Natural seawater?

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erichm20

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
651
Location
Jensen Beach, FL
Does anyone use natural seawater for water changes? I mean it is the water in the ocean that I am trying to recreate anyway right? So why not just get my water from the ocean? I live about 10 mins from the beach.
 
Many people do, but I personally wouldn't. Too many unknowns and potential contaminants IMO. If you know your baseline, everything is easier.
 
HN1 said:
Many people do, but I personally wouldn't. Too many unknowns and potential contaminants IMO. If you know your baseline, everything is easier.

+1 you never know what may have been dumped right up the beach and not all locations yield the same quality water. Some don't even have the same salinity.
 
I have been using NSW for a about 2 months prior to Hurricane Sandy. I was getting nice color and polyp extension. I'm gonna wait another week before I collect again for water changes.
 
I don't see why not because the lfs sells ocean water but they bring that water in from offshore (so they say) lol
 
I only use ocean water if you know your area and the water is clean it's fine. the lfs here use it and sell it. Incoming high tide and check the salinity usually runs about .28 here. I cut it with some ro. No problems.
 
I had asked this question years ago and one of the answers I received was, you should go out at least a half mile or so and get you water so you would get less contaminants from run off or sewage or anything else. But if you are on an island some where in the South Pacific...it might be ok. Lol
 
I was under the impression ocean water sold by most LFS has been filtered, and uv treated before bring distributed. Personally if I ever used natural seawater collected myself I would do the same before adding it.
 
I would store it in a black barrel with a power head for a week, then filter it. Lots of folks use natural seawater, but as mentioned above, you want water with no contaminates and parasites. That's why RO/DI with a good mix is maybe more consistent and sterile.
 
I think it should also be a point that our reefs are dying at alarming rates partly due to the fact that you can find trash almost anywhere you look on the ocean floor even though we have been on less then 1% so subjecting your reef to these conditions at this point are riskier then they are worth and getting worse every year.
 
Ok. Thanks for the input. I was wondering bc I don't have an rodi unit and have been buying water and it would be so easy to just get it from the beach for free. I've read that you want to go way offshore to collect it and I don't have a boat so I don't think I'll chance it definitely don't want to introduce any parasites. Maybe instead I'll just get an rodi setup and mix my own...
 
In the end, that is the most consistent way. But if I lived at the beach, I would be tempted to figure out a way to use natural seawater.
 
This is a pic of my tank for the last 2 months I've been using NSW because I had my tank crash from a bad batch of salt mix. So my thought was what better way of starting the tank again then with NSW. As you can see from the pic that the tank is clean. So far I'm not having any issues with fish lost or corals dying. Everything that I have is flourishing using NSW. I've never had such good growth and color using salt mix. So for me its working and I will continue to use NSW.
Using NSW is not for everyone u do take a risk using it. But u also take a risk at getting a bad batch of salt mix ( like i did) or over dosing on some type of solution like magnesium , iodine , and etc.
 

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Can't argue with success. I have just heard some horror stories about NSW, but many major aquariums that are coastal use it after filtering it and UV nuking it. They all harvest it a long ways off shore. The ocean works a little like your protein skimmer does, wave action causes protein fractionation (skimming) as the waves pound the beach leaving sea foam, which is full of organics. Closer to the beach, the higher the organic levels in the water.
 
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I guess you have to live by a clean ocean to understand it. All lfs here get it at the inlets.incoming high tides brings the water in from the gulf stream. Supports great inshore reef life works for me.
 
IMHO you don't have to live near an ocean to understand it. Basically unless your keeping the same local inhabitants as where you get your NSW from you are taking a risk. Like Russian roulette. I live only few miles from the ocean but I wouldn't add it to my tank without filtering & sterilizing cuz nothing in my tank is native within hundreds of miles to me and surely there are some different organisms here compared to where they are from. As stated before you can't argue with success but just because things have been successful for a period of time doesn't mean things can't change and go wrong. The ocean ebbs and flows and brings about change in many ways. I still say filter & sterilize and be on the side of caution and protect your tank inhabitants and the investment in them you've made. With all the costs associated with this hobby why not do what we can to increase our chances of success?
 
If it were my 2,000 dollar reef tank i would make a long term investment and buy the rodi unit. Its definitly the safest way to go and definitly consistant. Im not sure how you can make a bad batch of salt...? Was the salinity wayyy off? I feel like that could be easily avoided.

I would like to point out that the beach 10 minutes from my house is one of the most polluted beaches on the west coast. The water quality is terrible and could easily crash a reef tank. Just a few miles south of that beach is a radioactive powerplant.... And north of that beach is clean water. I just wanted to point out that if you dont know what is near/in the water things could easily end poorly..
 
Yea I've made the decision not to just because the quality of the water where I am is rarely great. Largely due to regular discharges from lake okeechobee through the inlet closest to me. The lake runoff water is badly polluted w pesticides and fertilizer from nearby sugar farms... Sadly resulting in substantial die-offs of everything in our river and intercostal waters. Secondly I don't think I would collect it right at the beach bc of what Greg stated about the natural "skimming" happening in-shore and I don't own A boat. Instead I'm going to look into rodi unit that I can modify so I can drink the RO water too.

I appreciate the discussion!
 
Russian roulette goes with salt mixes to I guess.when they have a recall on a major brand that's kind of scary to! Do whats best in your situation op sounds like you already know. You will succeed its pretty simple once you get going. Find a good lfs in your area and talk with them.
 
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