tyler1503
2500 Club Member
Live near the coast?
Want to save money on salt?
Don't want to have to buy extra expensive RO/DI equipment constantly?
How about collecting ocean water!
"That sounds like a great idea Tyler, but how do I do that?"
Simple! Depending on your situation there's several things you can do. You can take some buckets down to the water and scoop some up.
Easy.
Cheap.
Quick.
The problem here is the easiest place to do this is in a harbour or lake. Harbours and lakes are usually polluted by human waste like litter and sometimes sewerage. Storm water drain run off is a pretty common pollutant as well which can contain nasty herbicides, fertilisers and insecticides and stuff like that. Also stuff like oil from boats are pretty common. I think we can all agree we don't want this stuff in our tanks.
So maybe the beach? Beach water isn't the best either. While it's normally better quality than water from a harbour, it's still not the cleanest. All that bubbly whitewash on top of the waves is protein. Like the bubbles in a protein skimmer. You can introduce lots of unwanted nutrients that way. Plus it's a real pain dragging a big bucket of heavy water out of the surf while water's washing in and out, plus lots of sand will get washed into your buckets. Not a fun way to spend an afternoon.
From my experience the best place to collect water is either a few hundred meters out at sea, or in a high flow area away from beaches, harbours, drains and places with high levels of human activity. Think a bit about it and you should find somewhere pretty easily.
"Now that I know where to get some nice water, I'll get my buckets together and go get some right now!"
Hold on buddy, where to collect is just one piece of the puzzle! You also need to know when!
If you can, I suggest going at high tide. That's when the ocean washes clean water in and dirty water out. Sure low tide can be easier, but at high tide the water will be a lot cleaner and beneficial to your tank. After all, quality water is the foundation of a healthy tank! Another thing to consider is rainfall. Has it rained in the last week? If so, do your best to hold off on collecting water till it's been about a week or more. Rainfall can wash those fertilisers and herbicides and stuff we spoke about earlier into the ocean and it takes a while for this stuff to clear out. Wind direction is another factor, but that depends purely on where you live, so I won't go into that. Let's just say wind can wash a lot of algae, seaweed and the like toward the coast line.
So now we're down to the how.
Best case scenario. You have a boat, a large pump connected to a power source (a car battery is a good, portable one), a large storage container and an afternoon free. This one is pretty straight forward. Go a few hundred metres out, pump some water up from as deep as possible and go home. But let's say, like most of us, you don't have access to all that stuff. Taking a small bucket (maybe 10 litres/ 2.5 gallons or less) to carry small amounts of water to a larger storage container is the easiest and safest way to do it. It will take longer, but it's a million times easier in the long run. You won't have to lug heavy barrels or buckets to and from the collection point and storage container, it's less strain on your back, you won't have to counter balance such a large weight and risk falling in the ocean and last but not least you can have your kids or a friend help out if it's safe. Another thing I should add, is take your test kits with you. Test for everything you can before collecting water because you'd hate to spend a whole day collecting 150 gallons of water to find out it's full of phosphates or copper or something nasty.
Before adding your smaller buckets of water to the larger storage container there's something you should do. You'll notice there's probably bits of seaweed, algae, sand or whatever in there. I found the easiest way to clear this stuff is to have a plastic kitchen colander and some filter wool on hand. Just put the wool in the colander and pour the water through this makeshift filter to get rid of the nasty stuff. You'll get the majority to all of the crap out. Whatever's left in there probably needs to be refiltered through the colander with perhaps a denser filter material. Bring along a filter sock for this.
Once you get your water home, treat it just like a regular salt mix water. Keep it agitated while being stored, check parameters and heat it up before adding it to your tank. The exact same process work for fresh water if you need it too.
There some safety issues such as collecting in rough waters or strong winds that I feel the need to add. Always be extra careful and whenever going into the ocean make sure someone knows exactly where you are at all times! Make sure you know when the tides and winds are expected to change and in what direction. We don't want anyone getting swept away in a current.
Happy reefing!
Want to save money on salt?
Don't want to have to buy extra expensive RO/DI equipment constantly?
How about collecting ocean water!
"That sounds like a great idea Tyler, but how do I do that?"
Simple! Depending on your situation there's several things you can do. You can take some buckets down to the water and scoop some up.
Easy.
Cheap.
Quick.
The problem here is the easiest place to do this is in a harbour or lake. Harbours and lakes are usually polluted by human waste like litter and sometimes sewerage. Storm water drain run off is a pretty common pollutant as well which can contain nasty herbicides, fertilisers and insecticides and stuff like that. Also stuff like oil from boats are pretty common. I think we can all agree we don't want this stuff in our tanks.
So maybe the beach? Beach water isn't the best either. While it's normally better quality than water from a harbour, it's still not the cleanest. All that bubbly whitewash on top of the waves is protein. Like the bubbles in a protein skimmer. You can introduce lots of unwanted nutrients that way. Plus it's a real pain dragging a big bucket of heavy water out of the surf while water's washing in and out, plus lots of sand will get washed into your buckets. Not a fun way to spend an afternoon.
From my experience the best place to collect water is either a few hundred meters out at sea, or in a high flow area away from beaches, harbours, drains and places with high levels of human activity. Think a bit about it and you should find somewhere pretty easily.
"Now that I know where to get some nice water, I'll get my buckets together and go get some right now!"
Hold on buddy, where to collect is just one piece of the puzzle! You also need to know when!
If you can, I suggest going at high tide. That's when the ocean washes clean water in and dirty water out. Sure low tide can be easier, but at high tide the water will be a lot cleaner and beneficial to your tank. After all, quality water is the foundation of a healthy tank! Another thing to consider is rainfall. Has it rained in the last week? If so, do your best to hold off on collecting water till it's been about a week or more. Rainfall can wash those fertilisers and herbicides and stuff we spoke about earlier into the ocean and it takes a while for this stuff to clear out. Wind direction is another factor, but that depends purely on where you live, so I won't go into that. Let's just say wind can wash a lot of algae, seaweed and the like toward the coast line.
So now we're down to the how.
Best case scenario. You have a boat, a large pump connected to a power source (a car battery is a good, portable one), a large storage container and an afternoon free. This one is pretty straight forward. Go a few hundred metres out, pump some water up from as deep as possible and go home. But let's say, like most of us, you don't have access to all that stuff. Taking a small bucket (maybe 10 litres/ 2.5 gallons or less) to carry small amounts of water to a larger storage container is the easiest and safest way to do it. It will take longer, but it's a million times easier in the long run. You won't have to lug heavy barrels or buckets to and from the collection point and storage container, it's less strain on your back, you won't have to counter balance such a large weight and risk falling in the ocean and last but not least you can have your kids or a friend help out if it's safe. Another thing I should add, is take your test kits with you. Test for everything you can before collecting water because you'd hate to spend a whole day collecting 150 gallons of water to find out it's full of phosphates or copper or something nasty.
Before adding your smaller buckets of water to the larger storage container there's something you should do. You'll notice there's probably bits of seaweed, algae, sand or whatever in there. I found the easiest way to clear this stuff is to have a plastic kitchen colander and some filter wool on hand. Just put the wool in the colander and pour the water through this makeshift filter to get rid of the nasty stuff. You'll get the majority to all of the crap out. Whatever's left in there probably needs to be refiltered through the colander with perhaps a denser filter material. Bring along a filter sock for this.
Once you get your water home, treat it just like a regular salt mix water. Keep it agitated while being stored, check parameters and heat it up before adding it to your tank. The exact same process work for fresh water if you need it too.
There some safety issues such as collecting in rough waters or strong winds that I feel the need to add. Always be extra careful and whenever going into the ocean make sure someone knows exactly where you are at all times! Make sure you know when the tides and winds are expected to change and in what direction. We don't want anyone getting swept away in a current.
Happy reefing!
