So, I am goin to be moving to Nova Scotia, which is a small island on the east coast of Canada. There, I will set up a few tanks. My biggest problem is, I odnt know if they will allow me to set up and RO unit. Or, maybe I wont find a place where I can buy RO water. Something along those lines.

I was wondering, could I just take a few bins down to the Ocean, and fill them up, heat them, then check the salinity. This way, I could get free pre-mixed salt water, I could accurately control the salinity and temperature, and I wouldnt have to worry about an RO unit.

So is it safe to collect Sea water?

--Dan

not really safe at most shorelines. the best way to collect and use seawater is by going 20+ miles offshore.

shorelines are natures protien skimmers and all the bad stuff comes to shore.

20 miles off shore? I read on one guys site that he collects all his water right from the shoreline, beside Sydney harbour, and he keeps 10 SW tanks ranging from 20g to 180g. Now if he has that many successful tanks up, it cant hurt to try.

What exactly is in the water on the shore, that isn't in the water 20 miles out? Maybe some sediment run off, but when we were in Florida we were swimming right above a reef, so the water cant be that bad.

--Dan

Almost every chemical contaminate that scientist could name off for starters! Hareball summed itup about as best asone could. I wont say that it cant be done successfully but this is akin to "walking on water chancing that the ice wont break". There is another aspect to this as well that makes this a very risky proposition. Thats the fact that out glass boxes are very small and dont have all of the bio-diversity that the ocean has. Introducing parasites and other pest potentially to your system with no preditors to control them is a recipe for disaster. You might think that you can just filter the water before adding it to the tank right,but this is far more difficult than it seems as many parasites are microscopic and some larva from critters in the acean are might tiny and might not be filtered out adequately.

I think Tap water unless its really poor is less risky, although granted this is not optimal. Just know the risk you are taking and what the potential problems can be. Personally I dont recommend it at all, even 20 miles out. JMHO....

Well, I am discussing it with Randy Holmes-Farley right now. He thinks it can be done, but it should be pre filtered, and possibly bleached. Were still discussing ways of making it possible. Apparently, this is how most people on the coast get their water.

--Dan

some areas are worse than others but remember all polution reaches the shore.
I tested the water here in the barnegat bay. the salinity was 1.017, it had nothing for calcium and overall the tests proved it worthless. all tests were taken with proffessional kits given to me by a marine biologist.
if you attempt to use it on a reef system you'd end up spending more money in additives like calcium and PH buffers than just buying marine salt that already has everything in it that a reef needs.

But is tap water safe?

--Dan

tap water is used by more people than ro/di us used. the drawback is alot of minerals.
I use ro/di on my reef and tapwater on my marine predators.

Tap water only really becomes an issue if there is high amounts of lead & copper in the water as well as Phosphates, Nitrates and other heavy metals. These are generally kept in check to reasonable levels but the local municipality.

The biggest problem with using Tap Water is the nutrients in the water that will contribute to bad algae growth in the reef tank under the increadible "Renta Frying" Intese light common in many reef tanks where there already is inadeqaute filtration, heavy fish loads and over feeding, is a problem.

Phosphates can be removed, Nitrates can be delt with, even heavy metals can be taken care of with some work. Trying balance the mineral make up of "harvested SW " so that it compares to synthetic SW when has been optimized for the critters that we keep, is going to be tough to do and do it well and you will be a chemistry major by the time its all said and done I am sure.

As Hareball said I have to tested the water locally and found it to be low on Specific Gravity, very poor PH and calcium wise, all three which are critical to haveing a healthy and stable SW tank. Several other test revealed lots of Petrolium contaminates too as well. A good way to look at it is that if you wouldnt drink it then why would you put your treasured fish in it?

Dont mean to come off over bearing, and I am sure up there it will be okay at the very least, I mean almost any place is WAY cleaner than Honk Kong or Tokyo Bay! But I just dont think this is a really wise move...

Then tap water it is! Until I find a good source, and a good system for cleaning the SW.

Btw, here's something I was told by Randy:

--Dan

Collecting seawater is a bad idea unless you are getting from like 200 miles ofshore and sterilize it with a UV.

ok im gonna throw a curveball here.
Until my latest tank was setup all my previous tanks were 100% natural. seawater collected from the shore mineral mud systems with macro algaes for nutrient extraction , liverock.

I never had a more successful range of tanks. I am happy to say,they were all very successful.


This was my first reef tank with NSW



My 100 gallon system

One of my acros when first entering the tank.


Within 9 months of being in this environment.



Ok now comes the advise....

Do NOT collect water fromthe shores as i have done. I have researched in great detail the various locations in my areas and followed the advise from the National Marine Aquarium and Bluereef aquariums (only 15 mins from me). both of these draw their water directly out of their local shores. Ok this water is refined but its essentially not very different from what i use.
The area i collect my water is also used by a water company that sells this water to laboratories for condutcting conductivity tests so it needs to be very pure.

Alas i cannot continue with the NSW for my larger project as its basically i mpractical to collect enough water to do a water change.

Unless you are absolutely sure of the quality of your water in the area then DONT use it. each and every time you collect water make sure you carry out water tests before collecting.

IF you cannot follow these very strict methods then stick with artifical salt as its far safer.

That is true Nav. And if you do decide to use NSW i would purify with UV.

By no means impossible to use locally collected sea water, it can be done. But it is not without risk and as such I dont recommend it.... The few bucks I could save not buying salt just aint worth it to me.

Nav,
You use mud filters? Refugiums? I am all about those two subjects...maybe we could trade some notes? Both have been some of the best moves I have made on my tanks and I am always game for learning more about the finer details of both!

You can buy store bought NSW I think Catalina water makes it. it comes in 5 gallon boxes The pull it straight from pacific ocean. And purify it some how.

The beauty of NSW and of course its downfall is the life that comes with it once collected. I used NSW for this planktonic life and the corlas thanks me for it tenfold. If you buy purified water froma shop then you are not getting this life so i do not see the need for it and would advise artificial salt instead. Now the problem with NSW that has life in it is that it will die quickly if not used. I would not use it if its stored for longer than 24 hours as it does deteriorate quickly.

As for mud systems Ritsuko, I swear by them! They have their pitfalls just like any other filtration system but they are very user friendly and its a system that even beginners can see results happening fast as the algae grows.

At the moment my current system is running sumpless as my current sump is simply too large to fit under the stand, i have to rehouse the sump and plumbe it up son though. Im currently using the mud sump to cure a load of liverock for me! Does the trick nicely too!

The water I was talking about is not exactly water that you would by at the LFS that they store in tanks its called catalina water comes from the Pacific Ocean And they do purify the the water so there is no Planktonic life in it but it still is NSW and has the exact calcium strontium salt iodine molybdium Magnesium potassium and all other minor and major trace elements in NSW because it is NSW. Here is the water.

http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?fami...s&ct2=Salt&ct3=

I personally dont like to use NSW water unless its for an emergency because I believe that I should make the closes replica to the ocean as I can without using stuff from the ocean, don't get me wrong or anything I think NSW is great I just like the challenge of makeing my own water as close to NSW as I can.