NSW in Tampa Bay Region

[tony727]

Does anyone know anyone or themselves use NSW in our region?

Sometimes I go offshore and I could possibly collect NSW, but idk if it is usable or if there is a better way to transport it. Just wondering, because we have so much water around us..but to me it doesn't seem very clean.

 

[kybreos]

I wouldn't use anything near shore but when you go out the water is clear. Not sure if it's worth the trouble though.

 

[Snookster]

I've used beach water (near a pass on incoming) once for an emergency and no problems to report. That said, I wouldn't use it normally. Too much boat traffic & risk of introducing red tide or other organisms.

 

[CuzzA]

I've thought about doing a large monthly collection and setting up storage for my new 300. Basically collect 300 gallons and do a 100% continuous water change throughout the month. Basically 10 gallons per day. I would likely collect 2-5 miles offshore from the center water column only on days where there wasn't a previous front that kicked up the substrate. Only clear water. I can only imagine this would be great for any system, but with it comes risk of protozoa and pollution. I don't know, I'm still on the fence.

 

[kybreos]

Thats what the FL aquarium does, however they filter the heck out of it first.

 

[CuzzA]

Yeah, run it through a 25 micron filter sock first then carbon and UV. I'm curious how well it would store too. I wonder if it would need to be skimmed too. The problem with all of this is the potential for disaster.

 

[tony727]

Yea the only thing I worried about was the potential of pollution and diseases, because of whats really in the water around these parts.

I guess filtering it and sterilizing it would be best.

Although overall it seems like more work than its worth.

 

[djsmallz]

I have heard people doing so with no issues, I've thought of it but never really put the effort into it, once I have a fishing pole in hand I lose track of most everything else.

 

[pugcrush]

If you check out the Miami/Ft Laud forum, there's been numerous threads of people using it. Some have reported storing the water ahead of time but I believe they treat it. Granted, the water down there can be a lot nicer.

 

[tony727]

Well they're on the Atlantic Coast which is more open than the Gulf so I would assume they have nicer water

 

[otiac]

Isn't that what the Florida Aquarium does? Thought i had heard that in the past. if not, I'd love to see their mixing station. haha

 

[Ted_C]

the logistics of moving saltwater from off-shore to your house is what would deter me from ever trying this.

1 - weight of water. 30 gallons weighs approx. 300 pounds. 30 gallons (for larger reef tanks) is pretty insignificant. Remember - 300 pounds is like 1.5 people on a boat. Take into account how many people your boat can hold and that's how much saltwater you can haul safely - figure a 4 person boat: Max weight is ~ 1000 pounds - that's 100 gallons (minus the 200 pounds for yourself).

2 - Transfer logistics: how are you going to get the water back to your house? You've got to transfer it off the boat to your vehicle. are you really gonna lug 300 pounds from dock to vehicle? Pump it? that could be a mighty long hose. Do you have a vehicle that can handle the weight? a 1/4 ton truck (f150, dodge 1500, Chevy 1500) can only handle about 1200-1300 pounds in the bed safely.

3 - Cleaning the water - as many have mentioned - you probably want to filter the water and expose it to UV and such. that could be a lot of work.

Factor in all of the costs and time it takes for all of these things and its cheaper to make your own water and buy salt than to do this - remember too - your time is money.

You'll need some sort of large container in the boat.
You'll need some sort of large container for the truck
You'll need a truck
You'll need a boat
You'll need an hour to get off-shore and another hour to get back
You'll need time to transfer the water from boat to truck
You'll need time to clean the boat - and other routine boat maintenance
You'll be really working the truck and it's springs - you may find that it'll need maintenance sooner than normal.
you'll need time and materials to transfer the water from the truck to the house (tank, holding tank - whatever) and filter it / clean it up.

 

[CuzzA]

Ted, I agree the logistics and time it would take to collect on a boat wouldn't be worth it, unless you're talking 20 gallons or less.

After some thought, perhaps one could pick up a large container for the back of a truck or trailer, then go to a pass on the incoming high tide. Pump water through a fine micron sock and take it home. There you would have to clean the water. Transfer it to another container through another fine micron sock. Then treat the water with carbon, uv and maybe even a sand filter.

I looked up some older threads about the chemical make up of the water around here and it looks pretty good. Ca 420, KH 7, Mg 1350, pH 8.2, NO3 0, PO4 O. SG 1.026.

I guess it boils down to who has the guts to attempt it with thousands of dollars of livestock invested in a tank. Of course if you ask Paul B (RC member) he constantly pulls rock, mud and water from New York and puts it right in his tank and has been doing so for over 40 years and claims no ill effects. I'll ask him to chime in.

 

[Paul B]

You'll need some sort of large container in the boat.
You'll need some sort of large container for the truck
You'll need a truck
You'll need a boat
You'll need an hour to get off-shore and another hour to get back
You'll need time to transfer the water from boat to truck
You'll need time to clean the boat - and other routine boat maintenance
You'll be really working the truck and it's springs - you may find that it'll need maintenance sooner than normal.
you'll need time and materials to transfer the water from the truck to the house (tank, holding tank - whatever) and filter it / clean it up.

I started my 100 gallon reef in 1971 with water from the East River that goes past Manhattan. That was 43 years ago, so far I have not had any problems except of course the corals try to grow up the walls and stain my ceiling and the fish keep spawning, even the 24 year olds so I don't have room for the fry.
I do own a boat but I never use it to collect water. I don't have a tuck but can easily put 20 gallons in my PT Cruiser. I use five gallon water bottles that I find in lots, they are the same ones on top of office water coolers but I used to use five gallon buckets. To collect the water I don't go to far offshore. Usually about five feet from the sand or up to my knees is enough as long as it is deep enough to fill a bucket. To prepare the water, I put it in my house, let it warm up to the tank temperature which could take a while because here in the winter there is ice cubes in the water, then I dump it in. If it has seaweed, jelly fish, bugs or rusty pieces from a 1956 Oldsmobile in it, I strain it through a coffee filter or pillow case, then I dump it in. Am I bad?
I collect it here. Yes, that's snow on the beach.

 

[sirrealism]

Once again its the Atlantic and not the gulf. The water motion in the Atlantic is 10 times what it is in the gulf. if I was on the other coast I would do this but water from the gulf I question. Though I do have a friend that does this with gulf water and his tank looks great

 

[CuzzA]

I started my 100 gallon reef in 1971 with water from the East River that goes past Manhattan. That was 43 years ago, so far I have not had any problems except of course the corals try to grow up the walls and stain my ceiling and the fish keep spawning, even the 24 year olds so I don't have room for the fry.
I do own a boat but I never use it to collect water. I don't have a tuck but can easily put 20 gallons in my PT Cruiser. I use five gallon water bottles that I find in lots, they are the same ones on top of office water coolers but I used to use five gallon buckets. To collect the water I don't go to far offshore. Usually about five feet from the sand or up to my knees is enough as long as it is deep enough to fill a bucket. To prepare the water, I put it in my house, let it warm up to the tank temperature which could take a while because here in the winter there is ice cubes in the water, then I dump it in. If it has seaweed, jelly fish, bugs or rusty pieces from a 1956 Oldsmobile in it, I strain it through a coffee filter or pillow case, then I dump it in. Am I bad?
I collect it here. Yes, that's snow on the beach.

Bad? Obviously it's worked for you all these years. I'm surprised you don't filter the water first. Perhaps we're being too skeptical. I did notice what looked to be a DE filter in one of your pictures. After some more thought, perhaps just a DE filter and some carbon would be enough to clear the water of any concerns. I would really like to know how long it can be stored. I assume if you strip the water of organics it could store for at least a month if not more.

Once again its the Atlantic and not the gulf. The water motion in the Atlantic is 10 times what it is in the gulf. if I was on the other coast I would do this but water from the gulf I question. Though I do have a friend that does this with gulf water and his tank looks great

The water in the gulf is really not that bad. I agree the water movement isn't the same, but it's still moving very well. It just doesn't look as blue as say South FL because we have so much macro algae. I certainly wouldn't collect in the intercostal areas inside all of our barrier islands. But you can see from the illustration that we are constantly getting new water pumped in from the Caribbean.

 

[anbosu]

I think if you're going to do it, in order for it to make sense you basically should just dump it in your tank like Paul. Otherwise you're going through a lot of trouble to basically replicate ASW.

 

[IrishTang]

As stated I wouldn't trust the Gulf. It is known to have dead pockets of nasty bacteria. This causes respiratory difficulties in many patients I know ( I work in Healthcare). Not to mention the oil spills, fertilizer runoff heck, even antibiotics and antidepressants have been found in our local waters.

Having said all that when I first started my newest tank a year or so ago I looked into this. Apparently the trick is to store it for long periods. I know I found a long thread either on here or another site. You would think "we have the sand and the water, why not". Might be interesting to start a small tank using only local natural resources, wouldn't cost much.

As to the logistics if you were someone that goes out on a boat regularly you could easily pick up 10-20 gallons each time you were out. Bring it home and store it, treat the heck out of it.

 

[Paul B]

I would really like to know how long it can be stored.

3 billion years or about as long as Tyrannosaurus Rex has been extinct. If you want to use it right away, just dump it in but if you store it for a couple of days it may get a little cloudy from the bacteria that will grow on the sides of the container, then die and turn the water cloudy. That is not a problem and not dangerous, it will clear again in a few days. Salt water does not go bad as long as it is not allowed to evaporate to a dry state like Utah. I mean dry as in dry. :facepalm:

 

[amebcia]

I have been thinking about getting NSW from Scripps in San Diego, however I am having doubts about the practicality of that.

For a 29g biocube I am running right now I could get few 5g buckets and drive there once a month. That would cost me $4-5 on gas + time. Mixing 30g using IO is about the same (salt + replacing RO media periodically).

For a bigger tank (e.g 160g) I would need to invest in a truck (which I do not need otherwise) or buy a trailer for say $1000. For that sort of money one can buy 25 buckets of instant ocean ($40 for a 160g mix) so it would take around two years to break even.