Going to Florida next week...

creativeballance · Sep 14, 2020

I'm going to the driving to Destin Florida next week. I was thinking to stop at the beach, and get a 5 gallon tote full of ocean water to take home with me, plus some sand. I would be bringing a air stone and air pump keep the bacteria alive. The drive back home is approximately 9 hours.

I have a 125 gallon display tank at home. Do you think it is worth the effort to do this? I'm hoping to get a little bit more micro fauna and other diversity.

Would it be legal to take a 5 gallon bucket of sand home?

Your thoughts on this matter are appreciated.

Wildcats1023 · Sep 14, 2020

Not sure if legal or not to take from beach. I've read that a lot of people collect seawater to use in their aquarium but the majority of them go a couple miles off the beach where the water isn't as polluted. I wouldn't take water from the beach and put in my aquarium.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 14, 2020

Collect at high tide where it is purer , that is if you can with a tropical storm brewing. If youre driving. . . . Go for it. I would test salinity and ammonia Prior to adding it to any tank

Pistondog · Sep 14, 2020

Maybe do a little research in destin area /panhandle rock collectors?
You might find a source of live collected rock you could take home in water.

creativeballance · Sep 14, 2020

Is there anyone from the Panhandle area that can chime in?

NavyR33f · Sep 14, 2020

I'm living in pensacola right now and I know that taking sand is a big "no go" here. A few weeks ago I tested our local water salinity out of curiosity and found it to be only 1.014 at that time. Im sure that this storm won't help that either.

creativeballance · Sep 14, 2020

NavyR33f said:
I'm living in pensacola right now and I know that taking sand is a big "no go" here. A few weeks ago I tested our local water salinity out of curiosity and found it to be only 1.014 at that time. Im sure that this storm won't help that either.

Do you know anyone in the area that sells any live rock or anything along those lines?

jsker · Sep 14, 2020

There is a company out of Tampa the ships the live rock.

Like @geversole01 suggested, one need to go out a mile or so to collect some clean water.

ichthyogeek · Sep 15, 2020

I would definitely check Florida's Fish and Wildlife website first...my family used to go to Destin a lot, and I always wanted to take home some of the seaweed that pops up over the summer in massive rafts, but got scared that I would break the law. Fairly certain that you probably can't take any of the larger/more important organisms off of the beaches (no fish, definitely no coquinas), but amphipods and other microfauna should be fine. Probably not the ghost crabs either...However, the beaches I've been to (the one that used to have Elephant Walk and Henderson State Park) have been incredibly dull, mostly seaweed and screeching children. A few "surf fish" like surf perch and I think juvenile pompano, as well as the aforementioned coquina clams; not exactly a recipe for biodiversity, especially after the BP oil spill. You also have to keep in mind that Destin (and maybe some other places) shored up their beaches using quartz sand and not calcium carbonate sand (I swear it feels different).

mijan · Sep 15, 2020

Taking live rock is illegal anywhere in Florida. For sand I would check with the local authorities.

NavyR33f · Sep 15, 2020

creativeballance said:
Do you know anyone in the area that sells any live rock or anything along those lines?

I know that bluewater aquatics in mary esther/ fort walton Beach has some good live rock in their store. Covered in corraline and macroalgae. Havent gotten any bad hitch-hikers off of it either.

I like to go to their shop for the rock to mix up the diet for my rabbitfish

snorklr · Sep 15, 2020

with sally dumping so much rain i'd be concerned with runoff from the land bringing lots of crap (fertilizer, pollutants etc)into the water and not just lowered salinity...without the storm i'd say go for it

Tired · Sep 15, 2020

You're not going to get much out of that water. It's going to be a lot of plankton that won't do you any good, and potentially quite a bit of pollution. Might bring in some pests, as well.

If you want biodiversity, get live rock that someone legally collected. You could also collect some live seaweed, if that's legal.

Mr_Knightley · Sep 15, 2020

The problem you would face (other than potential legal repercussions) is that "natural seawater" that people use in their tanks has actually been sterilized (not completely, but essentially) strained and marinated for months before use. So I would look at some threads regarding cleaning ocean water before you make the commitment.

Eagle_Steve · Sep 15, 2020

Everything you need to know is here. From non-game fish, to inverts, and to algae. Just need a fishing license and you can keep all kinds of things.

Marine Life

myfwc.com

reefbuilt1 · Sep 15, 2020

I live in Central Florida on the coast. I had a 70g tank years and just getting my feet wet in the hobby, I don't think you can take sand but water is ok. I brought many trash cans home for water changes, however i never checked any parameters "due to lack of knowledge" nothing catastrophic happened to the tank but did have hundreds of fresh brine shrimp that my clown gobbled up.
This all being said, I have a 160g that I have just set up and finished cycling, I wouldn't dare to put any ocean water off the coast in it. All levels are adequate and I've seen first hand what washes up in the water and can only imagine what else it could contain especially on a ppm scale.

RC79ATC · Sep 15, 2020

creativeballance said:
I'm going to the driving to Destin Florida next week. I was thinking to stop at the beach, and get a 5 gallon tote full of ocean water to take home with me, plus some sand. I would be bringing a air stone and air pump keep the bacteria alive. The drive back home is approximately 9 hours.

I have a 125 gallon display tank at home. Do you think it is worth the effort to do this? I'm hoping to get a little bit more micro fauna and other diversity.

Would it be legal to take a 5 gallon bucket of sand home?

Your thoughts on this matter are appreciated.

Take your test kit. The beach is basically a giant filter system and even a protein skimmer when the wind is up. If you can catch a ride 4 or 5 miles offshore, the quality of water would be leaps and bounds higher with less chance of picking up something nasty out of the sand.

And taking beach sand is usually prohibited as it is often brought in to mitigate erosion. And i have seen some really vile creatures in beach sand... fish live and predatory worms to name a few.

If you can find a place where its allowed, just be careful as you will most certainly pick up hitchhikers.