Toying using natural sea water.....

AquaKnight

AquaKnight

Active member
I am in the process of setting up a 125 gallon predator reef and one of the ideas I came up with was to use natural sea water to fill and maintain the tank. I would drive to the beach and load up 2 or 3 Brute trash cans with water (actually, smaller containers, that would fill the Brute up. Has anyone ever actual used NSW before?

Now my other question, is where would be a better place to get water, the Gulf or the Atlantic? The east coast is a lot quicker to get to (no I-4 mess), I just don't really know a good spot on the ocean. I'm not really sure about fill up along the intercoastal. With all that boat traffic, the water would seem kinda scummy? Any suggestion on a spot?
 
I wouldn't recommend using any water within two miles of the shore, due to pollution. That's just my opinion tho. I have read lots of places people that want to use sand from the shore, should get it from 2 miles out.
 
Last week was the first time Iv ever used anything but NSW. I collect at ponce inlet on incomeing high tide only and not days when it looks nasty, generally after a bad storm or a few days of rough seas its pretty stirred up. so far no problems as of yet my reef loves it when I do a change, coral looks great, and I will say after doing my first change with mixed salt last week I noticed that the NSW does make a big difference, all my leathers perk up right away and look great. Ive heard rumors of bad cyano outbreaks in the gulf but have yet to see anyone with on in their tank due to NSW. Also if there is any sediment in the water I run it through a filter sock to be safe. Hope that helps, have fun!
 
flfirefighter is the only one i know that does it - like sytanek said i wouldnt suggest it - but if you do it - then make sure you talk to flfirefighter more about it - i remember he told me he uses 55gal drum with lids and lets them sit for so long as to let stuff die or something - and i remember bringing water home one time in a brute container and something about the way my trailer swayed almost made me flip it. it was weird! just be careful! i know a cheap place to get rodi system and after the first set up you dont need to purchase much salt- the cost of gas would probably cost more then the benefit - just my 2 cents
 
Yeah deffinatly weigh in gas costs. FYI at least two of the LFS in the daytona area use NSW exclusively, as well as sell it and I ahve talked to a bunch of guys in those stores that use it from them as well with no problems, im not saying you never will have an issue but I have yet to find a confirmed case of NSW causing problems. A few my friend has a cousin who once had a blenny die after doing a NSW change kind of stories but nothing reliable. As far as letting it set I used to let it set in a sealed jug for while to let stuff die off if there was any problem but have since just been putting it into the tank with no issues either way. Jason brought upa good point about water shifting ona trailer, weight will shift and can cause problems. I use 2 55 gallon drum on their side in the back of a my truck and fill the remainder space in the bed with 5 gallon jugs. this ensures no room for the barrels to move and I fill the barrels as much as possible which helps deaden the motion problems. Ina perfect world I woudl invest in one of those slide in poly tanks with baffles in it that hold 300 or so gallons but Im not sure if gathering will be cost effective now that im moveing further from the ocean, gotta recalculate and or see if I can snag some overtime shifts at a station near the beach:)
 
Doesn't sound too bad, I guess just for a pending FOWLR that still has to go through cycling, it wouldn't be too bad. I can add the water and see how everything is first. I've only read positive posts about using NSW and the only negatives have been pretty much 'my friend's friend' type stories. It def. will be a fish only first, so I can run the gambit of tests first.
 
Not sure if they sell it over there, but over here the LFS sell natural sea water. I'm not talking about the fancy jugs for 20 bucks, you have to bring your own. I heard the get it from FIT, already cleaned. Makes my corals open very nicely. It's like a buck a gallon. Just thought I would throw that in there. G/l
 
I have been using it for 2 years. Sometimes from the beach and sometimes offshore when we fish. I do not do all of my changes with this but some. I have never had any problems. You can most likely search for a site to find water quality locally. They test all of our beaches here for swimmers safety do to possible sewage runoff. Also carbon and uv are good to run the water through.
 
I have used the gulf water before , but if you look at the satelite view of the east coast, it is pretty nasty from about Ft. Lauderdale north. Lots of polution from the ports down south floats up our way.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10189205#post10189205 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ben&bobbi
what stores in daytona sell it?
Click to expand...

Amazing aquarium on nova and reed canal, might be called reed creek cant remeber, sells ti for sure. IIRC the stores up on Mason and Nova and Mason and Ridgewood sell it to but I havent been to any of them in about a year or so. Im all about not paying 1 dollar a gallon when I can drive 10 more minutes and get it for free:)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10217864#post10217864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flfirefighter13
Im all about not paying 1 dollar a gallon when I can drive 10 more minutes and get it for free:)
Click to expand...
That's pretty much summed up my I started this thread, saltwater is only 35 cents back in Ft. Lauderdale and it's freaken $1.25 here :mad2: I wouldn't blink twice about paying $45 for water, but $155 is ridiculous.

I did some calculations and getting sea water is still cheaper, but obviously I'll try to see if getting an RO/DI unit is feasible. Would anyone see anything tragic is maybe picking up a used one?

Thanks for everyone's answers!
 
problem with a used ro unit is you will almost always have to get new media, which in the end brings you to real close to the same price as a new one. Sea in the city had some nice looking units last time I was in there, check em out.
 
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