To everyone who collects natural ocean water or uses natural ocean water.

[coral keeper]

I get natural ocean water from the cost of California and I've been using it in my reef tank for about a year and everything is very good and healthy. I was just wondering how do you store your natural ocean water to keep it as fresh as possible? My reef system is a 8 gallon oceanic bio cube. I do 1 gallon water changes on it ever week. I was also wondering if a coral that has a poor survival rate in home aquariums has a better chance in surviving in a system that uses natural ocean water?

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
I get natural ocean water from the cost of California and I've been using it in my reef tank for about a year and everything is very good and healthy. I was just wondering how do you store your natural ocean water to keep it as fresh as possible? My reef system is a 8 gallon oceanic bio cube. I do 1 gallon water changes on it ever week. I was also wondering if a coral that has a poor survival rate in home aquariums has a better chance in surviving in a system that uses natural ocean water?
I ONLY collect and use it within 1 day. I do store a small amount for emergency...but I usually just get it and do a water change the next day. I pump it from the back of my truck into my living room,into a BRUTE garbage can..then let it temp acclimate,and keep a powerhead and airstone going until its time to change the water.

 

[teen]

most ive gone was 3 days in storage and i felt uneasy using it. no ill side effects though. i try and use it the same day when i collect it, if anything, i use it the very next day. its sorta stupid for me to keep it any longer than that because i live basically on the water, so i can always go and collect new.
if you let it sit too long, just make sure you test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. theres bound to be lots of bacteria in it, and if it dies, it can definetley spoil the water. if they all test fine and the water still looks clean, not cloudy, i wouldn't hesitate using it.

 

[oceansidefish]

I have let it go as long as a week or so without any problems. Would not really recommend keeping it longer than needed though

 

[breebauer]

Same here, I use it the same day I get it. I dump whatever water that I didn't use. I'd rather not use water that was sitting around, and it's too easy to just get another bucket of water when I need it.

 

[coral keeper]

I save it up for 4-5 weeks each time and there was no ammonia or anything. I keep it outside in the shade and its cold where I live so its all good. When I need to do a water change I just get as much as I need and put it in the house to warm the water up then I'd do the water change when it warms up. I live 1 1/2-2 hours away from the ocean. I only have one Saltwater tank and its a 8 gallon biocube and I only do 1 gallon water changes a week. But when I run out of ocean water I'd go to the ocean and get some more water and when I get some brand new ocean water I'd warm it up with a heater and do a 2 gallon water change on the same day I got the natural ocean water. I usually get 7 gallons of ocean water each time I go to the ocean. Sometimes I'd even do a 3 gallon water change on the day I get the new ocean water.

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
I was also wondering if a coral that has a poor survival rate in home aquariums has a better chance in surviving in a system that uses natural ocean water?
Bump

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
I was also wondering if a coral that has a poor survival rate in home aquariums has a better chance in surviving in a system that uses natural ocean water?
that comes down to whats actually in the water. if its full of phyto/zooplankton that the animal needs to survive, then theres a good chance yes. the animal does have a better chance of survivng. if its just cleaner, natural water, then most likely not.
and i collected water 4 days ago. water was a little murky because a storm had just caused the ocean to stir up. it wasn't dirty and i never got a chance to put it in my tank. checked it for ammonia today and it was at .25. ill toss this and just go back and collect new water this week.