Natural Sea Water

[aiaman]

probably a stupid question but
Can I use ocean water (Natural Sea Water) in my aquarium?
I live along the Atlantic Ocean, not the bay and away from homes and runoff.
Would there be any issue with using every other week instead of the mix?

 

[Turbosnail]

Do a search for this here.There is a thread here about this already.

 

[aiaman]

I must be missing something
I did a search for various phrases of NSW (Natural Sea Water) but find nothing, blogs, posts or forums
do you remember where you may have seen it?

 

[Turbosnail]

I found some here http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/search.php?searchid=114458 . will see if I can find the one I am talking about. You can use nsw just get it from a good source and filter it before you use it.

 

[MrCote]

I just found this while poking around. Lots of links and useful info on here

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?6090-nsw

 

[aiaman]

Thanks for the link for the NSW
I went to the beach yesterday and got soaked.
I did not time the run between the waves and got totally soaked when I went for the 5 gal.
It was not cold so it was not that bad.
The storm certainly makes it difficult to get a fresh sample and I will have to think about it next time, that is where to obtain a clean sample
The salt level was 1.021 and I thought that would have been normal since we don't that much evaporation as the south pacific regions, could be wrong.
Anyway, I brought the NSW home, filtered and warmed, last night
Then swapped out the water and the tank is quite clear today
Corals are open and looking as they should, for what I have.

I will do this again, as long as I do not anticipate a storm, thanks

 

[jtmac]

The only issue I would have with this would be polluted water. I was always under the impression that good water would be about 5 miles out....Could be wrong but still wouldnt trust it to save a few bucks on salt mix... Keep us posted on this as I am curious to the outcome...

cheers,

john

 

[aiaman]

I gatherd some from a rocky beach (not used by anyone), filtered & heated it up.
I then replaced my usual 4-5 gal
No issues with anything so far.
I am not doing it to save on salt but to add the much needed 'other' elements.
btw-the water is quite clear in the area as many people come to gather the various seaweeds for consumption
I know if you're to eat the mussles you can do so but need to make sure the mussels are always covered in water
Also just across the street, in the bay commercial claming takes place
I will let you know how things progress

I'll also do a test on the water for all elements next time prior to adding to the tank, now that I am thankfully more educated from senior members

 

[Andy V]

Any updates on this? Are you consistently using NSW?

 

[foodworks]

There are a number of members including myself that have used NSW for awhile now.
I am not nearly as careful as others, I get it from the c.c. canal, don't always put it through carbon and it always is teeming with little life. I am assuming mostly beneficial life because my corals seem to love it.
I have been very happy with it.

 

[aiaman]

yes, I actually stopped using natural for a number of reasons;
putting myself in harms way when collecting it requires me to walk into knee depth water in the middle of winter
more importantly the salt content is lower as well calcium requirement for warm sea corals

maybe if I had a more friendly environment I could use it but than I would have to add elements to make it suitable
I now use Tropic Marine or water from Skiptons
thanks for asking ::

 

[Moe_K]

There's a thread in Reef Talk stuck to the top, called "Useful Threads"
In there there's a link to NSW threads:
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6090

Let's see if it still works...

Edit: Yup still works. Lots of links within.