Status of my "natural" seawater tank

[phishman1]

Well after trying to figure out if I would attempt it or not, I decided what the heck.
Since I live here in Daytona, I cleaned out a 30 gallon cichlid tank, and coverted it to a "natural" water from the ocean tank.
Wading out waist deep, I collected, about 25 gallons worth, put it in the tank, added about 5 gallons from my established tank during a water change.
Put on a Emperor 280 and a the larger of the Prizm skimmers and fired her up...
working like a charm...
I collected a Serpent star while walking on the beach, he seems happy to have a new home. Many spiral alive snails, 1 small yellow tail jack, and several very small bait fish of some kind. Natural crushed shell for the substrate. And of course the ever popular damsels for color...
so far so good....

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by phishman1
Well after trying to figure out if I would attempt it or not, I decided what the heck.
Since I live here in Daytona, I cleaned out a 30 gallon cichlid tank, and coverted it to a "natural" water from the ocean tank.
Wading out waist deep, I collected, about 25 gallons worth, put it in the tank, added about 5 gallons from my established tank during a water change.
Put on a Emperor 280 and a the larger of the Prizm skimmers and fired her up...
working like a charm...
I collected a Serpent star while walking on the beach, he seems happy to have a new home. Many spiral alive snails, 1 small yellow tail jack, and several very small bait fish of some kind. Natural crushed shell for the substrate. And of course the ever popular damsels for color...
so far so good....
Should be excellent. Just replace the water that evaporates. therefore no need to replace the saltwater. Also you might try macro algae to balance out the tank.

 

[plum70rt]

I know many people down this way in Fla that use Ocean Water,
I collected about 15 gallons about 2 miles out,
I use this for my 7 gallon tank, which is 100% ocean water, and I use it for water changes, Im just a little leary about useing it in my 262 gallon, to much to lose, Im chicken

 

[leigh]

my bf is doing that for a freshwater tank--all his substrate, rock, wood, and critters are from the rivers--we both flyfish too so he's keeping his eye out for a good first fish resident to spare from the frying pan

 

[killafins]

I did that for a teacher in my high school last year. We went out, grabbed buckets of water, buckets of mud and rocks. (the mud didn't work out because of the filter so we switched to rocks.) we then added fish that he caught in a trap including crayfish. pretty cool.
Question for you though, does'nt topping the water off lead to the tank no longer being 'natural'. and what happens when it's time for a water change. do you go out there and just get seawater again or what?
I think it's a great idea. I just wouldn't recommend bringing store bought fish into the tank.

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by killafins
I just wouldn't recommend bringing store bought fish into the tank.
Why?? Wild caught fish into artificial seawater is better? This is what is happening in an LFS. It is bad to take them back into natural seawater?
The rationale for using natural seawater is that most sythetic salt mixes do not result in anywhere near 'normal' mineral concentrations. Synthetic seawater may not be all that close to natural seawater. Adding top off water really doesn't impact this in any significant way. I suppose you could collect rainwater if it is a big concern But I would use natural seawater if I could get a good soource of it, no questions or worries.

 

[killafins]

actually, i was more thinking about captive bred... srry. Because of the polution in the waters and that kind of stuff that i swear i read somewhere that a captive bred may die in natural water... i'm srry... my mistake thnx ophiura

 

[mishka]

My husband and I get water from the gulf every time he does a water change. And he also has some calurpa and two mantis shrimp in a rubbermaid tub outside with "natural water". All he has in that is a pump for circulation. I don't mind going to get it with him, it's just that people look at us like we're crazy! We have red tide in the gulf that we have to worry about. It's an algae bloom, so we're always keeping our ears open for news of it. We'd hate to kill our tank, and have a nagging cough to go with it!