I live on Humboldt bay, I'm about to set up my first marine aquarium & I have many questions. In my set up, can I safely use fresh sea water, live rock & invertebrates from local tide pools in my attempt to build a reef tank with just a few small fish?
OF THE OCEAN
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Crabs McJones
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I don't think you can ever 100% guarantee safely using natural sea water. There is always the risk that you're going to bring something into the tank, whether it be a parasite, bacterial infection, algae, or outside contaminants such as gas, oil, or other chemicals. With that said there are a handful of reefers on this site that do use it, and have had success. To my knowledge one of them takes his boat out to get away from the shoreline to collect his water. As far as live rock and inverts please check with your local and state laws before collecting anything wild. In alot of places it is heavily regulated or even straight out not allowed to collect anything wild from the beaches or tide pools.
The fact it is one of the largest deep water ports in CA, Would concern me. There are also a number of freshwater tributaries, salinity maybe way off from where a reef tank is kept.
some do like this NY Long Island thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/moving-47-year-old-reef-60-miles-omg.407827/ and youtube channel "natural reefing" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsrJzd5fVYY72IkppQP_rLw
Not sure if they filter/clean the water somehow prior to using in aquarium though.
Not sure if they filter/clean the water somehow prior to using in aquarium though.
Lovemyreef2015
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Welcome to R2R. Natural seawater is used by a number of reefers. I'm aware of an aquarium maintenance company in Florida that exclusively uses sea water collected from the end of a pier into a tanker truck. I do believe they run it through a diatom filter when collecting. I'd simply check and adjust salinity and heat to temperature.
As far as collecting rock or any wildlife, that most likely is not allowed without the proper permits (if even allowed). I know Florida has very strict laws about taking stuff from the oceans. Check with your state.
Again, welcome to R2R.
As far as collecting rock or any wildlife, that most likely is not allowed without the proper permits (if even allowed). I know Florida has very strict laws about taking stuff from the oceans. Check with your state.
Again, welcome to R2R.
Sailingeric
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California water is cold and if you plan to use critters from your area they may not live due to your tank water being too warm
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cristata.reef
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Yes CA marine life is coldwater and requires a dedicated setup with very different parameters to keep them (I kept coldwater stuff for a few years). Also is is very very very illegal to collect from tidepools which is considered poaching in a marine protected area. If you. Same goes with sand and LR, they have coldwater microfauna that would die off and leave you with dry rock. If you're interested in keeping CA native stuff I can help you out, but most people find it too tedious
Sean Donohue
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Hey there, I live up in McKinleyville. Not sure if you started your tank yet but I would say that if you mimic the water conditions of local Humboldt coastline and take measurements or get data on what you need to copy that water profile I would assume that you could then collect local organisms, but I question the legality of that so be sneaky or don't depending on your ethics
good luck!
cristata.reef
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Hey there, I live up in McKinleyville. Not sure if you started your tank yet but I would say that if you mimic the water conditions of local Humboldt coastline and take measurements or get data on what you need to copy that water profile I would assume that you could then collect local organisms, but I question the legality of that so be sneaky or don't depending on your ethics
Illegal anywhere in CA. Buuuuut I know a guy who's licensed to sell Eastern Pacific stuff (I promise it's not shady lol, he's a distributor to aquariums). PM me if interested.
