teddyzaper
New member
i live in washington state, the water here is 50F or so. is it ok if i heat it up to tank temp and put it in? my beach is safe to harvest clams if that matters 
I used ocean water! Whatcha think?
- Thread starter MPA
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teddyzaper
New member
SWEET! ima save like $500 on salt woot woot!
I am in Florida and use ocean water for my water changes about 50% of the time. I only collect water from offshore when I go fishing. I am weary collecting off the beach or nearshore. I really like it when I am swordfishing 30 miles offshore and I have lights in the water, I will collect the water once the plankton is all around the lights. I am right near ORA , I would be suprised if they get there water from saltwater wells. I am right on the indian river next to them and I have a well that is pure freshwater. They may get the water from the well but it would need to have salt added and be filtered.
Right on the coast like that, it is easy to do a SW well. You just have to sink the well deep enough to get below the FW and into the layer of SW below
I dont think there is a layer of saltwater below our fresh water wells here in Southeast florida. The artesian wells are a little more salty but we have no saltwater well below those. I would double check your facts on that, I could be wrong but I dont think so. I have had many wells dug for Citrus groves and for houses. There may be some wells that are have a higher salinity but nine that are saltwater. The salt does not filter down as far as the water.
Elvishfrost
New member
Paul,
Your tank is going to crash and burn unless you sterilize everything with unscented bleach, boil it in organic water, and strain it through free range chicken poop. Don't say I didn't warn you
I just LOL's at this, people are giving me odd looks, but that's ok :lol2:
I like to take my water from here, the paracites get their little heads smashed against the rocks. I only collect the water when I can see the paracites holding their heads.
Priceless
So if I were to consider using NSW in my current build (Total system volume ~ 65-70g) Aside from salinity, PH, temp, regular parameters we all test for, is there anything unwanted I specifically need to test for, before putting it in the tank? Is there anyone currently using this method on the eastern coast of MA, or RI?
Thanks!
I've run a few SW wells on the coast
As Beaun mentioned, the SW is denser and under the FW. The current SW well the lab is running on is 180ft deep, the SW layer is 40ft, the first 160 is FW In coastal areas with porous sediments the SW comes under the land at a angle (think wedge here) with the FW laying on top. Those areas with wells showing some salt are at that boundary where the SW is mixing with SW, if you sunk those wells deeper you would get below that brackish mix and into SW WOW, I am so glad I found this thread! I actually live on the water, on a 300-yard canal (4-8' deep) that opens up to the Gulf of Mexico I am about to start my saltwater tank and initially I convinced that NSW is the only logical solution in my case but I was getting more and more scared as apparently everybody else in the hobby considered it a heresy :-( (PR success of salt producers? :rollface. But you guys re-assured me that it can be done successfully - and that the fishes that thrive in the ocean do not start to suddenly prefer ASW when in captivity ;-)
A couple technical questions (I am about to start 34G saltwater reef tank):
1) Do you think canal water (very few traffic, no more than a couple of small motorboats a typical week, broad canal) is much worse than more open water? I only have a kayak, I can paddle several hundreds yards into the Gulf to collect the water, but I am not sure if it will make any difference in terms of the cleanness - but will definitely make the procedure much more inconvenient for me. I mean, I do not mind to paddle to collect occasionally -
but do you think I absolutely have to? People do have lawns adjacent to the canal, but the canal seems to be nicely regulated and everybody eats the fish caught in this canal...
2) Can I also collect sand from the Gulf (I am in the Galveston area) - or should I buy dry aragonite and try to seed it with something? If so, where to buy good quality live sand?
3) What about live rock? Extreme solutions would be to buy all live or all dry, something in between is probably safest.
My leaning towards:
1) Canal water - hey, I eat the fish that lives there
2) Sand from the Gulf, perhaps nice beach, not my canal
3) Fifty-fity mixture of dry rock and quality cured live rock?
What do you guys think? I would appreciate all the feedback - and will report results, if I will be brave enough to try it ;-)
Thanks again for a great thread and sharing your unusual methods - very helpful!
I am about to start my saltwater tank and initially I convinced that NSW is the only logical solution in my case but I was getting more and more scared as apparently everybody else in the hobby considered it a heresy :-( (PR success of salt producers? :rollface. But you guys re-assured me that it can be done successfully - and that the fishes that thrive in the ocean do not start to suddenly prefer ASW when in captivity ;-)A couple technical questions (I am about to start 34G saltwater reef tank):
1) Do you think canal water (very few traffic, no more than a couple of small motorboats a typical week, broad canal) is much worse than more open water? I only have a kayak, I can paddle several hundreds yards into the Gulf to collect the water, but I am not sure if it will make any difference in terms of the cleanness - but will definitely make the procedure much more inconvenient for me. I mean, I do not mind to paddle to collect occasionally -
but do you think I absolutely have to? People do have lawns adjacent to the canal, but the canal seems to be nicely regulated and everybody eats the fish caught in this canal...
2) Can I also collect sand from the Gulf (I am in the Galveston area) - or should I buy dry aragonite and try to seed it with something? If so, where to buy good quality live sand?
3) What about live rock? Extreme solutions would be to buy all live or all dry, something in between is probably safest.
My leaning towards:
1) Canal water - hey, I eat the fish that lives there
2) Sand from the Gulf, perhaps nice beach, not my canal
3) Fifty-fity mixture of dry rock and quality cured live rock?
What do you guys think? I would appreciate all the feedback - and will report results, if I will be brave enough to try it ;-)
Thanks again for a great thread and sharing your unusual methods - very helpful!
RcToners
New member
This thread is great.
I live in key largo right on a very large canal, the canal is known to the locals as the cleanest in the keys. I just got done setting up my 150, I started with ro/di water and thought to myself how nice it would be to just use the canal water. About two days later I see some of the aquarium guys parking on the street with there truck and a large tank. They simply threw a pump in the water and filled the tank. They then went down the street and serviced an aquarium and did a water change straight from the tank of freshly pumped water. Needless to say I went out and bought myself a nice pump and a filter box, I simply walk the 30 steps to the canal throw the pump in the water and pump it right inside my house to my water holding tanks. I can do water changes as often as I want. Things in my tank are flying right along. Talk about saving money, I never have to buy salt, I simply dilute the water a bit because the salinity runs a little on the high side. Here in the keys we dont get big waves so the shore water really is not bad, the canal I live on has alot of flow, the paramiters are amazing.
I live in key largo right on a very large canal, the canal is known to the locals as the cleanest in the keys. I just got done setting up my 150, I started with ro/di water and thought to myself how nice it would be to just use the canal water. About two days later I see some of the aquarium guys parking on the street with there truck and a large tank. They simply threw a pump in the water and filled the tank. They then went down the street and serviced an aquarium and did a water change straight from the tank of freshly pumped water. Needless to say I went out and bought myself a nice pump and a filter box, I simply walk the 30 steps to the canal throw the pump in the water and pump it right inside my house to my water holding tanks. I can do water changes as often as I want. Things in my tank are flying right along. Talk about saving money, I never have to buy salt, I simply dilute the water a bit because the salinity runs a little on the high side. Here in the keys we dont get big waves so the shore water really is not bad, the canal I live on has alot of flow, the paramiters are amazing.
so jealous of you!!! I just mixed some salt tonight for a water change tomorrow. Looks like I need to move down to the keys. haha
1crazymofo
In Memoriam
cool free water
RcToners
New member
I purchased a (pond) filter box from home depot. Inside the box I put my pump into a filter sock then on top I put two layers of filter pad, I close it up and the hose goes right through the top and works fantastic. I went with a submersible pond pump also from home depot, it kicks out just over 1000GPH. It work out to be pretty amazing. I have two 32 gal holding tanks in a closet roughly 13ft from my tank. I pump the water straight from the canal just before the end of high tide. I let the water sit for a day to get the correct tempurature then I can do my water changes. I could do a 50% water change daily if needed and it wouldnt take me but about 15 min to do.
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