Taking water out of the ocean

[pakora]

I live in south florida. As funny as this sounds I want to make sure as laws can be rather absurd sometimes.
If I was to go to the beach and fill some containers with ocean water would that cause any problems or is it my right to do this? Also, how good of a chance would there be of me capturing some type of living organisms in the ocean water.
Lastly, would it be okay to introduce this water to my home aquarium?
Thank you for your help and I love this forum.
Waiting patiently for your responses!

 

[scubaguy]

That close to land you are likely to get fertilizer or ather poisons. As I am sure others will ring in soon, Do not so this.

 

[psusocr1]

dont risk it IMO, as said above all the "junk" washes into shore and with that said all that stuff will be in the water you collect.. if you were however in a boat 20 or 30 miles out in the ocean and collected some you might be alright..

 

[ice4ice]

I wouldn't. You may end up with pollution and other harmful pests/organisms/waste that will harm you livestock in your tank.

 

[sly]

I'll go along with the consensus here. Think of the beach like a giant protein skimmer. The waves wash much of the junk from the ocean up onto the sand which creates foam which feeds a tremendous amount of bacteria. The water at the beach is NOT the same as the water out in the ocean. Scooping water from the beach would be like filling your tank with water from a skimmer.

 

[perfectdark]

Aside from all of the above you will and this is a guarantee... WILL introduce about 1000 times more bacteria to your tank than what already resides in it. In a sense you will increase your bacterial load on your tank exponentially and it will most likely crash. There are so many more species of bacteria that you get from sea water that your tanks filtration system and environment isnt capable of handiling. Im not speaking from experience but I asked this question to my LFS who employes 2 marine biologists. That was the answer they gave me. Although their explanation was far more detailed the conclusion was the same. Good Luck.

 

[ophiura]

If I had a clean source of water I would absolutely POSITIVELY do this.
Mother nature does some things FAR better. Now this is assuming you are getting water a bit offshore.
I am not sure the bacteria part...and I am a marine biologist too.

Of course, if I had a store, and wanted to sell salt mix, RO units or water, etc yet was very closely located to the shore...I would probably discourage it too.

 

[perfectdark]

Well looking back on the scenario... let me clarify... I guess location has alot to do with it. My question was based on me going to the beach locally and scooping up a few buckets of ocean water.. being from Rhode Island all I had to share is what I was told about our local water here. Which is very different than alot of other places. My bad..

 

[rudedog40]

Is there any way to test ocean water for all the impurities? If he's in South Florida, I would assume he's within driving distance of the Keys. I was there this summer, and rented a boat and went to the reefs around 3 miles out at Pennekemp. The water there was as clear and blue as I've seen in the Caymans. I had 30 - 40 foot visibility every day I snorkeled. You could siphon several gallons and test all the various levels (ammonia, Ph, trates, trites, calcium, phospates, etc.) But are you able to test for the various bacteria's? Would the bacteria in ocean water be harmful or interact some way with the bacteria in your tank? The majority of fish we get from the LFS and online come from this water. Seems they should be able to handle it if you put it in your tank. The big question is what's the cost benefit. The drive time, boat time, boat gas, etc. would probably cost you a lot more than 25 cents per gallon for RO water, and another buck for the salt. But if you're talking about taking the water off of Daytona Beach, South Miami Beach, or others, I wouldn't do it for the reasons given by the other posters.

 

[lineman1]

do not go to the beach and get water your tank will crash!! if you have access to a boat you can collect well offshore (several miles that is) however you may still introduce chemicals or bacteria that might harm certain animals

 

[bexleyfish]

I think I smell an experiment... Pakora, I think you should get a 10g or something and fill it. Tell us how it goes lol

 

[ophiura]

I honestly would have no concerns whatsoever about the bacteria. I am not sure why everyone is so concerned about bacteria in general (this is this whole "antibacterial" craze). Bacteria are NOT problems as a general rule. This is ocean water...NATURAL ocean water...and there is really not much better. Bacteria are our friends. We would be in huge huge huge trouble without them - in fact I am not sure how life would go on for long

They are also frequently food.
Now viruses

...
If there are concerns, yes, you can filter the water, but I would not use the bacteria issue as a reason not to use natural seawater. The risk is likely rather low.
Again, don't get it from a boat launch or at the beach, IMO. But a "blue water" source? Absolutely. Our synthetic salt mix is very skewed in most components and often orders of magnitude higher in things like nitrate...and we worry about ocean water? Very strange. Someone has some good marketing going on here.

Natural sea water is always used as the control in tests of synthetic salt mixes for a reason. Many animals die in synthetic salt mixes - in fact I propose the difficulty many seastars have is due to the totally unnatural composition of synthetic saltwater.
Now don't go to an obvious area for pollution - because that would not be a good plan. But as a general "will it work" concept, absolutely natural seawater is great.

 

[fishnrugby]

i would deffinately take water out of the ocean than making or buying it. in one of my tanks is filled with just ocean water (West Palm Beach)and it has the best water quality and is the nicest looking. make sure you go out near the Gulf stream. The Gulf Stream is around 2 miles out. or get tyhe water from a reef not the beach.

 

[pakora]

Wow so many replies! This indeed sounds like a grand experiment. I have a few more questions if I may.
If the water on shore is so harmful and loaded with bacteria why is it okay for me to go swim there without worry? That makes me feel really uneasy about going into the ocean if im loading my skin with pollutants and chemicals.
Secondly, the main reason for doing this is that I wanted to introduce copepods and other of the small tiny hitch hikers that I so often read about. I never find any in my tank and I wish I would!

 

[michaeltx]

you normally dont ingest the water at the beach and most of the bacterias cant live within the human body to my understanding. there are a few things that can cause us problems though just like swimming in a creek you always have that risk but IMO its minimal.
as far as the copepods you probably have them in the tank if you added LR to it but their populations may not be high enough for you to see them plus they are normally very small. you can always look into the tank with a red lensed light since they dont see the red spectrum as much.
you can also increase pos population by small piles of rock rubble so they have a safe place to live and produce.
Mike

 

[florida joe]

ok first where in south fl do you live east or gulf coast and how far south

 

[koolaidman]

cant you just buy pods? This site has a sale now actually 2 bags of 200 for 15 bucks. Im guessing they would still be alive. also, less expensive than the risk of restarting a chrashed tank IMO.

 

[watertight]

I set up a nano tank a few years ago and used nothing but beach sand (Washed thoroughly) and sea water, which I sourced from my LFS. He used to sell it for $2.00 for 20 litres. I don't know exactly where he got it from but he used it in all his tanks, and I had no problems with it either.
Then I moved interstate and set up a tank here. There is a seahorse farm nearby, and they told me the water quality near there was good. I had a major crash and lost everything, all within a couple of days of doing a water change. Apparently from phosphate (?) in the water. So I'd probably try natural water in a new set-up, with only a couple of fish in it...but I definately wouldn't want to risk putting it in an established display tank...or reef tank!

 

[peef]

Originally Posted by rudedog40
Is there any way to test ocean water for all the impurities? If he's in South Florida, I would assume he's within driving distance of the Keys. I was there this summer, and rented a boat and went to the reefs around 3 miles out at Pennekemp. The water there was as clear and blue as I've seen in the Caymans. I had 30 - 40 foot visibility every day I snorkeled. You could siphon several gallons and test all the various levels (ammonia, Ph, trates, trites, calcium, phospates, etc.) But are you able to test for the various bacteria's? Would the bacteria in ocean water be harmful or interact some way with the bacteria in your tank? The majority of fish we get from the LFS and online come from this water. Seems they should be able to handle it if you put it in your tank. The big question is what's the cost benefit. The drive time, boat time, boat gas, etc. would probably cost you a lot more than 25 cents per gallon for RO water, and another buck for the salt. But if you're talking about taking the water off of Daytona Beach, South Miami Beach, or others, I wouldn't do it for the reasons given by the other posters.

I live in Key Largo, Florida. It is ILLEGAL to take water from pennekemp state park, the marine sanctuary is no take of any kind( Up to 50,000 fine and they take your boat.). If you want water from around here go past the parks and dive a bucket down to like 60 feet and fill up.

 

[pakora]

wow... im not going to that place in the keys then lol.
I live in southeast florida close to hollywood beach.
I didnt realize I could just purchase pods, think i'll do that; thanks