NSW for seeding

[MrClam]

Curious if anyone has attempted to use NSW to "seed" a new tank. I live along the coast of MA and so have easy access to the ocean. I am just starting up a 120g tank with 30g sump and had an idea :idea:

From my days in microbio I know that most bacteria and protists are hardy folk who may be able to tolerate a gradual change from the temp/salinity of new england water to my tank conditions. I have my doubts any larger worms or complex organisms would survive.

Just wondering if anyone has any practical experience with this?

 

[Allmost]

you could bring in pests. that's the only worry.

but many here use natural sea water with GREAT success, make sure to collect away from the shore, and dont make us jealous hahaha (kidding of course)

 

[rwb500]

tons of people use NSW for everything. I think the best way to use it is to get it from somewhere with a sand filter. other ways to sterilize it might be UV, ozone, or hydrogen peroxide. UV obviously has no lasting effect, and the ozone and h2o2 just needs to gas out.

 

[Green Chromis]

What are you using NSW to seed. NSW has a very low bacteria population compared to live sand or rock. I wouldn't worry about using NSW for the tank or water changes.

 

[MrClam]

Yea I dont plan on using NSW for my regular water changes. If anyone has been to Boston Harbor they will understand my concern about pollutants. Also not really worth it for me to motor out into open water to collect water.

My question was more focused on seeding phytoplankton or bacteria in order to jump start my tank cycling process, but from the sounds of it I would need to sterilize any NSW to kill pests which would kill anything I was trying to seed right along with it.

 

[Green Chromis]

I use NSW all the time, water changes started the tank with NSW never sterilized one drop of it. I would never collect water from a harbor or other polluted area. There isn't much in the way of bacterial life in water but there could be a lot of plankton in it depends on where you collect it from. I live in South Florida so collecting unpolluted NSW is not a problem and is fun to do. If you want to seed your tank bacterially i would use a good quality live rock or sand.