Natural or Sinthetic

[reelknotty]

I have a 55 gallon corner reef tank. I've been getting my salt water on the incoming tide right at the inlet. The local fish store suggested that I mix my own salt water rather than using the sea water.
Any suggestions on what may be better?
If you prefer sinthetic, which brand do you recommend? They recommended Instant Ocean.

 

[fishieness]

it is a good idea, but the salt that you are bringing in may have pathogens and diseases in it. You never know what you are bringing into your tank.
instant ocean isnt a bad type, but if you have a reef the Ca levels would be much too low.

 

[hot883]

Synthetic will be MUCH better. You cannot collect sea water far enough out not to get polluted watr IMO.

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by hot883
Synthetic will be MUCH better. You cannot collect sea water far enough out not to get polluted watr IMO.
:joy: that is another good point

 

[connor]

Also could there be bacteria and other thing that the fish you have arent used to. For example if you have a fish from hawaii and your getting water from another place far away the fish wouldnt be used to the forighn(sp!) bacteria and could get him sick easy.

 

[acrylic51]

IMO I would use synthetic salt.....I would think that the water from the inlet wouldn't be clean enough for use, but that's JMHO......I prefer Reef Crystals when it comes to synthetic salt.

 

[smarls]

I use natural seawater...have done for about 2 years now.
I get it from the LFS, and it is collected a few miles offshore by a company called Catalina, and apparently filtered once (although I wouldn't bet that they actually do this!)
I would NOT use water from the shore, mainly due to the increased level of pullutants at the shoreline. (unless of course I lived in the middle of nowhere, then I would consider it).
I like the natural seawater for two reasons. One it is simple, and requires no mixiing etc (ok, I am lazy!), and two, as much as we try and recreate saltwater using syntheitc mixes, who knows what trace element or dissolved protein we fail to include in the sysnthetic that may turn out to be key for the health of the aquarium? We just don;t know, and I think we are foooling ourselves if we actually think we understand that much about the complexity of our oceans.
Of course, there is a down side that I could be putting something in that is detrimental to the aquarium (pathogen, or some pullutant, invasice algae spores, etc) but thus far I have not had any problems. I have also read about numerous 'bad batches" of synthetic...so I guess there is a risk either way.
Basically though, each to their own.
HTH
Stewart

 

[jam marine]

I agree with Smarls,i have been using natural sea water for about 4 years,with no ill effects,straight from the sea,10 minute drive home and straight to the tank

 

[ophiura]

I would absolutely positively use natural seawater if I had reliable access to decent water. If there is a lot of boat traffic or water entertainment in that area, I wouldn't use the water personally. But if you can get it further out...I would absolutely go natural.
I have my suspicions that there are several animals (some seastars come to mind) that have trouble with synthetic seasalt which ican actually be quite out of balance compared to natural seawater in terms of concentrations of trace elements.
So if you can get a clean source of water -- then do it. If not, go synthetic.
Out of curiosity, how long have you had this tank running, and why are you being encouraged to change? Apart from paying the LFS for RO water and salt mix, of course

 

[reelknotty]

I've had my tank running for about 9 months. I've been collecting sea water all along, I liked the idea of getting water that has plantem (sp?), etc. I go out and get it on my boat on the incoming tide.
I recently noticed some flat worms and I havent added anything new to my tank so I suspect they could have come from the water. So I wanted to give synthetic a try. The guy from the LFS said it was much better, corals open up better etc. Besides, with gas being so expensive now-a-days, I'm looking for another route.
I think what I'll do is use synthetic for now, and when I go out fishing, if I go out far enough I'll get natural sea water.
By the way, the guy at the LFS said that the truck that sells them the water collects it from the same area I've been getting it. I dont really trust them filtering the water either. I wouldnt beat on that, unless I see them do it.