a guy down the road from me has a nice 250 galon reef tank. he told me to use water straight from the ocean for water changes. he said he noticed a big difference in all his corals growth when he switched. is this safe? i was gonna bring a bunch of 5 gallon buckets to the beach and pick me up some salt water. it would save me alot of money from salt and ro water.
daytona beach water?
- Thread starter viruzjk
- Start date
DragonRage
New member
I don't think it's safe unless you can find an area with no contamination. Personally I wouldn't do it, especially from the beach. You never know what could be in the water.
jonnydalejunior
New member
especially not in daytona. with all the vehicles they have down on the beach, you would be collecting all sorts of pollutents. i have read you need to go about 3 miles from shore to avoid these poisons. i read this cause my wife is from daytona beach, so we spend alot of time down there and i had the idea that it might do my tank good to have some real sea water in it, so i was going to bring some home. with the water volume of the ocean these things become dilluted and essentially harmless, but in a closed system like our reefs you would be slowly (or not so slowly) poisoning the system. i did not bring any home.
viruzjk
Understand there is risk in anything you do. I myself collect Natural Sea Water from the Pacific. I believe most people that advise against it just don't want to risk what they have.
Things to be aware of is the location your collecting from. I'm sure your not going to fill buckets at the Marina, where they have lovely rainbow oil films on the surface.
Near the local stormdrain is a no no. After rainstorms is a bad idea also.
If you can get access to a boat that can get you out to a reef, then thats a good area usually to collect.
For me I have boat access, but have also collected water from rock beaches that are at the end of submarine canyons.
You want water that has the best visibility, away from power, and commercial boats etc. While I was in the Keys I noticed that Mangrove areas were a good looking place where I might collect. Lots of algae, plants etc. to filter the water.
Check your salinity, test a sample. if everything checks out consider.....
You may want to sterilize the water from biologicals, I use a tablespoon of pool shock sanitizer for 50 gallons. I drop an airstone in and let do it's stuff for 24 hours. Then i'll filter the Carbon for 2 or 3 days. Decant the clean water off the top, without pulling the mulm off the bottom.
You will still need your pure RO for evaporation.
Understand there is risk in anything you do. I myself collect Natural Sea Water from the Pacific. I believe most people that advise against it just don't want to risk what they have.
Things to be aware of is the location your collecting from. I'm sure your not going to fill buckets at the Marina, where they have lovely rainbow oil films on the surface.
Near the local stormdrain is a no no. After rainstorms is a bad idea also.
If you can get access to a boat that can get you out to a reef, then thats a good area usually to collect.
For me I have boat access, but have also collected water from rock beaches that are at the end of submarine canyons.
You want water that has the best visibility, away from power, and commercial boats etc. While I was in the Keys I noticed that Mangrove areas were a good looking place where I might collect. Lots of algae, plants etc. to filter the water.
Check your salinity, test a sample. if everything checks out consider.....
You may want to sterilize the water from biologicals, I use a tablespoon of pool shock sanitizer for 50 gallons. I drop an airstone in and let do it's stuff for 24 hours. Then i'll filter the Carbon for 2 or 3 days. Decant the clean water off the top, without pulling the mulm off the bottom.
You will still need your pure RO for evaporation.
schigara
New member
I have read about people using shore water and never having a problem. I have never read of someone using ocean/shore water and having big problems. Maybe the ones that do have problems don't share because it's a very bad idea to use water where you have no idea what is in the water and don't want to hear, "I told you so".
ManotheSea
New member
Many people feel they have so much invested in time, devotion and money into their livestock that they chose to keep their tanks as a closely controlled environment. They are justified in this approach to assure as little risk as possible by using only mixed saltwater.
Many other reefers are not as closely guarded and have wonderful tanks that use natural sea water. You can get great results this way as well especially to filter feeding species. It seems to be a matter of personality and viewpoint rather than practical facts supporting one method over the other.
If you want to use natural sea water Im sure your tank will thrive. You might want to at least pour the water through a screen to remove any jellies and isopods. Some people go as far as bleeching their sea water to kill everything. That seems to defeat most of the benefits IMO.
You will also find that if you mention any beach in the world, there will be someone who believes that beach is polluted. Most beaches are clean. If you see mirco life its a good sign of clean water. Usually the easiest places to access are not the cleanest. Such as marinas, inlet jettys and bay water. Be sensible and aware of your surroundings.
Many other reefers are not as closely guarded and have wonderful tanks that use natural sea water. You can get great results this way as well especially to filter feeding species. It seems to be a matter of personality and viewpoint rather than practical facts supporting one method over the other.
If you want to use natural sea water Im sure your tank will thrive. You might want to at least pour the water through a screen to remove any jellies and isopods. Some people go as far as bleeching their sea water to kill everything. That seems to defeat most of the benefits IMO.
You will also find that if you mention any beach in the world, there will be someone who believes that beach is polluted. Most beaches are clean. If you see mirco life its a good sign of clean water. Usually the easiest places to access are not the cleanest. Such as marinas, inlet jettys and bay water. Be sensible and aware of your surroundings.
jonnydalejunior
New member
i dont understand what the point of putting sea water in your tank is if you firs bleach it or pool shock it. you are not putting anything benificial in to your tank that you wouldnt get from a decent salt. you are putting in potential pollutents and things we cant test for, i.e. motor oil. it seems like alot of risk for no reward.
useskaforevil
New member
the reward is saving money by not buying salt or messing too much with aditives. i still wouldn't do it because of possible contaminents, but that real risk might be practically nothing.
ReefTECK
New member
NO KIDDING. not to mention other dinoflagellates, protozoans, bacterium, pollutants, etc.
I don't think its worth the risk, unless your thoroughly analyzing the water from each batch you collect. And based on the condition of Floridian reefs, I would argue that synthetic sea water is probably several fold better than what's off shore there!
my .02,
andy
jonnydalejunior
New member
key word there is "might". it might be safe it might not. no way to test so no way to know. russian roulette with your reef.
Artificial and natural seawater both have risks.
Kinda like when buying your salt mix, you have to wonder? Is it under buffered, or is it over buffered? Did some of your bucket mix spill on the factory floor, and the staff swept it up and back into your bucket with god knows what. Is there a new mixing technician the day your bucket was formulated. The more you think about the more you could question what is good for me?
Look at the latest beef recall. This just as easily can happen, and has with salt mix manufacturers. What do most get when the salt mix is bad, a wiped tank and new bucket of salt. Sorry about that!
Mother nature seems like the expert when it comes to Seawater for me. I just don't want to pay a company for the convenience of collecting it for me.
jonnydalejunior
The purpose of the chlorine or bromine is for those that worry about pathogens like dinoflagellates, protozoans, bacterium. It all depends on how A.R. the collector is.
The spot I collect from is also where I dive. There are plenty of Lysmata shrimp to be found, and a symphony of pistol shrimp snapping. Include the sponges, cold water gorgons, and ever present Octopi, fish, snails, crabs, etc, all thriving.
All of this life that I see tell's me the water I'm collecting must be less polluted than the water I am changing out of my tanks.
Call me crazy, lolo
Kinda like when buying your salt mix, you have to wonder? Is it under buffered, or is it over buffered? Did some of your bucket mix spill on the factory floor, and the staff swept it up and back into your bucket with god knows what. Is there a new mixing technician the day your bucket was formulated. The more you think about the more you could question what is good for me?
Look at the latest beef recall. This just as easily can happen, and has with salt mix manufacturers. What do most get when the salt mix is bad, a wiped tank and new bucket of salt. Sorry about that!
Mother nature seems like the expert when it comes to Seawater for me. I just don't want to pay a company for the convenience of collecting it for me.
jonnydalejunior
The purpose of the chlorine or bromine is for those that worry about pathogens like dinoflagellates, protozoans, bacterium. It all depends on how A.R. the collector is.
The spot I collect from is also where I dive. There are plenty of Lysmata shrimp to be found, and a symphony of pistol shrimp snapping. Include the sponges, cold water gorgons, and ever present Octopi, fish, snails, crabs, etc, all thriving.
All of this life that I see tell's me the water I'm collecting must be less polluted than the water I am changing out of my tanks.
Call me crazy, lolo
Last edited:
Bret61081
Active member
Ive been using Ocean water since I started my tanks 3 years ago and never had a problem. Just get the water at high tide. Most LFS here in SOFL sell natural sea water only taken at High Tide and filtered. IMO its great! No mixing and never have to worry about checking the salinity. You should see the show tank at the store...Id post the link here but Id get flagged for a commercial post, but its nothing but amazing.
PogoMonogo
New member
I am from Daytona beach, there is no way in hell I would use it, let alone swim in it.
jonnydalejunior
New member
that is what i am trying to say! i agree that natural sea water COULD BE with out a doubt better than artificial salt. i am sure over in the Underwater canyons on the left coast its all rock and roll and maybe its all cool down in lauderdale but i do belive the the initial question was should this guy collect his sea water in DAYTONA. DAYTONA!!!!!! the only beach in the us that allow cars right down on the beach. litterally on the beach just feet from the water. now i have owned a few cars and i know they can leak fluids that i wouldnt want in my tank. since kent hasnt made a good test kit for those things, i dont think it very advisable. even if your not directly on the part the cars park on. thats just this guys .02
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