Tell me about the sea water

[wish]

Here is my problem, I take sea water from the sea to fill my tank; that water is pollution free Im sure, cos we get very clean water here in my country. Can someone tell me how often should I change water of my tank? I keep a reef and beleive me its growing wild. But I have no knowledge about the water conditions and its qualities. Let me learn form U all. If anyone is interested I'm willing to send him some pictures of my marine aquarium.

 

[mr . salty]

I'd love to see pictures of a reef tank that uses sea water. I would reccomend that you change the water enry month. What are the details of your tank? Water readings,size,inhabatants,lighting and filter. STEVE

 

[gabe]

its good to change about 10% of water every 2 weeks. thats just a guidline. I have a 50g and i usually change about 10 gallons once a month. I try to do a 5 gallon water change every two weeks, but some times i only do one once a month. Give me some more details about yourstup , filter system tank size ect.., i would be glad to help adn what country do you come from

 

[wish]

My tank size is actually 48'x18'x18 ie 67g but to have more water volume I made a bio filter with another tank that is 36'x18'x18' and I keep it outside my sitting room. It sounds funny but it really works, wht I did was I made some fin inside that bio filter and filled one fin with live coral, next one with live sand, and the other one with PVC pipes of different sizes cut in to 2' pieces.
the next one is empty and then it will overflow to another barrel 21g and from that barrel water goes to my tank. Im actually having about 138g of water circulation. I dont have a skimmer that all filter system I have. To give areation I put an air stone into the barrel. Thats all. and none of my coral dies. I still didnt start keeping SPS coral cos I dont have that much knowledge.
I do water change every three weeks about 31g in three weeks. Thats pretty good. Lights, I have 2x Tritons, 1xBlue moon and an Actinic Blue thats all lightings I have.
What else. Aha Im proud to tell you this, Im from Maldives where you dont have to spend a dime to buy corals, u name any, u get it here. heheheh pretty cool. But poor me dont know anything about this water chemistry and stuff. If anyone wanna see my tanks send me and email to femunu@usa.com. Ill show u how it looks like. HELP me.

 

[mako]

I have a friend who lives in the keys of florida at the time he had a fish only tank and was getting his water from about 25 miles of shore to avoid any pollution and still lost is entire tank and filtration system to paristites ao I would reconsider using mix and good fresh water so to be a to controll the inviroment this is only my opinon though.
there is an artical in marine fish and reef that extensivly describes the make up of sea water authored by craig bingman.and describes the nutrient plot as follows carbon 106% nitrogen 16% phosphorus 1% iron 0.01% manganese 0.002% zinc 0.0004% copper 0.0006% he also goes on to describe trace elements ultra trace elements and gases and compares them to manufactured salt mixes. But the largest thing that stands out to me is the differance of consentrations these elements are found in the water column such as surface as aposed to depth on shore or off shaore relations to reefs and decaying organizims as hobbiests we not only want our inhabitance to surive but to thrive and produce offspring if you will.in order to do this you have to provide an enviroment of constance and avoid spikes of one element and valleys of another which in my opinon is another good reason for using mixed salt.I hope this helps good luck