Ocean water in tank???

[ian]

I have a 215 gallon tank that has been sitting for about a year. I have left it running but with nothing in it in order to preserve the live rock and sand. I luckily live in Ft. Lauderdale Florida so instead of moving the water as I have done in the past I dumped most of it out last night when moving it. My question is this... Since I live near the beach is there any risk in using ocean water to refill my tank?
Thanks for the advice guys...

 

[groupergenius]

It would be best if you could get it offshore instead of the beach.

 

[fau8]

Not a good thing to do, surf line water contains a lot of contaniments. I live up in Port Saint Luice and was geting my water from a salt water well at Harbor Branch and even it was high is phosphates.

 

[saltn00b]

extremely bad idea. i have seen and heard too many horror stories.

 

[ian]

Damn now I am all confused. I searched some posts and it appears a lot of people have done it but now you guys say it is a bad idea. Just trying to not have to go through the whole process of cycling all over again.

 

[coral keeper]

There are pros and cons about natural ocean water. People say its fine people say its a bad idea. I get Natural ocean water off the cost of CA myself and my tanks are fine and healthy. I mix my own water when I run out of the natural ocean water. I say go for it. But try not to get it right off the beach but at least a little into the ocean.

 

[chronreefer]

If there is any doubt, err on the side of caution. Too many things could go wrong with ocean water, and although I'm sure plenty have people have done it with (perhaps marginally) success, there is no reason to cut corners (especially in this hobby!). Bite the bullet and mix it yourself with RO water.
At least my opinion.

 

[groupergenius]

Originally Posted by Ian
http:///forum/post/2819383
Damn now I am all confused. I searched some posts and it appears a lot of people have done it but now you guys say it is a bad idea. Just trying to not have to go through the whole process of cycling all over again.
This may not be the best thing to do but...do you have a good reputable LFS around you? Maybe get their water from a big water change. I started a couple of my tanks from WC water from a local reefer that had massive tanks.
I have used ocean water before and I get it 20+ miles offshore in the Gulf. I don't do it often because it's just a pain in the butt to have all the containers on the boat when I'm fishing.

 

[ian]

Ill do some checking but a lot of the LFS I have dealt with are kind of "pricks" with the we dont wanna help attitude. I do have some buddies that fish all the time, Ill ask them too.

 

[spiderwoman]

What I'd do is run the same tests on the ocean water as you would for your home mixed water and then make up your mind. Make sure you check for phosphates too.

 

[aquaknight]

Ian, if you want to make the drive up to the Boyton Beach inlet, you can drive your car right up the sea wall and fill up your container that way (bucket and rope, or pump, extension cord, and power inverter plugged into your car).
You only want to collect water at high tide, as the fresh incoming tide will be the cleanest. Website to check for times:
http://www.weather.com/activities/re...m=secondarynav
For filtering, a filter sock should be more then enough. A UV if your extremely worried. Agreed, I wouldn't use the water without testing though.

 

[ian]

Thanks guys! As always, thats why I post here

 

[gatorwpb]

One of my LFS gets NSW from the Jupiter inlet. The high tide timing is important. Lately, they havent had any SW because the quality of it was poor. Whenever a storm is in the atlantic or the wind shifts, the water is not clean enough to use.

 

[ifirefight]

Ian, I see you are in So Fla. I get my water from the Boynton inlet...I have had zero problems. If collected PROPERLY,it is fine to use. Im not sure where you are..but if you are close to Boynton,I would be happy to meet with you and show you the best way to collect the water.

 

[spanko]

I don't know about Florida but there are a couple of colleges in California that collect and filter natural seawater for their educational programs and supply it to reefers. Might want to check a couple of large colleges down there that have marine biology courses to see if they do it too.