Ocean Water

[David - Miami]

I am sure this has been asked before, but I live on the Bay in Miami. Can I take water directly from the bay and put it in my tank?

[ihavtats29]

no too many polutants in the water . also you could be adding pests into your tank along with parasites and other unwanted trash

[David - Miami]

I thought about that, but it seems to me if wildlife is okay with all of this, why would it not work for an aquarium?

[J.russell]

Because there is alot more water volume in the ocean than in your tank.

[IslandCrow]

I use ocean water, but this can be a hot topic. Ask Paul B what he thinks about it. He's been using natural sea water (NSW) for 40 years (give or take). I use NSW to introduce wild plankton into my tank. I simply filter it and dump it in. You can also sterilize it with bleach (and then dechlorinate of course) to reduce the chance of introducing anything harmful like dinoflagellates or parasites (it won't eliminate pollutants or toxins). Or, you can play it completely safe and use only artificial seawater that's pretty well guaranteed not to contain any pollutants, parasites or any other nasties.

[David - Miami]

How do you filter it other than the bleach idea?

[Mr. Turtle]

might also consider running it over a nice layer of high quality carbon. this should remove enough of the chemical pollutants. (this means dont get your carbon at walmart :P ).

i personally wouldnt do it because i just wouldnt want to take a chance. but like they said, Paul's tank is ~40 yrs. old and always used nsw if i understand all of his posts correctly.

[IslandCrow]

I've never done the bleach treatment. You basically add bleach, then add dechlorinator then aerate. The problem is, I don't remember how much bleach or how long you leave it in. I do have an accepted procedure for chlorine treatment of culture water for phytoplankton culture water, but I'm really not sure if it's valid. Maybe someone on here can confirm:

- use 1/2 ml of bleach per liter of water and aerate for 24 hours.

It doesn't mention using a dechlorinator afterwards, but I would, as bleach contains stabilizers which may toxic levels of chlorine to remain.

They actually recommend using dry granular pool chlorine (a.k.a. pool shock-treatment) instead, because liquid bleach may lose potency with time.

- Mix 1/8 teaspoon (.6ml) per 5 gallons of culture water in warm water and allow as much to dissolve as possible.
- Pour dissolved liquid portion only into culture water (don't add anything that didn't dissolve)
- Aerate vigorously for 12 hours.

It also does not mention using dechlorinator, but supposedly this dry chlorine becomes inert very quickly (loses potency is the term they use).

Again, this procedure is specifically for phytoplankton culture water, so although it is probably valid for water you'll be adding to your tank, I don't know for certain

[David - Miami]

I would like to avoid the chlorine or bleach. I was thinking of just pouring it through a coffee filter, but the carbon seems like a good idea as well.

[J.russell]

It sounds like you already have your mind made up about doing this so good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

[David - Miami]

I definitely do not have my mind made up yet. I truly value everyone's opinion on here. I would like to continue to see if anyone has actual experience before I take the risk.

I also live down the street from the University of Miami's marine biology school and was planning on a discussion with them as well.

[DrBegalke]

Can you? - yes.

Should you? - IMO, no.

[D' kingfisher]

what about using a UV sterilizer, that might help to kill parasites that run in there from the nsw. I guess ....

[David - Miami]

I do have a UV sterilizer running now.

[ERICinFL]

If you have a boat, or know someone who does, go a mile or two out and get it. I've done it once just to get some more bacteria introduced to my tank and it seemed to perk everything up. My friend just gets his right off the beach and dumps it in his tank. I'm not quite that brave, but he has never had issues with doing it.

[IslandCrow]

If you can go off-shore to collect sea water that is certainly preferable. More people than not will tell you not to collect it from the shore. There are many places in Miami I wouldn't collect water. If you decide to do it, I'd suggest going down to that State Park on Key Biscayne. The beach I collect from is on government land, so there's no development in the immediate area, and it doesn't see much traffic.

[David - Miami]

It sounds like offshore may be the way to go. Maybe I will try a little bit from the shore and see what happens. I will let you know.

Eric - I am actually from Indialantic. So when I had a tank there I always thought about getting it from the beach, but never did.

[dones20]

i live in miami as well i have a guy that does my water changes for me he has a huge truck in witch he collects sea water from goverment cut on high tide as long as you collect the water with in high tide you should be ok i have done this for yrs know and my tank is flurishing

[vito is hooked]

Make sure you Check the salt content, I live on the gulf side and specific gravity is .1027

[Gdevine]

I've been using natural sea water for years and most of the shops around me all pull NSW and sell it for about $.50/gallon. While there may some risk using NSW it's probably on par with screwing up man made stuff. Folks in the hobby have been using NSW for way more years then me with no issues whatsoever. In fact, Julian Sprung has been using NSW from Miami for as long as he's been in the trade.

You want to pull the water from the bay about an hour before high tide and make sure there are no boats near by and you should be fine.

BTW, my fish and corals thrive!

[David - Miami]

Vito - Good point on the Salt Content.

It seems that my theory has been tested by numerous people and has worked well. I plan on this experiment beginning this week and I will keep you posted.

[vito is hooked]

Live and Learn, Experience IS the best teacher, Oh, and Y,all here on RC, never would be this far along without asking questions Here!!!! Good Luck!!!

[IslandCrow]

What I'd be curious to hear is from people who have had bad experiences from NSW. I hear people saying not to use it all the time, but I've actually never heard anyone say they've used it and had problems they could reasonably blame on the water.

[Octoberfest]

I've been using NSW since I setup my current setup four months ago and have had zero problems. To be honest my corals are thriving and spreading already, my fish are happy and colorful and I haven't had any algae issues.

I may have shot myself in the foot but so far so good.

[UmpaLumpa]

Your gonna get different answers from different people. Its kinda like asking who is the best auto maker. Some people get lucky.....others don't.

I am 6 hours away from the coast so NSW isn't really an option for me. However even if it was I would probably still go with the salt mix. It just seems like a bigger hassle to collect it and run it though filters. Its a lot easier to fill my bucket and dump the salt in along with my pump cover it and walk off. And my mind is at ease.

IslandCrow--Its probably few and far between people that have actually had problems with NSW and even if they did it would be very hard for them to narrow it down to NSW being the culprit with all the other things that can cause the problems that they have had. So I seriously doubt you'll find someone that can say even with 70% probability that it was the NSW that caused the problem.

[tbar]

I use it for about every other W/C during the summer when I can get it off the beach. I learned some time ago that it seems most people who say not to do it, never have done it.

[ReefEnabler]

if you're going to do it, do it during high tide, when the local pollutants will be at their lowest levels. I used to do this on an old tank and had good results, back in San Diego CA.

[LobsterOfJustice]

You said you are right near UM...

They probably use NSW for their marine biology department, see if they have a tap of filtered seawater you can use. Here in Wilmington UNCW has public spigots for raw and filtered seawater at their aquaculture facility that nearly everyone in the area uses for their tanks.

[David - Miami]

I will have to check out that school idea. I did not think about that, but there has to be something like that available. I know the girl who takes care of the on campus aquariums and she will probably have some ideas on this as well.

[Paul B]

I definitely do not have my mind made up yet. I truly value everyone's opinion on here. I would like to continue to see if anyone has actual experience before I take the risk.

I have only been doing this for 40 years so I may not be the best one to ask :lol:
I take my water in New York, a few miles from the City, yes thats New York City not considered the best place to collect from but I believe the benefits of NSW far outweigh the miniscule risks.
Does anyone know of anyone or has heard of a problem with NSW?
If I lived in Florada I would not ever think to use fake water.
All of your animals came from NSW, none of them came from ASW

[David - Miami]

Okay. I think I have my mind made up then. I have a lot of respect for experience.

Paul do you filter it at all or just add it directly as is?

[Paul B]

Paul do you filter it at all or just add it directly as is?

Good question and it depends. Usually I just strain it through a coffee filter to remove jellyfish, pieces of seaweed and plankton that will die anyway. If the water has other problems like turbidity, mud etc, I will diatom filter it. I will only add bleach if it has a smell or I think it has red tide or too much bacteria.
I have to add some ASW to it if the salinity is low like it is here in NY and of course I have to adjust the temp, especially in the winter. 40 degree water is not condusive to their health. :D

[rgrobe]

I have been using natural seawater for over 15 years with few problems although I have an advantage. Those of us in the San Diego, CA area have acess to Scripps water. Scripps Institute of Oceanography is located in La Jolla. They have a water pick up in deep water at the end of their pier (about 60 feet out). They draw thousands of gallons and run it all through a series of huge sand filters. They have been gracious enough to provide free access to local aquarium hobbyists for as long as I can remember. I fill two 55 gallon drums and transport it home. There it is transfered to a 170 gallon plastic water tank. A circulation pump runs 12 hours a day and circulates through a standard bag filter. The water I use for changes is transfered to a 35 gallon rubbermaid trash can. I use a canister filter and UV for further treatment before the final transfer to the aquarium. While it seems time consuming it is a great improvement over mixing. I know not everyone has this type of access but with proper filtration I am confident that anyone could have good success.

[Bruno3047]

I'm experimenting with using NSW drawn off the beach in Ft. Lauderdale as part of my tank build. There's a thread if you want to follow. It's a slow-moving thread but here it is if you're interested:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1449401

[Ehaze]

Ide go for it, but I can't I live in colorado. I have to pay 30$ for 5gals of salk :)

[David - Miami]

I am still trying to connect with the right people at University of Miami's Marine Biology Campus (which I can see from my balcony) to see if they have some sort of water for tanks available.

Good luck Bruno, I will keep an eye out for your success.