natural seawater tank pics

[Beaun]

I started and continue to use 100% NSW for my system. When and where you collect are very important, always colect at high tide or an incoming tide and pick a spot away from docks/boats. Also, wait a few days after any rain event to allow runoff to cycle out of the shore area.

I collect on the bay side, mainly because it is easier then walking from the ocean parking lot out into the water with waves. The bay parking is feet away and there are no waves to deal with; it is also the cleanest harbor we have within a few minutes drive. Depending on the time of year and how much I am changing I may not even heat it up. Also, many public aqariums use NSW in their reef systems with no problems.

Here is an older photo.

 

[sTefaniA]

SWeeet !! all NSW huh. what do you do to prepare your water? or do you just add it? and any cons you've had with NSW?

I don't prepare the water. Only when it is too cold I heat it so temperature won't drop too much. Only one negative thing, the NSW I use comes from a nearby coldwater sea, and there are periodes in summer when there is algae bloom in the sea. So it's important not to use any water in that period because then you have a green tank. Too bad my lfs went bankrupt so I have no acces to this NSW anymore. So now I am using Korallenzucht Reefers Best Coral Reef Salt (longest name ever btw) wich is alot more expensive. I hope to find a lfs who gets their NSW from that sea, or I could get it delivered to my house but they only bring 8000g wich I cannot stock...

 

[Alex T.]

I thought RC dKh was about 13 at 1.026?

Actually James, RC was reformulated a few months back (as per Boomer on the Chemistry forum getting it out of a rep for IO).

The current parameters FYI are as follows:

Mixed to 1.026 it yields:

Ca: 445
Mg. 1350
dKH: 8

I've mixed it plenty of times to these exact specs.

 

[allsps40]

^ RC has been having quality control issues. I got 2 buckets of the new stuff that had alk 14 ca 520 and was mixing very brown. Contacted RC sent them a sample to test, they found that the ca they are using right now is contaminated with impurities and that they had the mix wrong and were adding to muck buffer and ca. I switched to H2Ocean. If you want to go NSW it is best collected a few miles off the coast, cleaner that way. Plus it should be zapped with UV to kill any unwanteds that may come in. I feel that it is much easier to and safer to mix your own salt water.

 

[Beaun]

What unwanteds might come in? Any fish parasite shouldn't be a problem because they are not free floating in the water collum where you collect from.

IME, people who are affraid to use NSW have never tried it and people who have tried it like it.

 

[buy_baff]

^ RC has been having quality control issues. I got 2 buckets of the new stuff that had alk 14 ca 520 and was mixing very brown. Contacted RC sent them a sample to test, they found that the ca they are using right now is contaminated with impurities and that they had the mix wrong and were adding to muck buffer and ca. I switched to H2Ocean. If you want to go NSW it is best collected a few miles off the coast, cleaner that way. Plus it should be zapped with UV to kill any unwanteds that may come in. I feel that it is much easier to and safer to mix your own salt water.

Your the only one saying this. And it seems you like to post it at least once a day.

 

[Alex T.]

^+1

allsps, I'd like to know how you're mixing your RC and for that matter how you're measuring salinity. This seems "way" out of whack to be seeing both measurements of calcium and alkalinity that high.

The two most calcium ridden salt mixes (Oceanic and Coralife) have higher calcium readings than you're posting but no where near the level of alkalinity you list. Both readings being that high would seem to me to be approaching a precipitation event, which I doubt a company like Instant Ocean that's been around for that many years could make such a grave mistake. I haven't seen any magnesium tests you've listed over the last few months either, but according to the calcium reading you would be reading over 1500. I don't think it's your test kits, as I've read that water samples were taken to your LFS, but I doubt they measured your salinity, which could really throw these numbers out of whack if you're measuring 1.036 or higher.

I think maybe you're using a hydrometer and it hasn't been cleaned in a while. If the arm doesn't swing freely when it's not full with water then it's sticking. If that's the case, and you're mixing your water to 1.026 then who knows how high the calcium and alkalinity measurements could go with a salinity off the charts if the swing arm is sticking. If you are using a hydrometer, put scolding hot water in it with white vinegar and let it sit until the hydrometer reaches room temperature again. And, get yourself a refractometer if you don't already have one so you can check the two against each other. Even with refractometers they need to be re-calibrated often.

Regardless, this just really seems uncharacteristic for the most widely used reef salt on the market today, and you're the only one reporting it in reefdom. I change 25 gallons per week with pure RODI water and go through a bucket in 5 weeks mixed to 1.026 and have always tested exactly the same parameters as advertised. In fact, these are now 8 buckets since July from 3 different stores...and over 100 miles apart. I posted a while back in the chemistry forum about the past listing of Reef Crystals' parameters not being seen recently with alkalinity now measuring 8 and Boomer, a very well respected and knowledgable asset in the Chemistry forum confirmed that he had a conversation with an Instant Ocean rep and the rumor was confirmed that the mix had in fact been re-formulated to the following specs when mixed at a specific gravity of 1.0264:

Ca: 455
Alk: 8 dKH
Mg: 1345

Just my .02