Natural Vs. Synthetic

[pumarjr]

how would you choose, if you had access to reef seawater vs. synthetic sea water i.e... IO, red sea, esv and so on, what would you choose. by reef I mean taking my boat out to a reef, using a new pump to fill containers and using that water for water changes, vs. buying the salt and making the water. i'm now asking because i recently switched from esv 4 part to red sea's coral pro salt, so far i've lost 50% of all my sps. worst decision i ever made was using that product.

 

[cultivatedcoral]

Being that I also live in Florida albeit West Palm Beach, I would never use our sea water. The reefs are dying. The water is not pristine I assure you.

I suspect that the reason for losing 50% of your SPS is just the changing of salt. I did this a few years back going from Tropic Marin Pro Reef to Brightwell Aquatics NeoMarine and lost a bunch of SPS. I even tried to change over slowly by mixing some new salt with old salt for a few weeks but it did not work. Changing salts can always wreak at least a little havoc.

If you do still decide to use the seawater I would go out at least 15-20 miles (in WPB we are only 5-7 miles from the gulf stream) since you are in Key West. Turn off your boat. Let it drift for 10-15 minutes and then siphon in the water.

 

[c_healy]

Unless you are getting very large amounts of sea water each time it really wouldn't be cost effective anyways.

I'm sure you know running a boat out far enough(depending on your starting location) would be quite costly.

 

[glb]

In Miami I buy purified seawater at Strictly Fish. It's great!

 

[maharsreef]

Red Sea Coral Pro has too high alk@ 12dkh. Prob shocked your sps. Try using Red Sea reg salt. DKH is 8, which is closer to normal sea water. I have used it for a couple of years and am very happy with their salt.

 

[Dana]

I've been using the pro salt and my alk is high. 12-13.
I may slowly switch over. Start mixing the reg stuff in with the pro to get it down.
My cal is high as well, but my system is doing well, and my birdsnest is growing nicely,so, I hate to even touch it lol

 

[redfishbluefish]

I believe it is common practice for aquarium maintenance companies in Florida to use natural sea water. There was a tank truck that use to pull out onto a pier and drop a hose into the water to fill the truck. Didn’t even go out into deeper waters to do this.

 

[Mrfresh]

I have access to cleaned sea water in sd and I would never use that stuff.
I love using rodi water with Red Sea pro reef. I have to do smaller water changes bc I run my alk at 8.5 and it being 12 smaller water changes make it easy to not jump the alk levels to much....

 

[glb]

I have access to cleaned sea water in sd and I would never use that stuff.
I love using rodi water with Red Sea pro reef. I have to do smaller water changes bc I run my alk at 8.5 and it being 12 smaller water changes make it easy to not jump the alk levels to much....

I think our local fish store runs it through a uv sterilizer and some other stuff. That being said, I'm sure a lot of the seawater being sold isn't up to par.

 

[mcarroll]

I've been using the pro salt and my alk is high. 12-13.
I may slowly switch over. Start mixing the reg stuff in with the pro to get it down.
My cal is high as well, but my system is doing well, and my birdsnest is growing nicely,so, I hate to even touch it lol

As you know and your corals have confirmed (me and mine too), there is nothing wrong with relatively high alk in a healthy, balanced system.

-Matt

 

[redfishbluefish]

As you know and your corals have confirmed (me and mine too), there is nothing wrong with relatively high alk in a healthy, balanced system.

-Matt

I respectfully must disagree. If you are running a low nutrient system, alk levels above 8 dKh can be problematic. Even prior to running low nutrient, I kept my alk around 8….and everything was happy and looking good.

 

[mcarroll]

Well, everything "can be" problematic..especially if you do it wrong! Imagine playing a violin like that.

So far I've never done anything but low nutrient systems (but simply by having few fish and not putting in so many nutrients - no special methods...so maybe not really a "low nutrient system"?) and I have never seen the problems which supposedly accompany them.

I can't see why there'd be a presupposition that there would always be issues... I mean if you have problems and somehow deduce that high alk was somehow related but NSW levels of alk work for you, great! I don't see why that should apply to every tank when it so clearly doesn't in so many peoples' reported experiences.

High alk works, man.

-Matt

 

[Pappy]

Saltwater fish.com, Ora, and pro aquatix get their water right out of fort pierce inlet about 1/2 hour south of me. They filter it all. I would love to do this but time serves me better to make in garage. Still risky IMO of not done right but would it be rewarding? Heck yeah I'm sure! Maybe one day when I'm rich or retired

 

[pumarjr]

Thx for all the feedback. Guess its more hassle than its worth

 

[Reefpro]

Definitely stick with a store bought product they have tested and seem to work best in our environments. Also any drastic changes in this hobby almost always lead to disaster. Key is slow changes and when changing salt brands go super slow because as others have already suggested, the levels of the minerals are all different. Good luck bad hope everything recovers for you

 

[kes]

I would prefer synthetic, better control. Many great reef tanks with synthetic salts.

 

[dk300reef]

I get water from the fort pierce inlet every two weeks. I will usually run it through a filter sock for 12 hours or so. I should probably run I through carbon but the water tests where I should as far as nitrates and phosphates. the only problem right now is the wind is coming from the east which will kick up some sediment.