Newbie intro / anybody here use natural seawater

[thomb]

Greetings,
Just set up my first reef - 75 gallon Craigslist special.
Live rock went in last night in storage mode – This is today, few hours after arranging it.

Anyhow, since I live near the ocean, I set this up using natural seawater.

Figured folks may be interested in how this goes, so I’ll post my progress - and if anyone else out there is going this route - I'd sure love to learn from your successes.

 

[mattleycrue76]

Some very nice pieces of rock you have there. Opinions are split on using NSW. I'll be sure to keep up as I am very iterested in your results.

Welcome to RF!

 

[dnjan]

I've been using NSW for years. Unfortunately, ours here (Puget Sound) has some phosphate problems, so I pre-treat with calcium hydroxide, followed by an airstone to bring the pH back down.

Corals haven't complained yet about being subjected to NSW ...

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! Tank looks great! Cloudiness should settle pretty soon. As for the NSW, good luck with it! They say nothing is better than the real thing! I live in the Bahamas about 2-3 mins from the ocean and never used it (LOL). Might give it a try next time around

 

[thomb]

Thanks for all the responses so far! I'm really happy with the rock - that was another Craigslist find.
Glad to hear there's been some good experiences with the NSW - the biology major in me suggested this should work - but the work from home computer guy in me didn't find as much positive info on the subject as I would have liked.
Cost/function aside there are other benefits. You get in shape hauling buckets, you attract a fair bit of attention and you get to make lame jokes like - "I'm a volunteer for a nonprofit fighting sea level rise."

 

[Krish]

LOL!! One of the main disadvantages I've found with natural seawater is you can possibly transfer some nasties into you tank which wouldn't be good. So therefore, using NSW may require a bit more treatment before use and will probably be a bit more time consuming than just grabbing some Instant Ocean (or other) and mixing it up with some RO/DI water.

 

[plack]

I think if you collected it 1 mile + away from shore it would be better.

Have you checked your salinity as your NSW can be lower than in a reef area.

I know in seattle it is we also get pcb's in our NSW. Also lower in calcium etc.

I stopped using it after I found out more about it .



Paul

 

[thomb]

Well, I don't have a boat… but we do live in a high tidal flushing area (New Hampshire) - and I collect during incoming tides, away from inlets and defiantly not after rain. I surf so I know how that water gets due to storm water runoff - which is a whole other discussion.

The NSW salinity is a bit low, spot on at the 1.020 mark (swing arm hydrometer method). I think I’ll see it fluctuate from time to time (well at least my highly sensitive attached salinity tester tells me that.)

This morning in the tank - 1.020 7ish after I added ~3 gallons NSW (evaporation), which is a nearly imperceptible increase from yesterday. My thinking is that I can use the lower salinity of the NSW to my advantage right now and gradually let it increase while not having to purchase freshwater or fancy filtration systems.

My overall goal is to support life without needing excessive funds/equipment or becoming a chemist

I’m very cautiously optimistic that I’ve gotten a good start. The rock and a lot of sand came from an established tank and the life is growing (I’m already noticing things I didn’t see yesterday) and its doing what it does as opposed to doing the opposite. Heck we're stoked with how it all looks now - but my wife really does want to see it progress to fish - I set an expectation of 6 months for that.

I really appreciate any and all suggestions as I'm flyin by the seat of the internet...

 

[plack]

The average ocean salinity is 35 ppt. This number varies between about 32 and 37 ppt.

 

[busdriver]

goto reefsuk.org or ultimatereef.co.uk.
i know some people over use NSW.
just make sure that the rock either touches the glass bottom or is partly suspended (with eggcrate and pipe, so that it doesn't compact the sand. I'm a bit tired now, but if i remember right it can lead to hydrogen sulifde (sp)...
good luck and welcome to the "hobby"
Stephen

 

[mattleycrue76]

I think you're spot on increasing the salinity like that. I'd really recommend getting a refractometer for salinity readings though. swing needle hydrometers are IME very inacurate.

 

[trido]

My overall goal is to support life without needing excessive funds/equipment or becoming a chemist

...

Ha Ha Ha!!!! Very funny. You'd better get both of those ideas out of your head right now if you want things to thrive. If your merely trying to keep things alive and support life, then you might be OK.

Welcome to the addiction.

 

[thomb]

Day 3 update - As an aside, keep posting to this thread or start new ones for updates? Anyhow here goes.
Skimmer started foaming yesterday afternoon.
Close observation sessions i.e. excuse to drink beer and sit close to wife continues to yield discoveries of previously unseen life, and known life is still there or increasing.
Chemistry
Nitrate / Nitrite - firmly in the 0 color range
Ammonia – can’t really call it 0 but closer to 0 than the .025 color (need to get me some sort of CSI type machine to do this stuff)
Salinity – 1.021
Here's pictures from this morning.
Have 2 of the skimmer - any comment on setup etc. greatly welcome, skimmers are new technology to me
Several life shots - I've not gotten a "field guide" yet to name things and the latest full tank shot.