Store Bought Ocean Water

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
Doesn't the San Diego aquarium have some sort of system that flushes their tanks with Natural Water from the bay every night?
Yes if I remember correctly its filtered before it runs through their systems..

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
Doesn't the San Diego aquarium have some sort of system that flushes their tanks with Natural Water from the bay every night?
I think the Monterray bay aquarium does that too... it's a bit different on such a large scale though.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by m0nk
I think the Monterray bay aquarium does that too... it's a bit different on such a large scale though.
Or does it just give you a better chance to get something bad into your system.

I know I've gone down to galveston and check the water in a few different places. There is ALOT of no2 and no3 in the water. Part of the reason why certain fish are only found in certain places in the world is water quality and content, most fish and coral we collect need very clean water without alot of stuff in it. And I'd dare say most of the water we encounter isn't nutrient poor enough for our fish.

 

[breebauer]

Originally Posted by teen
first, can you define more frequently and what the side effects of not changing tank water "more frequently" would be when using NSW?
if im using water off the coast of new york, taking into consideration all the dumping that goes on in NJ and whatever flushes out of the hudson, im sure i would be the first to experience these so called contaminants. so far, i can say ive eperienced nothing that has had a negative affect on my tank.
Against everybody's advice, I've been using some of new york's seawater also with no noticable effects so far.
Actually, we have a 'local' tank in our house that was started with local seawater, and sand. Water changes are done with local seawater, except when it's too frigid to go to the beach, then I mix my own.
My other tank was started up with all of the store bought stuff, the sand, boxed water and LR. I always mix my own water for that tank and never use seawater. This tank has alot of corals, so I'm a little more neurotic with what goes in it.
The 'local' tank had an algae issue at one point, but I think that was due to lack of maintenance, not the water. There's just a few fish and crabs that were from the bay in there. It also doesn't have too many corals in it, just some small zoas and a kenya. Everything's pretty much ok for now.
I haven't used any seawater in the summer yet, and I'm not sure if I will. I think there's alot more stuff growing in there when the water gets warm enough. Not sure, but just a hunch, since there's a huge difference in the clarity of the water in Aug.
I'm right by Shinnecock Inlet, and the ocean water looks pretty clean in the winter. I think that Atlantis Aquarium comes here to get their water too.

 

[teen]

atlantis does get their water from there, as do a lot of other hobbyiests.
in the summer i get mine from moriches inlet. well, out off moriches inlet into the ocean a bit. i try and go on high tide every time. right now, since there are literally icebergs in the bay and id rather not risk hitting one in my boat, i just drive to smiths point and collect water from there. the waters been crystal clear, so ive been doing a lot of water changes.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by teen
atlantis does get their water from there, as do a lot of other hobbyiests.
in the summer i get mine from moriches inlet. well, out off moriches inlet into the ocean a bit. i try and go on high tide every time. right now, since there are literally icebergs in the bay and id rather not risk hitting one in my boat, i just drive to smiths point and collect water from there. the waters been crystal clear, so ive been doing a lot of water changes.
Man, I wish I lived close enough to take a boat out on the ocean in some way/shape/form.

 

[kat74]

I use Nutri-Seawater for my water changes and I don't know about anyone else's water, but every single time that I check the water's SG, it is NOT 1.027 like it says it's supposed to be on the container. I measure with a refractometer and get 1.030 every single time. I informed my LFS about this, and they said that they would inform the distributor. I've been using it for over a year now and other than having to adjust the SG, I've had no problems.
I'm interested in knowing if anyone else has actually tested this water and what you came up with?

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by m0nk
Man, I wish I lived close enough to take a boat out on the ocean in some way/shape/form.

i dont think i could live anywhere that didnt have a large body of water. i grew up always on my parents sailboat, and now i have a 17' boston whaler of my own. which gets a good amount of use in the spring/summer/fall.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by teen
i dont think i could live anywhere that didnt have a large body of water. i grew up always on my parents sailboat, and now i have a 17' boston whaler of my own. which gets a good amount of use in the spring/summer/fall.
Wow, I want one!! How can I get one of those?

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by m0nk
Wow, I want one!! How can I get one of those?

it would probably help to live somewhere on the water, lol. but if you ever come to LI, id be more than happy to take you out for the day. it cant be that far of a drive, your only in PA. not guam.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by teen
it would probably help to live somewhere on the water, lol. but if you ever come to LI, id be more than happy to take you out for the day. it cant be that far of a drive, your only in PA. not guam.
Heh, very true. I'm about 2 hrs from the ocean, same from the Chesapeake Bay and from what I remember, about 3hr from NYC. I'll definitely have to keep your offer in mind there if I head up to Long Island.

 

[kirkland]

The seattle aquarium uses water from puget sound. They filter it with uv that I know of, probably other stuff as well. They offer the water to the public as well, or at least they did 2 years ago. If we lived closer to the aquarium, I would have gone that route for water that went into our FO tank.

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by teen
first, can you define more frequently and what the side effects of not changing tank water "more frequently" would be when using NSW?
if im using water off the coast of new york, taking into consideration all the dumping that goes on in NJ and whatever flushes out of the hudson, im sure i would be the first to experience these so called contaminants. so far, i can say ive eperienced nothing that has had a negative affect on my tank.
I also use natural ocean water. I get it on the coast of California and have been using natural ocean water for about a year in my 8 gallon oceanic bio cube and I've never used synthetic saltwater. I got inverts, fish, and lots of corals in there and live sand and live rock. I got my live sand from the ocean too. Everything is good and growing good and healthy. The SG in the natural ocean water is a little higher than my tanks SG but thats easy to fix. So far so good with natural ocean water.

 

[coral keeper]

Here is a new thread I just made about natural ocean water. Here is a link.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/301468/to-everyone-who-collects-natural-ocean-water-or-uses-natural-ocean-water

 

[ibew]

Originally Posted by teen
it would probably help to live somewhere on the water, lol. but if you ever come to LI, id be more than happy to take you out for the day. it cant be that far of a drive, your only in PA. not guam.

YO teen in a few months your going to have to change your name. I only checked your profile because I wish I had a 17' foot Boston whaler at 19 years old you lucky dawg anyhow Im just busting your chops

 

[oceansidefish]

Well I see that several of the posters have read Fenners book! In fact I believe it was recited word for word. Here is the deal, I live in so cal and have been using filtered ocean water from scripps for several months. It is filtered and used by all of the Oceanography's and NMFS's aquaria and if it's working for their reefs I figured it would work for mine and it has. I don't know about the yellowing, I have not experienced that but I also change water at least every other week. In fact it's difficult to find anything but scripps water around here.

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by PerfectDark
I cant tell you what I would do because I have never nor do I ever intend on introducing NSW to my tank but I can tell you whats recomended.
Place the water in a dark place for a couple of weeks before using and or treat the water with copper salts, permanganate, formaldehyde, chlorine, etc. and remove the poisonous effects of the treatment before using. Again this was what is recomended and of course the source of the water is going to greatly sway your decision to do one both or none of these things.. IMO seeing as though the only luck I have is bad luck, I would stick with synthetic salt.
With all due respect..I disagree with you. This debate has gone on for a long time NSW vs Synthetic.. If the NSW is collected CORRECTLY, IMO it is FAR superior to any synthetic. I collect it and use it the same day or the next day at the very latest. I do not keep it in the dark or run it through ANY type of filtration...Now before anybody gets huffy.....Let me also say this ( I have stated this in other posts but will re-state again for those who have missed it) I live in South Florida...about 25 miles north of the location that they collect NUTRI-SEA NATURAL WATER....Also I have personelly seen EVERY Aquarium maintenance company in the yellow pages ( and there are a bunch down here in So Fla....you know with all the rich people that want a tank and dont want to be bothered with maintaining it) collecting water at the same time I am getting it. I have also TALKED to the guys that collect the water and maintain larger tanks than most of us can ever hope for. They collect and use it the same day....sometimes they collect twice a day. I have had NO problems using it...My 2 cents.

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by Ibew
YO teen in a few months your going to have to change your name. I only checked your profile because I wish I had a 17' foot Boston whaler at 19 years old you lucky dawg anyhow I will bust your chops some more later on a new name

lol, one thing though. teen doesnt stand for teenager, its my nickname. my first names constantine, but mostly everybody i know personally calls me teen. and ive had the boat since i was 17. lol.

 

[oceansidefish]

I agree for those of you who have been quoting Fenner's book you need to remember a few things... It's not a new book, there are several things in there that should be edited as technology has permitted and improved upon. There have been MASSIVE advances in the SW fishkeeping obession in the last few years. IE lighting filtering skimmers and so on. Including the collection, breeding and keeping of MANY species that even just 8 short years ago was considered absurd.
At this point I believe that it is the oppinion of most SW keepers in southern coastal states that NSW is FAR supperior to synthetic mixes, provided it is collected properly and filtered (if needed). Most of us had experienced pleasant improvements in our tanks since using NSW.

 

[teen]

and i have a question. those of you who filter the NSW your collecting, what exactly are you filtering it for? what are you tring to get rid of, and what type of filter are you using? sounds more like youre using it for the ease/ cost of collecting it, rather than its beneficial qualities.