Tips on using natural ocean water for a reef tank?

[SimplyVibing]

Hi, I live less than a mile from the water in Pensacola, Florida. I was wondering if anyone here has had good or bad luck using ocean water with their tanks. Five gallons of premixed salt water is $10 at my LFS.
I’m contemplating getting my water from Bayview Park since the road leads right up to the water. It passes water quality tests over 95% of the time, but I haven’t personally tested the parameters yet.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about all this?

 

[C. Eymann]

Hi, I live less than a mile from the water in Pensacola, Florida. I was wondering if anyone here has had good or bad luck using ocean water with their tanks. Five gallons of premixed salt water is $10 at my LFS.
I’m contemplating getting my water from Bayview Park since the road leads right up to the water. It passes water quality tests over 95% of the time, but I haven’t personally tested the parameters yet.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about all this?

I live 10min from the water in Tamp, only way I would feel okay about collection of water for a reef tank is if it was at least a few miles out from shore.


Just my .02

 

[SimplyVibing]

I live 10min from the water in Tamp, only way I would feel okay about collection of water for a reef tank is if it was at least a few miles out from shore.


Just my .02

Thank you. It’s a little less busy here (50,000 people roughly).

 

[ZoWhat]

Yep....this subject has came up on R2R quite a few times

Problem with collecting from a coastline (even if you went 10miles off shore) is the water surface could have oil/gasoline containment from Cargo ships to pleasure boaters. Also containment from raw sewage pumped into the ocean.

Plus Lord knows what hitchhiker bio critters you'd bring home...

Sound like, "hey, look at all that ocean water for Free!"

I did a cost analysis of a water change using $60 as the cost of the salt box... even evaluated the cost of public water/sewer rates and the cost of RODI filters.

My post is buried somewhere

I believe a water change costs about $1.20 to $1.50 per gallon.

I dont think you could drive to the ocean, get 20miles offshore and get the ocean water home for less than $1.20/gal

If it were cheaper to own a cow and milk it for endless supply of milk for your family....cheapbutts would have done it. No way could you own a cow, feed it and milk it, pasteurize it....for less than $2.99/gal

Economy of scale at play here. Just sayin

 

[SimplyVibing]

Yep....this subject has came up on R2R quite a few times

Problem with collecting from a coastline (even if you went 10miles off shore) is the water surface could have oil/gasoline containment from Cargo ships to pleasure boaters. Also containment from raw sewage pumped into the ocean.

Plus Lord knows what hitchhiker bio critters you'd bring home...

Sound like, "hey, look at all that ocean water for Free!"

I did a cost analysis of a water change using $60 as the cost of the salt box... even evaluated the cost of public water/sewer rates and the cost of RODI filters.

My post is buried somewhere

I believe a water change costs about $1.20 to $1.50 per gallon.

I dont think you could drive to the ocean, get 20miles offshore and get the ocean water home for less than $1.20/gal

Believe if it were cheaper to own a cow and milk it for endless supply of milk for your family....cheapbutts would have done it. No way could you own a cow, feed it and milk it for less than $2.99/gal

Economy of scale at play here. Just sayin

Do you know of any way I could test for oil in the water? I’m thinking about chlorine treating it anyways, to get rid of any critters/algae that want to hitchhike. Purely conceptual rn— the fishes actually all got a water change from my RODI unit less than an hour ago lol.

 

[mtfish]

Can't comment on Florida (except for red tide). I do get my water here in Texas. I make sure that I do not collect after a rainfall event and only during an incoming tide. You also have to deal with red tide, especially in Florida. The cells are easy to id if you have a microscope. I get 125 gallons at a time (most I can carry in my truck at one time). When I get home I usually pump into holding tank and let it settle for a couple of days. I have pumped straight into the tank at times. This has been talked about a lot and you will get very divergent answers. Personally, I am not concerned with oil and such contaminants. I have a system with around 500 gallons total, so it is way more cost effective for me than to mix artificial salt.

 

[mtfish]

Also, I can see where getting water 20 miles offshore could be expensive. I get mine at a pass that enters Corpus Christi Bay on an incoming tide. Pull my truck up. Hook up 12 volt bilge pump. Fill up tank. Done. I have to drive to work anyways so not so much extra expense in my situation.

 

[SimplyVibing]

Can't comment on Florida (except for red tide). I do get my water here in Texas. I make sure that I do not collect after a rainfall event and only during an incoming tide. You also have to deal with red tide, especially in Florida. The cells are easy to id if you have a microscope. I get 125 gallons at a time (most I can carry in my truck at one time). When I get home I usually pump into holding tank and let it settle for a couple of days. I have pumped straight into the tank at times. This has been talked about a lot and you will get very divergent answers. Personally, I am not concerned with oil and such contaminants. I have a system with around 500 gallons total, so it is way more cost effective for me than to mix artificial salt.

That’s so cool! My system is much smaller, only 20 gallons, so I would probably only collect 5-10 gallons at a time. I’ll keep the tides and rain in mind.

 

[SimplyVibing]

Also, I can see where getting water 20 miles offshore could be expensive. I get mine at a pass that enters Corpus Christi Bay on an incoming tide. Pull my truck up. Hook up 12 volt bilge pump. Fill up tank. Done. I have to drive to work anyways so not so much extra expense in my situation.

ever had any issues?

 

[mtfish]

ever had any issues?

Not directly. Only issue I have had is I had to stop collecting water over a period of months due to a red tide bloom. Had to use that nasty artificial saltwater for a while, lol!

 

[Yates273]

I was going to attempt this once as an experiment for my cube. I went 20 miles offshore to go shark fishing and collected 5 gallons of super clean ocean water. The next day I tested the water I collected and the ammonia was SUPER high. Not sure if whatever was in the water died off and caused ammonia to spike. Needless to say I dumped the water down the drain.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I've seen some very nice tanks done with nsw. I had plans to try it myself but have been too lazy so far...

 

[SimplyVibing]

I was going to attempt this once as an experiment for my cube. I went 20 miles offshore to go shark fishing and collected 5 gallons of super clean ocean water. The next day I tested the water I collected and the ammonia was SUPER high. Not sure if whatever was in the water died off and caused ammonia to spike. Needless to say I dumped the water down the drain.

thank you for the tip! When I try it, I’ll make sure to test the parameters multiple times before adding it to the tank.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Just isnt worth it with all the red tide and blue-green algae issues along the FL coasts.

 

[Bellamy55]

Hi, I live less than a mile from the water in Pensacola, Florida. I was wondering if anyone here has had good or bad luck using ocean water with their tanks. Five gallons of premixed salt water is $10 at my LFS.
I’m contemplating getting my water from Bayview Park since the road leads right up to the water. It passes water quality tests over 95% of the time, but I haven’t personally tested the parameters yet.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about all this?

Don't do it. Bayview Park is on bayou Texar. it has a very narrow entrance so does not get a lot of flow. A lot drainage goes into there from streets and fertalized yards, not to mention the marina and boat launch across the bayou. The water will not have nearly the salt content you need either. If natural water would work ok your best bet is to get it from fort pickens/pensacola pass or maybe down at the national seashore on the beach.