Nsw

TAMike97

New member
Does anyone go out and get their water? And do you do anything to it before putting it into your tank? Any horror stories? Any good stories? I have talked to a few people about pros and cons but wanted to see your experiences.

I recently went out 17 miles and got about 60gal of water.
 
I used to buy sea water in miami and my results were excellent. But, here in this area i've heard that the gulf water isn't as great.
 
I know someone with an incredible tank, but something happened and all the water spilled out overnight. Almost all of his fish ended up dying, but he brought in 200 gallons from the estuary water behind his house (1/4 mile from the Gulf) and he said not only did his corals survive, they grew like crazy! I also suppose he got lucky because you never know what pollutants may be in the water, but he did the only thing he could do right then.
 
i heard along the way that some ppl were getting water from the dunedin causeway area that goes out towards honeymoon island..
 
I've kept FOWLR tanks with just "wild" water and can tell you that visually it's not clear near shore and the salinity here is 1.21. I wonder what the phosphate content is since the bay is lined with phosphate mines as well. If you want pristine water I think the common consensus is that you need to go several miles out before you escape the sediment and nutrients. I have routinely mixed wild water (plus clean up critters and macro algae) in small doses into my reef tanks for a couple years and never had any unpleasant hitchhikers however - just from other reefer's and stores.

LadyFSU - I wouldn't be suprised if his corals did well at first from all the nutrients but did he have algae problems afterwards?
 
All I need is some money and a h20 tanker truck and i'll get you all some fresh clean atlantic ocean water! :D

hmmmm... :bum:
 
I was doing 80 gal. water changes using NSW. I didn't have any problems due to the NSW,but I collected my water well off shore. Ted
 
I collect in a inlet off the atlantic, only on incomeing high tide and havent had any issues. I store the water fro a few days before it sees the tank and run it through a filter sock to catch particles and gunk but my coral always perk up after h2o changes and the only algae problems iv had are Red Slime that came with some rock I bought and HA in my carnivore tank, but that was due to high phosphates from over feeding. Just a note I have heard of complete tank losses due to contaminated water, but I dont collect if theres any trace of film on the water and always test each batch by changeing a nano frst and giveing it a day or two before changeing the big tanks.
 
Sounds like flfirefighter13 has got a good way to do it!

How do you collect the water? Drive to a bridge and fill a bunch of buckets?

Is the water clear right away?
 
There is a dock that I can pull up to and drop a pump into the water. I ahve a 400w invertor that hooks to my truck battery, the pump I use is a mag 18, it hooks to a 3/4 vinyl tub to get out of the water, then to a 1" PVC pipe that runs to the truck and back into a 3/4 vinyal tube to go into a barrel. I have 2 55g barrels in my truck that I installed a uniseal and a 1" ball valve in. When I get home I roll the barrels over and hook the mag directly to the barrel, open a top vent hole and pump from one barrel to another that is on the ground. This is where I run it thorugh a filter sock. If you wanted to youcould easily run it through a 1 micron filter, just find a single housing from an ro system and plumb it in, might clog quickly but try putting it after the filter sock. Next time go gather Ill get some pics but wont be till next week at the soonest. The water is pretty clear after running it through the sock but I personally dont want to filter out all the particulates, Im sure that at least some of them do some good.
 
Well I can tell you I went out about 17 miles and there is definately a difference in clarity comparing to only 5-10 miles out. If the weather is right ill be out again this weekend
 
Im sure there is, but I dont think I have enough pipe and electrical cord to reach the gulfstream, now if I can find a way to justify the expense of a boat to my wife Ill do some testing and see just how much clearer it is:)
 
I have been asking people here since I moved to TB a year ago, but it seems no reefers use fresh ocean water like we did on the east coast of Florida. There is was quite common for people or aquarium services to flush their reef tanks with 80-90% water changes monthly. Every time they did, the corals would open in spectacular fashion!

Here, the problem is red alage, pollution and phosphate run-off
 
Next time I go out Ill get a sample from shore (pass a grille) then every 5 miles out. I'll test for Nitrates, phosphate. I think Calcium, Salinity, mag should be almost constant. Ill let you know what I find.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8678608#post8678608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alizarin
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LadyFSU - I wouldn't be suprised if his corals did well at first from all the nutrients but did he have algae problems afterwards?

No his tank has been great since. However, his refugium runs into his garage and is about 100 gallons FILLED with macros so he'd never have the problem.
 
TAMike97 - I'd love to see those results!

LadyFSU - That sounds like a good idea - the benefit of nutrients and a way to export them too in the refugium. See if you can get him to post some pics of the refugium, sounds really cool!
 
TAMike97

I live right on Tampa Bay (weedon Island) and I can drop in at anytime. I would like to experiment with you. Pm me if you would like to go.

Paul
 
He's a member on RC here but rarely posts...he just donated about 3 gallon of chaeto to the school though :D filled with pods, worms, tiny starfish, I'm driving down the road with my 7 yr old trying not to crash just so I can look at all the little things in the macro!!!!

I took a shot of his tank but not the giant fuge. I kinda didn't want to show this cuz he has SO many fish and people will be floored and there's a few people who would say he has too many, but it's about a 3ft wide/deep tank and all seem very very healthy. The tank is so deep he says some of the fish he never sees except a few times a month. It's INCREDIBLE!!!!

http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r194/reefrascals/?action=view&current=okeefereef.flv
 
You want a horror story, I got a horror story. I have been using NSW for many years from the Atlantic. Sometimes I put bleach in it if it has red tide or if it does not smell right. I neutralize the bleach before using it. One day I collected water as I always do and bleached it with Clorox like I frequently do, then I declorinated it as usual and dumped it in the tank. Instantly all the animals started to either jump out or just die. I used "New Fresh Scent Clorox" by mistake. It works great on clothes but not on fish. Luckilly I diden't lost everything but I did lose an 18 year old brutilid and a very old mandarin.
My clothes stay nice and white though.
Paul:lol:
 
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