***** Water

badkharma

Member
$9 for five gallons is a rip-off!! :eek: I pay about $.70/gallon for premixed, aged, RO/DI saltwater from my LFS. Even the other LFS down the street that sells the real ocean water imported from Catalina Island (good stuff!) sells it for $.90/gallon, which I think is pricey. There is no way you should be paying 9 bucks for only 5 gallons of saltwater. That's $1.80/gallon! I understand if it's the only place around you that has it...but wow...that's pricey.
 

jkvjl

Member
Try and get real Saltwater all mixed in MA or RI...Won't happen our only option is RO with salt that we mix or the premixed from ***** for 9$. I use the RO and mix it myself. I pay 50 to 60 cents for RO then I buy the salt
 

fishman9

Member
Same here. It's not like we want to buy from them but we are forced to. Like i said before, the LFS that i go to is only open 4 days a week. So sometimes it's a matter of convnience. It's not that bad. The world will still turn and we will always get blasted for using water from that place of toture!!! :mad:
 
Well I know Skiptons in Boston sells it for .75 a gallon. Im pretty sure most of the LFS do. I have a friend outside the city who also buy theirs from a LFS.All LFS's have it for their own tanks and most will sell it on the side. They do whatever they can to make a buck..so I dunno. :notsure: In the end it's cheaper to take all that money you buy your water with and buy a quality RO/DI unit. then all you have to do is buy salt. A 200g of salt last quite awhile and its only $39.99.
 

wayway

Member
First I want to say that I think ***** is one of the better Pet Stores to buy your fish from. None of my fish I have bought from there has died, I couldnt tell ya about corals because the one I buy from don't have them. As for water, Im not lazy and I buy a box of salt for about 8 bucks and do about 40 gallons with it from my sink. lol:hilarious. I don't need that uppity Premade stuff. To rich for my blood. Also, If you want to talk bad about a pet shop that over crowds their tanks, talk about Uncle Bills Pet shops. They are the worst about taking care of their live stock.
 

jtkld75

Member
saltwater fish from *****? in indy? where i live in indy, they dont even carry sw fish.. If they did i would not advisie buying them.
 

wayway

Member
What ***** do you go to in Indy, Jtkid, i go to the one in greenwood. They take better care of there fish Then anyone else and the only really big petshop i can think of that don't carry salt water fish here is Pet Smart right down the street from *****. I don't see one ***** haveing Salt water fish and another not having them. and the woman that works at the one in greenwood really knows her s$^% too. And all the employees are pretty nice.
 

clint_reno

Member
I have to jump in. Almost every comment posted is true. ***** is the "pet WalMart of America". It is both great and poor. And much of it depends on the specific store!
Just today I saw the pre-mixed water at a *****, which is also too rich for my blood. But when it comes to tanks, salt, filters and food, ***** enables me to stay in this cool hobby.
My livestock is mostly from this site. SWF.com does it best.
But don't feel bad about going to *****. If you see something wrong, tell the manager.
 

einnaws

Member
OK let me get this straight, Taking my FREE water from the sink and mixing it with salt is ok, right? or do i have to drop 10 bucks a box for salty water? listen i have a nicotine habit that consumes this extra 10 bucks and i would like to keep it this way. I'm also from the Boston area (saugus) i'll have to ask my LFS if they have the salty water mixed and will sell it for a reasonable price. If so i will bounce like my purple round friend:jumping:
 
C

cowpoke

Guest
Has anyone who uses the ocean water ever tested it, before adding it to thier tank?
Have an aquaintance who wanted to use it, and just tested it in the container and found NH4 in a freshly opened 5 gallon container.
Not a huge amount but in the .4 range
Cowpoke
 

nolatrav

Member
I know this thread is old but I have tested the water from ***** and my results were pretty good.
All test were done with API testing kits.
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0
Calcium - 360 ppm (low but workable)
Alkalinity - 12 dKH
pH - 8.3
SG - 1.024 (tested with refractometer)
I tested this water for the simple fact that I work at ***** (get a discount) and my LFS charges in the range of $2.25 per gallon for premixed salt water.
I guess times have changed and the price of this water used to be around $8.99 in 2005 (I worked for ***** then as well), but now its $10.99 or $11.99. I forget, but anyways my friend at my LFS and I figure either their water or *****'s water is a trade off. Their water is high in Cal. but low in Alk. and vice versa with *****'s.
The only things I dont like about *****'s water is its natural sea water, which supposedly needs to be changed more frequently and its not aerated, which I hear can cause microbes to grow or something. I do buy it every once in a while if I need to do a water change in a FO system but use the water from the LFS with higher Cal. and a buffer for reef tank. My friend basically gives it to me for free when I buy a coral or frozen food.
Speaking of frozen food, that is onw thing I wouldnt buy from *****. But thats a whole different story...
Hope this helps if anyone is searching for material on this subject.
 

marka1620

Member
I've used that package ***** water once before when I was in a pinch. I got it from South Attleboro *****. I like it. I'm starting to get on the lazy side and dropping $10 for 5 gallons is fine by me. My money, my choice.
I don't by live stock from *****. Normally get it from Fintastic Fish or Rumford as I'm sure they are healthier. The water on the other hand is fine. It's not like ***** makes it. They just sell it.
I would never rely on just that packaged water. But, I will use it for lazy days.
 
A

arman

Guest
my LFS sells ocean water from catalina idsland for .59 cents per gallon =D and they are opeen from 10 - 9 EVERY DAY =D =D lucky me. And on Wednesday they have 25% off all livestock and their prices are about as close to retail balue as you can get, so I get most fish for about 10$ cheaper then top websites and such.
 

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by arman
my LFS sells ocean water from catalina idsland for .59 cents per gallon =D and they are opeen from 10 - 9 EVERY DAY =D =D lucky me. And on Wednesday they have 25% off all livestock and their prices are about as close to retail balue as you can get, so I get most fish for about 10$ cheaper then top websites and such.
Where do you live? (to get Catalina seawater)
My LFS sells pre-mix salt water for 95 cents/gal. so $9 for 5 gal seems too steep for me.
 

snaredrum

Member
Originally Posted by clint_reno
I have to jump in. Almost every comment posted is true. ***** is the "pet WalMart of America". It is both great and poor. And much of it depends on the specific store!
Just today I saw the pre-mixed water at a *****, which is also too rich for my blood. But when it comes to tanks, salt, filters and food, ***** enables me to stay in this cool hobby.
My livestock is mostly from this site. SWF.com does it best.
But don't feel bad about going to *****. If you see something wrong, tell the manager.
I agree. I travel alot and have the ability to check out all kinds of fish shops as well as *****'s across the country. I have to say, its all in the management. If I go to a shop I look at their new tanks they have on display, are they dusty? If not they are either a clean shop thats cares or they sell lots of tanks because of a good customer database. You would be suprised. Check it out sometimes.
 
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