I don't wanna start a huge argument with this..

jmacc702

Member
but I wanted to know if any members on here have experience using ocean water from around the bay area in San Francisco.. My gf is from pacifica which is about 15 or so minutes from the city and they have some nice beachy areas where I could easily collect water from. I know I should steer clear of areas heavily used by humans but if I found a remote area to collect water from do you think the dense population and heavy boat use from the san francisco area pollution would travel this far away or could I sneak by using this?

Thanks
 
I did and I read a lot, I guess I was more or less asking if anyone had any negative experiences with using the water from that area.
 
Lately I got lazy and went and collected water from a place where boats are dumped in the water. I'm not sure what the exact name is, but it is a ramp that allows car to go in reverse and place the boat in the water(or pick it up).

Anyway, the water wasn't crystal clear and it took a couple of hours to clear in my tank. I didn't notice any ill effects, actually some tube worms that I thought were dead in the moving, opened up. Snails look ok, so I'm guessing it wasn't that bad, though my next collections will be from a cleaner place.

But every location is different.
 
I don't know why you think this would turn into an argument.

It's pretty well known that collecting from the sea is perfectly fine as long as you collect from an area well away from the shoreline.
 
I don't know why you think this would turn into an argument.

It's pretty well known that collecting from the sea is perfectly fine as long as you collect from an area well away from the shoreline.

I had a read a thread where these two members got into a pretty "strong" debate on whether this was ok or not lol I didnt want to stir up any conflict
 
It should be fine just dont do it close to land because you can get oils and other bad things that can stick near the surface that runs off of roads and such.
 
If I was going to do this for just this initial sset up could my skimmer get all of the gunk out while its still cycling? Or do I have to filter outside of the tank?
 
I use natural salt water in my tank, but it's from Scripps Institute. The common understanding is they get it from the bottom at the end of the pier, then run it through three huge sand filters. My concern with getting water from a bay would be agricultural/chemical runoff. Would a skimmer and/or carbon get all that out? Dunno.

doug
 
from an agricultural/chemical runoff perspective, I'd also worry about phosphates. but as mentioned previously, a mechanical filter, some carbon, and maybe running some ferric oxide should hopefully do the trick.
 
I just dump mine in my tank after heating it . It's really about being smart where you are collecting from. I go to the head of the harbor that is the cleanest around (good flow with very little development around it. Got just before head high tide with an incoming tide to get the freshest water and you will be fine. It's not for everyone, but if you are smart it is well worth it.
 
I just wanted to use it for the initial set-up to jump start the cycling process and then after that I will most likely mix my own.. It would just be a fun day trip to collect it and bring it back to sacramento with the gf but multiple trips to keep up with maintenance would start to be a joke lol
 
I'm not sure what the exact name is, but it is a ramp that allows car to go in reverse and place the boat in the water(or pick it up).
It's called a boat ramp :)


I wish I had more time to go out and collect water here. the beaches seem clean enough (never got really dirty anyway) to not cause any issues. My days are just not set up for it and the last thing I want to do on the weekends is haul a ton of water around. Maybe I'll get off my butt one day...
 
I think as long as it is a reliable and clean source that is void of runoff and excessive human traffic that it should be fine.

Plus, it most closely mimics the real thing....:lol:
 
Lately I got lazy and went and collected water from a place where boats are dumped in the water. I'm not sure what the exact name is, but it is a ramp that allows car to go in reverse and place the boat in the water(or pick it up).

Anyway, the water wasn't crystal clear and it took a couple of hours to clear in my tank. I didn't notice any ill effects, actually some tube worms that I thought were dead in the moving, opened up. Snails look ok, so I'm guessing it wasn't that bad, though my next collections will be from a cleaner place.

But every location is different.
I would never use water from a boat ramp. Also keep in mind that most marinas are pretty dirty and the tides send all the crap to the shore line. In my opinion, that would be the absolute worst place to get water from. Not only are you getting all the crap that is pushed ashore from the tides, but you are also getting pollutants that might be introduced from the boats as well as the trucks that launch boats there.


To the OP.. If you can find a good isolated location that doesnt have much surf, you should be OK. If it were me, I would probably put it into some sort of container and filter it before adding it to the tank.
 
Yeah I think I am only going to use it for the initial set-up and just run some filter media with no lights for a few days, then after that hopefully I will have my RO/DI unit and I will just mix my own
 
im in the middle of the south pacific ocean, on a postage stamp of an island. about as far away as you can be from anywhere. i have been using NSW for the last 6 months, but i find it really really inconsistent. i stopped using it, and opted for synthetic salt, tropic marin to be exact (thank you Dr. FS for shipping APO). IMO, its been much easier to manage my tank since changing over, and my corals look great. i thought NSW would be the holy grail when it came to running a tank. its not. im thinking of doing a bit of blending in the future, but my last few WC's have been straight synthetic SW.

good luck.
 
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