jharr Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I live in San Diego and am on the verge of setting up a 20L reef tank. The Scripps Institute is nearby and they have free filtered sea water at their pier. I was wondering what the prevailing knowledge was on using natural sea water as opposed to mixing your own salt etc into RODI water. I am fortunate to work in a lab where I can get RODI water free as well. What say ye? Link to comment
ajroahkni Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 DO IT. Try doing a search on Scripps Institute - I believe there was another w/ the same/similar situation. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I used to use it but I dont want to risk it anymore. The water is great but every now and then CRASH! I know a few people who have lost everything do to a bad batch of water. A good friend Maurice lost virtually everything in his 250g. If you would like more info contact him through www.sdmas.org you can even see his tank there before the crash. Good luck Link to comment
jharr Posted March 13, 2003 Author Share Posted March 13, 2003 Thanks for the feedback. I had a feeling it might be risky getting water so close to a densly populated area. Maybe I should just quit the rat race and move to Tonga! Thanks again, James Link to comment
SDSupraTT Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Actually La Jolla is one of the better places to get sea water due to the natural deep ocean current that rises to the surface at that location. Link to comment
onthefly Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I did Scripps water for 4 years w/o any issues!!!1 2 rules!!!! 1) NEVER get water after a storm!! Wait a week or so (basicallly wait for the surf to clean up) 2) check the news, surf reports, and websites for red tides......thats also a no, no!!! Other than that......it is endless Water SG 1.024!!! Wish I had it up here in Oregon! BTW, the scripps aquarium (Which is Awesome!!!) uses that water and they follow the same rules as I stated above! Link to comment
ladyamanda Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I too use Scripps Water in both my 7 gallon and in my 20 gallon, I never get water during a red tide, or for a week after a storm and so far have had no problems. my filter feeders seem to like the micro-fauna, because they're all doing quite well. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 How do you know if there is red tide? we come to SD for work sometimes and I was thinking about bringing a few containers and stocking up. Link to comment
zizmans Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Don't know if this is relevent or not. Seattle Aq. has filtered sea water. Talked to a guy there who told me that it should only be used in FO tanks. Something about it being too nutrient rich for reef tanks and would cause massive algae outbreak. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Well sometimes someone is cool and posts a sign otherwise you better keep up to date with the surf hot lines. The water should be placed in a cool dark place a week prior to use, but many dont do that. I spoke with someone just the other day and he tested the water and got high silicate readings. Well that makes sense I told him seeing the water is going through 2 huge high rate sand filters, which are likely to have been filled with silica sand (common practice with sand filters). So if you have algae all the time its likely to be from the water. Like SDSupraTT stated there is deep currents that rise to the surface. And with those deep currents its possible to bring up settled gunk along with bacteria & pathogens. The gunk gets filtered but not the pathogens or bacteria. A huge die off of bacteria can be a huge load on a system and the pathagens can be much worse. Its not going to happen to everyone but it can happen. The reason scripps doesnt have to worry much is because of there HUGE system. Put a few gallons of bad water in that system and you wont notice a thing but in a nano or even a 250g and you will see things die before your eyes, literally. Lots of people use it with no problem, but Id rather not play the game of calling the lines and busting a sweat every time I pour some water in my tank. Besides a bag of salt lasts me about 4 months even with two tanks so 20 bucks aint worth the risk. Link to comment
Raise Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Go for it! Some +s and -s of NSW: + 1)More Trace Elements 2) Possibly good bacteria _ 1) Sometimes it can have coloration: yellowy 2)If collected at the wrong time it can F everything up. I use it. Link to comment
onthefly Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 The La Jolla Canyon comes into the cove and the Scripps Arm is 500 yards north of the pier (where their intake is). Deeper water can contain more nutrients (not pollutants!). But it is cleaner! I used to love being at Aquatic Warehouse and watching peeps pay cash for THEIR saltwater........It's scripps water!!!!! That's right, all those beautiful show tanks and their holding tanks.....all scripps wawa! Ever notice that flat bed truck w/ the 800ga polypro tank in back....That's how they get it! I saw them there! Link to comment
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