ocean water from tidepool for cycling new tank

[xeanliao]

Just setup a 100 gallon tank with about 80 pounds dry rock, and in the process of cycling now.

I am near a tidepool full of marine lifes like sea urchine, sea star, anemone, clams, seahares, sea snails, crabs, etc. They are protected but I think the water and cups of sands are not guarded.

Do you think the tidepool water is clean and good for cycling new tank? perhaps refill the tank later, too?

 

[CuzzA]

Any time you can use natural sea water at a clean source, do it. It will always be better than any artificial water. The one caveat is you have no way of identifying a possible contaminant. You can mitigate this risk by filtering the water.

Here's what I do. During collection pump the water through a fine micron sock to eliminate any large organic or inorganic particles. A good boat bilge pump works great as they are 12 volt DC which allows you to simply use your vehicle for electricity. Pick up a Magnum 350 canister filter. The beauty of this design is it has no bypass so every ounce of water that goes through the canister is filtered. Because of the no bypass design you can use DE powder for filtration. See tutorial HERE. Any home improvement store or pool supply company will have DE powder, and it's cheap. DE powder will filter water down to 1 micron. Run it for several hours or by transfering the water from one container to another so all of the water is filtered. The filter also allows the use of granular carbon. So swap filters and add the carbon and repeat. At this point you will have removed anything down to 1 micron plus any metals, petro, pollution or contaminates. Now, you're almost done. When transfering the water to the system, run the water through a quality UV sterilizer to sterilize any possible pests and prevent them from multiplying in your tank. Be sure to follow the manufactuers guideline for the correct flow/dose of UV. If the manufacturer doesn't have a guideline don't buy their product because they've never tested their own product and it's likely an overpriced piece of junk.

This is the right way to do. Now, that's not to say that you can't just go collect water and dump it in your tank, but you significantly increase the risk of disaster.

A few more points. Never collect after heavy rain. There will likely be a good amount of surface run off and that exponentially increases the chance for contaminants, especially fertilizers and petrols. Also, the specific gravity will likely be lower. I would probably avoid the tidal pools since they will likely have a higher specific gravity due to evaporation and being cut off from the ocean. Instead try and find an accessible pass and only collect on the incoming tide. You should be bringing your refractometer. It would be a good idea to do a full initial test on the collection site. Specific gravity, Nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. If all looks good, I would continue to test for several collections until I felt there was a consistent baseline and then only test for phosphates and nitrates going forward. I've found that ocean water is very consistent at any particular site, except after a heavy rain.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Ron Reefman]

And I'll offer the alternative view.

I try to keep ocean water out of my tanks as much as possible. If I use RO/DI water and make new water myself, I'm pretty sure what is in it and what's not. If I use ocean water I have no idea what's in it. Do you test for bacterial blooms like Red Tide? Do you test for chemical contaminants like oils, gasoline, pesticides or fertilizer? Do you test for anything other than the stuff we test for in our aquariums where we know the water because we made it?

I have thousands of dollars of corals, fish and other inverts in my tanks. I quarantine new fish and dip corals to try and prevent unwanted 'stuff' from getting into my tank. Why on earth would I put that all at risk by using water from the ocean?

If you are taking a boat well out from shore, like a mile or more, you are probably OK. But from a tidal pool on the beach or a rocky flats area, no way!

Just so you know there are 2 points of view on the use of water from the ocean. I know a number of people use it, but a then a number of people will tell you that you are taking a risk. It's your money, your aquarium and at some point later down the road for you, your corals. Given the cost of RO/DI water and salt mix, I consider it a minor expense. And transporting ocean water in any big volume is a giant PITA!

 

[e048]

Don't do it. Tide pools and the beach are the oceans protein skimmer all the water like stated earlier close to shore is usually high in contaminats

 

[CuzzA]

IMO, good sourced and filtered seawater has a much lower risk than error prone human made salt mix that can't replicate natural sea water. Not to mention almost every salt mix available is not even close to average NSW parameters nor does it actually contain all of the elements and minerals found in the sea. I suspect this is why so many wild and/or maricultured corals don't survive once introduced to hobbyists tanks. Or at a minimum, take an extremely long time to adapt to the change.

I've read 100's of threads about deadly necrosis event parameter swings from doing something so simple like a water change. How much of the unexplained coral loses account for artificial salt mix? Happened to me with a bad batch of RSCP. A lot of people have opinions on using NSW, yet they've never used it and I have yet to find the thread or report that says NSW is bad for our animals that came from.... the sea. In fact, every report is just the opposite. Inhabitants immediately react positively. More vibrant color and better polyp extension. This has been my experience too. Paul B is a good example and he collects from dirty NY. Many people in Florida do it as well. Hell, California has a company that actually sells filtered NSW. Many coastal public aquariums use filtered sea water. Many collectors pump seawater right into their holding systems.

Ultimately and again, IMO, artificial salt mix likely has at least an equal risk compared to NSW, probably a lot more. But, you need to know how, where and when to collect and also how to filter the water.

Here's a good read on the toxicity of artificial salt mix.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/

All reef aquarists are well aware of how prone to disaster that their aquaria are. One of the common threads of wisdom in the hobby states that, "Disasters happen quickly, success takes time and patience." From this, the message is clear; when things go wrong, the resulting problems often occur rapidly. Aware of the precarious nature of our artificial ecosystems, most hobbyists do everything in their power to ensure that their beautiful, and expensive, creatures do not perish. Many hobbyists have safeguards for power outages, equipment malfunctions, water level problems, and chemical imbalances. It is ironic and unfortunate that all of these safety measures may be largely for naught, jeopardized by the use of artificial sea water that, due to poor formulation, may be poisoning the very animals that the hobbyist is trying to protect.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I agree with cuzza. Everyone needs to use common sense before using either nsw of artificial sw. Both have good points and both have bad points. If the chicken hadn't tried to cross the road it would never have found more food. It is good to do trial and error. I wouldn't dump either one in my dt but would try in another tank and monitor it and learn more about how well or not it does.

 

[jrp1588]

IMO, good sourced and filtered seawater has a much lower risk than error prone human made salt mix that can't replicate natural sea water. Not to mention almost every salt mix available is not even close to average NSW parameters nor does it actually contain all of the elements and minerals found in the sea. I suspect this is why so many wild and/or maricultured corals don't survive once introduced to hobbyists tanks. Or at a minimum, take an extremely long time to adapt to the change.

I've read 100's of threads about deadly necrosis event parameter swings from doing something so simple like a water change. How much of the unexplained coral loses account for artificial salt mix? Happened to me with a bad batch of RSCP. A lot of people have opinions on using NSW, yet they've never used it and I have yet to find the thread or report that says NSW is bad for our animals that came from.... the sea. In fact, every report is just the opposite. Inhabitants immediately react positively. More vibrant color and better polyp extension. This has been my experience too. Paul B is a good example and he collects from dirty NY. Many people in Florida do it as well. Hell, California has a company that actually sells filtered NSW. Many coastal public aquariums use filtered sea water. Many collectors pump seawater right into their holding systems.

Ultimately and again, IMO, artificial salt mix likely has at least an equal risk compared to NSW, probably a lot more. But, you need to know how, where and when to collect and also how to filter the water.

Here's a good read on the toxicity of artificial salt mix.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/

Let me just rent a tanker truck and make the 14 hour 1-way drive down to Florida and fill up. haha. I wonder if my girlfriend would mind if I installed a small water tower in our backyard.

 

[jason2459]

Just collect during the incoming tide near the inlet area if possible and filter like Cuzza described above and it would most likely be fine.

 

[fishgate]

I WISH I could get NSW! I would if I could. Do it!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Here's something to consider: try not to collect during low tide. Not only will there be a higher amount of organic compounds, but think about the aquatic life stuck in those pools whose water you're draining. You said that those animals are protected, so it would make sense that the water they're in is protected as well, since you'd be taking away what they're living in. During high tide, when water constantly recirculates, I'd think it less of a problem, and you'd probably not get in as much trouble.

As for the sand, I'd wash heavily. Organic particles are sure to get stuck in there (have you tried vacuuming a sandbed before?), and you probably don't want that in your tank.

 

[anthonys51]

lol i would never collect natural seawater. sounds to long and hard of a process. i think its too much work to mix 5 gallons of seawater

 

[AndrewDBui]

Works good

 

[CuzzA]

lol i would never collect natural seawater. sounds to long and hard of a process. i think its too much work to mix 5 gallons of seawater

Unless you pick up a 100 gallons at a time, let your son have some fun at the beach, maybe do a little fishing while the tank fills and then have your tank set up on an auto water changer with a supply that's good for over a month. That's not work to me

 

[anthonys51]

Genius

 

[reef thief]

I used NSW in Hawaii for years with no issues and no testing. It comes with a free dose of plankton as well. Trace contaminants might be found in the water but your system, livestock, and water changes will minimize this

 

[ace_92101]

+1 for natural sea water.

 

[amadesu]

Location is pretty important, I think. Sea water from Hawaii or Florida is probably great. In the vicinity of Houston, not too much. Too many refineries and chemical plants in close proximity to the ocean.

I think Paul B advocates using natural seawater as it helps keep up the fish's immune systems. I think he also said (in another forum) that he was using mud from the Bronx in his tank. I wonder how clean that is compared to the Galveston/Surfside area.

 

[DTeeVee]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[mikeatjac]

I saw a tank in Daytona that used NSW and it would come alive durning a water change. NSW does seem like a lot of work with a risk.

 

[Green Chromis]

IMO, good sourced and filtered seawater has a much lower risk than error prone human made salt mix that can't replicate natural sea water. Not to mention almost every salt mix available is not even close to average NSW parameters nor does it actually contain all of the elements and minerals found in the sea. I suspect this is why so many wild and/or maricultured corals don't survive once introduced to hobbyists tanks. Or at a minimum, take an extremely long time to adapt to the change.

I've read 100's of threads about deadly necrosis event parameter swings from doing something so simple like a water change. How much of the unexplained coral loses account for artificial salt mix? Happened to me with a bad batch of RSCP. A lot of people have opinions on using NSW, yet they've never used it and I have yet to find the thread or report that says NSW is bad for our animals that came from.... the sea. In fact, every report is just the opposite. Inhabitants immediately react positively. More vibrant color and better polyp extension. This has been my experience too. Paul B is a good example and he collects from dirty NY. Many people in Florida do it as well. Hell, California has a company that actually sells filtered NSW. Many coastal public aquariums use filtered sea water. Many collectors pump seawater right into their holding systems.

Ultimately and again, IMO, artificial salt mix likely has at least an equal risk compared to NSW, probably a lot more. But, you need to know how, where and when to collect and also how to filter the water.

Here's a good read on the toxicity of artificial salt mix.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/

:fish1: Hi CuzzA, I have been collecting NSW, from day one, and in all my systems, never had a problem with parasites, contaminants, or any other problems with the NSW. I very seldom ever filter the water, but I collect it in the Gulfstream off of South Dade County, or the Florida keys, usually 20 or so miles off shore, and drop my pump down 25' feet or so I don't skim the surface water. I enjoy collecting the water, and you never know when you will catch a fish or three, for dinner. One thing though, it can be a challenge in the winter, you just have to chose the days you go out. :fish1: