Filtering natural seawater

[ibefishy]

I didnt know if this should go here or in the filtering forum so please move it if this is the wrong forum.
I did a search and didnt come up with anything so I figured I would ask if anyone knows... would be possible to go down to the ocean get some water filter it and use it for a reef tank?
I live on the coast of California and the seawater here is pretty clean, I have not tested it to see what the parameters are I will do that tommorrow just for my own curiosity sake.
If possible what kind of filter would be needed? I have 2 Eheim canister filters I am not using, could I fill those with something that could filter the water to make it safe for use? Thoughts and ideas?

[dreilly1982]

I am by NO means an expert but I have been doing some research of my own and this link may very well help you. WATER - Source and NSW
-Don

[Ninong]

Sure, it would be okay to collect your own natural seawater off the coast of California if you were sure that it's not polluted. That's an extremely big "IF." Big enough to march a parade through. (It's Mardi Gras today.)

Where are you going to find unpoluted waters off the coast of California? Having lived for 20 years in the SF Bay Area and for two years in the Monterey Bay Area, I can tell you that coastal waters, even in the Big Sur area, are polluted. I have walked the beaches in Big Sur and had to avoid sticky black globules of oil. And then there was that oil spill in SF Bay just last year. Not to mention all the fallout from air pollution from onshore oil refineries and chemical plants.

Folks who live near Scripps can get filtered NSW free of charge.

Some folks who live near the ocean actually do collect their own natural seawater. Some of them live in other, less industrialized parts of the world. Here are the two basic approaches that I have seen used by those folks who are convinced that their natural seawater is safe to use:

1. Collect the water from a place that appears to be free of polution. Transport the water home as quickly as possible and get it into your aquarium in less than an hour from the time it left the ocean. Doing this at night will provide the most natural plankton. You might want to use a battery-powered airstone. Make sure the water's temperature matches your tank's and that the pH is reasonably close, too.

2. Collect the water from a place that appears to be free of polution, transport the water to your home, place it in a large storage container (such as Rubbermaid Brute containers in yellow, white and gray only), cover the container with a lid and allow it to sit for one week. This will allow the plankton to die and settle to the bottom. Without stirring the container at all, siphon out the water without disturbing the dead stuff at the bottom.

Both of those methods involve a certain degree of risk. However, many people who live near the sea in other countries use nothing but unfiltered NSW for their tanks. The Monaco Aquarium, situated on the Mediterranean Sea, used filtered NSW. The Monterey Aquarium, situated on Monterey Bay, uses both filtered and unfiltered NSW. They use unfiltered NSW at night (for the natural plankton) to flush their largest exhibit.

[TimH07]

can you imagine living in an area close to a reef that you can not only collect your corals, you can put a pump outside to bring in and drain the water form your tank directly from the ocean?

*daydreams*

[Ninong]

can you imagine living in an area close to a reef that you can not only collect your corals, you can put a pump outside to bring in and drain the water form your tank directly from the ocean?

*daydreams*

Chuck has a reef in his backyard.

Rob gets paid to live on a small Hawaiian island and study marine life all day long.

[TimH07]

some people get all the fun.

if i lived further south i'd take my friends boat out and collect my own water...

[Seige]

Monterey Aquarium

That aquarium is sweet. I've viewed the water coming in from the ocean there. We had a company year end party there once.

[ibefishy]

I live in a small town about 2 hrs south of Monterey named Los Osos and the sea water is pretty clean if you go down to the tidepools as the tide is coming in. They dont have any offshore drilling here it is all quite a ways south, nearer to Santa Barbara.

[Ninong]

Yeah, and if you use the water there, your fish will probably glow in the dark.

Just joking.

It's a reference to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

[Ninong]

Seriously, if you want to try using NSW, try to collect it at high tide and then store it in a closed Rubbermaid Brute container (gray, yellow or white only) for a week before carefully siphoning it out from the top without disturbing the stuff that has settled to the bottom. Don't forget to raise the temperature before putting it in your tank.

If you want to you could siphon it out of the storage container into a separate container with a hang-on filter with carbon pad and then let it run through that for a few hours, while a heater brings it up to your tankwater's temperature, before using it in your tank.

You could also run it through a Poly filter (Poly Bio Marine) if you suspect any real chemical pollution.

P.S. -- There is also the option of using it immediately after collection after simply raising the temperature but you never know what you might be getting. You could be getting the good, the bad and the simply ugly. If you store it in a closed, dark container for a week, all of the phytoplankton and zooplankton will have died off.

If you live within 20 minutes of the ocean (obviously you do) and want to try collecting just five gallons at a time for immediate use, then that's one way to go. The water's temperature there right now is around 55 degrees, so you will have to raise it more than 20 degrees before using it.

[TimH07]

its kind of ironic that we strive for "natural sea water" in our tanks, but have to filter it ridiculously from the "natural sea"

[Seige]

its kind of ironic that we strive for "natural sea water" in our tanks, but have to filter it ridiculously from the "natural sea"

Ya... It's kinda pathetic how we continue to do nothing about it...

Seems like it'd be an easy thing to create jobs building ships designed to skim all the miles of debris (area the size of texas) floating in the pacific.