Ocean Water vs. Synthetic

oceansidefish

Active Member
So here is the deal. I live in SO. California and I moved to the OC, I have been using synthetic salt up to now. However 2 of the LFS in my area sell natural sea water taken from Scripps (which is filtered through micron filter) however I am still concerned about using this and wondered what everyone thought. Since I just moved, I now have a garage which will make it 100 times easier to mix my own salt. I know that the natural sea water is better balanced but I am concerned about excess nutrients since I am running two nano tanks a 24 and a 7
 
Ive been using sea water from my lfs for over a year now and no problems. i live on the east coast, so i dont know much about the pacific water
 

teen

Active Member
a lot of people use ocean water. myself inlcuded. i use it straight from the ocean, just heat it up. i normally dont filter it unless its green when i collect it. works better than synthetic IMO. thast what you'll hear from most people.
 

ophiura

Active Member
The excessive nutrients and totally out of wack concentrations in artificial seawater would personally be a greater concern for me. But that is me. I would use NSW from a reliables source any day over synthetic, no questions asked.
 

oceansidefish

Active Member
Thanks, I would like additional input as well before I decide to make the switch. I have heard some people have had problems in smaller tanks with NSW.... I would like to for the added nutrient balance you get naturally...I was also wondering about the breakdown of salt with that.
 

oceansidefish

Active Member
Thanks for all the input I think I will be making the switch....What has everyone been doing as far as KALK and ALK are concerned??? How should I switch over???
 

teen

Active Member
add the water without any buffers and see how it affects your tank. it could have a low alk which mean you would want to dose kalkwasser. or it could be vice versa.
 

rikyt74

New Member
I have a beach home in Puerto Penasco Mexico know to Americans as Rocky Point. My home is surrounded by the Sea of Cortez and an Estuary. The house is totally green running on photovoltaic panels. I have a Sea Recovery desalination system that makes 600 gallons of fresh water a day from a well I have drilled 35 feet in to the beach. The water I get from the well has been filtered by all the sand and it is crystal clear when I get it. The sea water in the Sea of Cortez is a little salty at 1.36 so I cut it with filtered water when I get home to Phoenix. I have been using sea water for over 5 years with no problems. The desalination system discharges heavy brine that is not processed as fresh water that I have been using and it comes out very salty at 1.60. I can take more home this way and just cut it with more fresh water.
www.playaencantorentals.com
 
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