The noobest of the noob questions and thoughts.

[Evo8]

Ok so week one of setting up at my saltwater tank..and i have quite a few question..some may seem dumb, but they're just thoughts on a few things.

1. I live in SW Florida..why cant i use Water from the ocean to fill my tank? The waters pretty clean here.
2. Why cant i just scrape up 25 lbs. of sand from the ocean floor ( about 15 yds off shore obviously)
3. Whats the difference between the base rock all our LFS's have and the kind i can get laying apon the beach (after proper cleaning of course)

I'll be asking more later..of course as soon as i started typing my mind went blank!

And guys im not asking if it's illegal to tank sand, rock, and water. I'm a criminal just major, and i know it is. (although im not sure they would bother you about water! lol) I'm asking why cant you use these natural resources, again BESIDES THE FACT THEY'RE ILLEGAL TO HARVEST! lol
it just seems so dumb so me that i spend around 100 dollars on rock and sand so far yet, live 8 miles from the ocean, expecially when i have pretty clean water on our beaches!

thanks in advance guys!

 

[dragonfisher33]

i don't have the luxury of living near the coast, therefore i can't give you an exact reason why you can't do 1 and 2 other than the risk of contamination and the potential of future headaches from unknown source. but for #3, you definitely can use the rock from the beach after proper cleaning. in fact, IME base rock is just a rock that serves as the base (duh) for the other live rocks(such as tonga and fiji) to pile on. some lfs are just in for the money in my opinion. and the thing is, it doesn't have to be rock from the beach. any rocks, as long as they're inert, can serve as base rock (whether you get it from the beach, mountain, park, etc)

 

[Grizz]

The exhaust from boats dumps oil into the water. You'd need to be out 2-3 miles Beaches are natures skimmers, I'm sure you've seen that lovely brown foam wash up on them. Most base rock comes from a quarry it's mined from long extinct reefs.

 

[Ingy]

Offshore oil rigs will lend to the water pollution on both Fl coasts. Local fertilizers used on lawns (and its fall fertilization season) will make their way to the ocean as well, much worse in more populated areas.
As for rocks from a short distance offshore, I'm a bit less altruistic there, although the risks are elevated with 'potential' contaminates, I might just go for it.

Might...

Actually I did use beach sand (granite based not coral based) in my first tank along with ocean water. However, I live on an island in Canda's pacific coast. Our water is not at risk with oil rigs or commercial traffic. I got it from an area unpopulated so no real fertilizer risk. I still get the water (perferrably while I'm out fishing) from the ocean but I always check for red tide or other algae blooms first.