Using real seawater?

[MelReefer]

So I just so happen to live across the road from the beach in Florida. Right now I am using Aquaforest but I’m thinking about using seawater. I don’t have any reefs in my area. Is it a good idea and how do I know if the water is good?

 

[Hemmdog]

Take a sample and test parameters. If you want good sea water you need to take your yacht out past the shore. The parameters in your area may differ from what people keep their reefs at. I’d keep using aqua forest fwiw.

 

[andrewey]

It's been done before, however most will warn you that most SW you can easily collect will likely come off areas that are exposed to high levels of run off. At such, they often contain high levels of DOCS, phosphates, and other pollutants we can't test for (pesticides, etc.). A lot of the coastal research facilities collect SW from the ocean, but most of the ones I know of have pumping stations far offshore in the ocean. I personally wouldn't do it. The cost of salt is so relatively inexpensive compared to most things in this hobby and any contaminants introduced cost cost a lot more

If you're fishing on the ocean and can collect a sample below the first half meter offshore, then by all means go for it

 

[jaxteller007]

Yea if lived on like a beautiful beach in the Caribbean or something where I had reefs right off the beach I'd probably be willing to do that or at least try. Like others have said, most beaches around us have a lot of run off and probably would not be great for your tank.

 

[MelReefer]

Take a sample and test parameters. If you want good sea water you need to take your yacht out past the shore. The parameters in your area may differ from what people keep their reefs at. I’d keep using aqua forest fwiw.

Lol imagine thinking I have a yacht

 

[Hemmdog]

Lol imagine thinking I have a yacht

Lol. It sounded better than a kayak.

 

[Crustaceon]

We have “Scripps” water here in San Diego which is collected at least a few hundred yards offshore. Some people swear by it, but most people who use it here eventually go back to mixing their own SW using a salt mix because NSW isn’t ideal in a reef setting and flame on, but NSW parameters are not ideal outside of FOWLR in most cases. It’s a matter of dosing and either you start with water that has low alk/cal/mg and dose a larger amount of alk/cal/mg to compensate or you start with water that’s fortified with alk/cal/mg and dose less alk/cal/mg in between water changes.

 

[swiss1939]

Despite the appearance that your water is clear in Florida, most water close to the coast is not the best to use as everyone has said. You would be surprised how much runoff really affects water close to beaches. You really can see it if you ever get out on a boat and travel down the coast.

 

[Rybren]

@Paul B uses NSW collected from the shore on Long Island.

 

[jaxteller007]

@Paul B uses NSW collected from the shore on Long Island.

He does/uses a lot of things that I think many people are not able to do lol. Plus his tank is what like 40 years old? Probably established enough to handle the random things that would come in with NSW.

 

[KimG]

I used to run my tank on natural seawater. It ran fine while I had the tank with live rock.
Since moving to dry rock I have had too many problems, so I changed to making my own water, mostly to try and eliminate problems one by one. Also, it avoids constant testing. I had to many variations in the natural sea water (I'm next to the north sea).

 

[cesar6261]

I used seawater for a few weeks and my coral and fish did fine. I decided to switch to what my LFS was selling which is brightwell i believe and my corals loved it more polyp extension and color. The coroline loved it as well, so yea its possible to use real seawater.

 

[PhilSD211]

We have “Scripps” water here in San Diego which is collected at least a few hundred yards offshore. Some people swear by it, but most people who use it here eventually go back to mixing their own SW using a salt mix because NSW isn’t ideal in a reef setting and flame on, but NSW parameters are not ideal outside of FOWLR in most cases. It’s a matter of dosing and either you start with water that has low alk/cal/mg and dose a larger amount of alk/cal/mg to compensate or you start with water that’s fortified with alk/cal/mg and dose less alk/cal/mg in between water changes.

*Wave* Yeah, the levels of the Scripps water are much lower. It's run through sand filters and used by Birch Aquarium for their tanks. But right now, we also have the nasty bacterial bloom/red tides in the ocean and the water is horrible.

There was a time years ago I used to use it but found bits of algae/seaweed in the "filtered" water and stopped using it.

 

[ThRoewer]

*Wave* Yeah, the levels of the Scripps water are much lower. It's run through sand filters and used by Birch Aquarium for their tanks. But right now, we also have the nasty bacterial bloom/red tides in the ocean and the water is horrible.

There was a time years ago I used to use it but found bits of algae/seaweed in the "filtered" water and stopped using it.

The west coast has nutrient-rich upwelling water with lower alkalinity which isn't ideal for reef tanks if used unaltered. At a minimum, you will have to check and adjust Alk and Ca if needed.
That said, I had good success with water from Half Moon Bay I bought at a local store. It just became impractical for a larger tank since I had to haul it in jugs. You can get it delivered home by the guy who collects it, but you need to take at least 400 gallons per delivery... unfortunately I don't have space to store that much.

If you harvest your own water from the ocean you should run it through a 1 µm filter and a 5 µm carbon block to filter unwanted microorganisms and contaminations out.

 

[Seamore2001]

I used NSW for years when I lived in New England for my SPS dominant tanks. Worked fine for me, but I had a consistently clean area to collect from and was able to do large water changes frequently. The corals loved it; I believe they benefited from the plankton. But, you need to be confident in your water supply. Test regularly.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

So I just so happen to live across the road from the beach in Florida. Right now I am using Aquaforest but I’m thinking about using seawater. I don’t have any reefs in my area. Is it a good idea and how do I know if the water is good?

I live on Vancouver Island in BC Canada and have been using local seawater for several years. I simply pump it into 2 @ 45 gal barrels (in my truck) and then into 2 barrels in my basement. When I do that I use a couple of filter socks and leave the water circulating (in the barrels) while I bring salinity up to snuff. There are a few of us doing this locally and one of us is a marine biologist at the local Federal biology station. One of his points in favour is that using natural water ensures that our fish immunity systems are kept up as they have to deal with what in the local water. Contrast that with our totally pure RODI water with chemically pure salt. As to the purity of our local sea water, I suppose it is pretty good but there is local city creek drainage that comes in fairly close to where I collect.

 

[Costareefer]

I keep a mixed reef sps lps anemones etc. I use nsw and my corals seem to thrive from the bio and zooplankton. I stay away from run off areas and collect the water from about 5’ deep not the stuff on the surface.

 

[Beardo]

I use NSW from Scripps in San Diego, but am careful not to get water until atleast 3 days after a rain and not during a red tide like was going on recently. Levels are a little low but easy enough to take care of. Tank has done just fine.

 

[35ppt]

Redacted

 

[SebastianReefer]

So I just so happen to live across the road from the beach in Florida. Right now I am using Aquaforest but I’m thinking about using seawater. I don’t have any reefs in my area. Is it a good idea and how do I know if the water is good?

I also live in Florida not far from Sebastian inlet where the tide changes every 8 hours so there is always fresh offshore water coming in the inlet I don’t have a yacht but I do have a 20ft mako and a jet ski I have taken off shore I have thought about it the only way I would try is with a new tank which I can’t do right now as I’m at 6 tanks already 125,75,40,bio29,16 and one fresh water 55