nanomilk Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Greetz. Just curious wether or not it is safe to use ocean water to setup my tank / for water changes. I ask this considering the fact i live 5 minutes away from many sydney beaches / the coastline, and using natural ocean water would be hell cheap.... FREE.... Is this a viable option? Or should i stick with mixing water myself? Link to comment
cadesun Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 i would stay away from near-shore water, it is usually heavily laden with pollutants. if you can get it a half mile out or so, that would be your best bet. Link to comment
jamesj525 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I would say that you'd want it to be really well filtered and from a long way off shore. There is a tap at the Scripps Inst. of Oceanography in San Diego that takes water from offshore and filters it through a few levels of sand and what not. I used this when I lived there and it worked great (oh how I miss it). Now I live on the central coast of California, (a couple of blocks to the water!) but with out the filters I wouldn't trust it. There's often some type of microbe blooming or some human contamination that can't be good for these little tanks. Also, the local waters may be different with regard to trace elements and salinity. Link to comment
mrabolli Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Definatly use ocean water even near-shore water if its relativly unpolluted because in a nano tank mixing salt water is never nearly as easy and accurate as nature. Small inconsistancies is inherant and stresses fish. Polluted water would also but if its in good shape its cheap and better than store bought. Also try and go at near slack high tide just before it goes slack when its still rushing in. Hope this helps. Link to comment
Choson1 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 just don't get the water from a really public beach. ya know, with like thousands of people playing in the water and stuff. u'll probably get more urine than saltwater. try to get it from a secluded area, away from pipes that dump stuff into the ocean and u should be okay. i know sea crop uses real ocean water for their tanks (taken from the coast in Oxnard, CA). but then again, i'm sure they filter it first. Link to comment
Sushi Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 the folks down here in san diego use "filtered ocean" water from the scripps instutute of oceanography. hose comes straight from a pier and goes through a series of filtration devices (sand bed filters?) ... anyways, it's considered "ocean water"... but filtered. many reefers swear by this filtered sea water stuff, best thing is the hose for the water is free, and you never have to pay for salt...EVER! Link to comment
cornstar Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 I would not touch that Sydney water . What beach are you refering to? Link to comment
cadesun Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Originally posted by mrabolli Definatly use ocean water even near-shore water if its relativly unpolluted because in a nano tank mixing salt water is never nearly as easy and accurate as nature. Small inconsistancies is inherant and stresses fish. Polluted water would also but if its in good shape its cheap and better than store bought. Also try and go at near slack high tide just before it goes slack when its still rushing in. Hope this helps. are you serious? "as accurate as nature"? i hate to break it to you, but ocean water fluctuates too. tides, currents, rain, ect... all influence the ocean's water. also, how is a refractometer not accurate? IMO, mix your water, don't trust that you're not gathering polluted ocean water. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Actually... mainstream ocean water RARELY fluctuates more than .05 points of specific gravity... and that is a the highest. Not to mention there are also risks with artificial... someone here in boise just lost their entire tank due to a bad batch of instant ocean salt. Link to comment
cadesun Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 that's actually exactly what i meant. ocean water DOES fluctuate, albiet not that much, but neither does my artificial salt water. you are also talking about mainstream ocean water, not tidal water, which is a completely different story. and as for the bad batch of salt, i think the risk is much higher of gathering unknown pollutants or organism from near-shore ocean water than receiving a bad batch of IO. incidentally, did that guy get any sort of compensation from the company? Link to comment
nanomilk Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 thanks for the feedback guys, I decided to stick with mixing... too scared of getting bad water! cornstar: quiet you! westie boy Link to comment
ghostbear29 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hey uchia, my parents place is like 5 mins from scripps. Where do you go to fill? I visit there many times but never knew I could get water from them.....COOL!! Link to comment
GedemeisterDK Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...ngseawater.html this is what you are looking for Link to comment
Sushi Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 ghostbear, look through this thread and try to find the directions... it's just a hose at the end of the pier... and you'll see 4 HUGE filtration devices there, anyways, good luck http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.p...t=scripps+water Link to comment
SaltCreep Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 My reef has never seen water other than the pier water. I mean seriously we're trying to simulate the ocean right? What better water to use than that straight from the ocean? Link to comment
Nateair Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hasnt anybody seen the day after tomorrow. salinity changes folks, us northerners are in danger, leave the salt in the ocean to save lives. :woot: Link to comment
Domino_Tang Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 ^____^ 1.Boat 2.Big BuckeT! 3.Gas! 5.TIME! 6.Fishing pole ^________^ HAHAHAHAHA! 7.Beer Po0o0o0o0o0o0o0o TTTTle stick rofl! jp Link to comment
SaltCreep Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 "I think we've reached a critical desalinitation point!" Link to comment
nanomilk Posted December 11, 2004 Author Share Posted December 11, 2004 Originally posted by GedemeisterDK http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...ngseawater.html this is what you are looking for Thank you sooooooooooooo much! This is exactly what i needed! Link to comment
brianemone Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 i would use the NSW, you just need to make sure its not from a sheltered area, go out to somehwere thats got exposure to the open ocean currents and away from large consentrations of boat activity and inland run off. Link to comment
ebin Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 I like how the midwesterners are the ocean water experts. I pee in the water at the beach but if anybody really needs to top off thier nano I can stop by... I work with a guy who used ocean water to do all water changes but he was in guam and its a tiny island in the great pacific. How big are your water changes guys 1 mabey 2 gallons stop being cheap and spend the buck at the lfs for pre mixed!!! Link to comment
cadesun Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 hey ebin, what's your degree in? cause i'm pretty sure i have one in aquatic ecology. just because i live in the midwest doesn't mean i haven't been out of it. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 And have you heard of dilution? I dont care if you pee everything you've got in the ocean, I'll still get my water there if I can. Link to comment
DarkXerox Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 hmm, wouldnt the trace element concentrations be different say here in a temperate area than from a tropical reef area? I would think that life in intertidal/shoreline areas and pelagic areas would have different consumption rates than life a higher temperature region like a reef. But if it is workin well then it has to be fine. Just seems like it wouldn't be the same, but it has to be better than mix. Link to comment
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