish or corals .Couple of problems I have already stumbled on . My local fish shop run their tanks at a lower level of salinity than the ocean in the gulf . It’s not far off but the long and short of it is that anything I introduce fish or corals I will need to reduce the NSW using RO to match their salinity , then over time raise the salinity to match the NSW as ultimately my goal is the water changes to be done from the ocean outside my door . Secondly I have collected the initial 30 gallons way offshore , future water changes will be inshore . This will contain high levels of micro algae which rightly or wrongly given the small water changes should be consumed by the fish and corals , but if anyone has tried this would like to hear how that worked out . 
 

will let you know how I get on over the coming months , any thought or ideas let me know 

[Tired]

It's a really interesting experiment, but I would not be putting your live rock out in the ocean. It has things on it that aren't going to be native to your area, and you don't want to introduce any of that. Besides, live rock already HAS a biological filter, and the best you'll ever get. 

 

Don't lower the salinity in your whole tank when you add a new thing. Instead, put the new thing in a small quarantine tank, make just the quarantine tank that low salinity, and slowly acclimate them to the proper salinity. Then put them in your tank. Repeatedly lifting and lowering the salinity of your tank is just going to stress things out. 

 

I would try to avoid collecting water from the beach right near you. Never mind the algae, it's probably full of pollutants, and all sorts of things from whatever's rotting on the beach right now. Dead seaweed- ech.

[growsomething]

I second pulling the rock asap.  We have horrible infestation in FL from aquarium things dumped in the ocean, and it is illegal here.

Nsw is all I use from the Gulf of Mexico, unfiltered and used the same day.  No problems yet, but I don't keep sps (except 1 lepto). I do run a bag of carbon after w/c. The lps, sea fans and zoa usually like the fresh nsw. Also I have all the sponges my rock came with this Feb, and the dry pukani I stuck in the back are full of pineapple sponges, etc.  I wouldn't be afraid to use nsw straight up in a lps tank.

[growsomething]

Oh, maybe fish parasites are why some ppl say not to use it at all.

My lfs warned me not to use it but they sell high dollar salt, so I chalked it up to that.

I guess that could be a thing to worey about?

[Tired]

The Monterey Bay aquarium has NSW in all their tanks. Normally it's filtered, but they let mostly unfiltered water into the kelp tank at night, to feed everything. Unfiltered enough that anemone larvae and such get in there sometimes. They definitely have healthy critters! I suppose the theory is that healthy fish shouldn't have any problems with the occasional pathogen. 

 

The problem with NSW is that it's uncontrolled. You may get some good stuff, but you never know. And there's a lot of opportunity to get pests, pathogens, and plain ol' pollution if you're unlucky. If you mix your own stuff, it's controlled, and you know exactly what you're getting.

[Tamberav]

Taking non native live rock and putting it in the ocean near you is very potentially bad for nature. Very likely illegal. 

 

You could buy dry/dead rock from say BRS and put that in the ocean to make your own without being harmful. 

 

Collecting NSW is mostly fine, at least worth trying if you got nothing to lose. Don't collect during obvious algae blooms. I would just run it through a diatom filter and then use it fresh. You just use Damascus earth with something like this: https://www.chewy.com/marineland-magnum-polishing-internal/dp/196162