wild sea water

[jj jeter]

Would it be ok to collect sea water for initial setup instead of buying water and salting it??? I have not even hooked up my 150 gal. glass tank yet, but I'm trying to sort thing out first. i plan to collect wild live sand and i'v heard that is ok so what about water???By the way I plan on a really cool reef tank.

 

[hdtran]

I am told that if you live in the vicinity of San Diego, you can obtain the same saltwater that is used in the Scripps Aquarium, which is filtered ocean water. That should be perfectly fine for an aquarium.

I would be dubious about just going to the beach and filling up carboys with water (you don't know who poured what junk into the beach nearby).

I would be dubious about collecting your own live sand, both for the above reason, and also for climactic reasons (unless you live in a tropical area and can collect tropical live sand for a tropical tank, or cool-weather live sand for a temperate reef).

By a 'cool' tank, I assume a cool-looking reef tank, as opposed to a cool temperature tank

 

[jj jeter]

I live in Alabama about 3 miles from the gulf of mexico.I know 1 guy that collected sand from Dauphin Island with no weird side effects

 

[hdtran]

I think if you went out to sea far enough (e.g. not at the beach, but scuba-ing), you'd be ok with collected substrate. Be sure to stay away from shipping lanes, cruise ships, etc.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd go ahead with the sand and water. If it looks reasonably clean I wouldn't worry.

 

[Digiman]

Hi JJ,

I live in Spanish Fort. A friend of mine at the Register has done this at the Fairhope Pier right at the boat launch. Although, all he keeps are bay fish and critters, so I am not sure about using LFS fish or critters. He goes down once a week and grabs 5 gallons of saltwater for water changes.

I have read somewhere that if you go out about a couple of miles that you should be fine as far as collecting water. I would stay clear of the rigs though, too much mercury

 

[Baianotang]

NSW its the best there is.
Make sure the sand is calcium carbonate reef sand and not typical beach sand.

 

[Dubge]

There are alot of people around here that use NSW, one guy has been doing it for 30 years and he collects it from a boat launch.He dose 2G a day water change and his tank is one of the best I have seen!!! I have read about corals really opening up after a water change with NSW
This water is all collected locally from me in Mass.
I plan on starting next month. I do weekly water changes and I plan on starting with 1 NSW change a month.

**Also people run carbon for 24-48 hours prior to use and also warm the water to match the tank temp.

HTH
Ray