NSW (Natural Sea Water)

[scubadude]

I Had to put a smiley face in the topic! Im spending WAYY too much on salt lately and water isnt cheap either when you consider RO unit filters, and the water bill. I went to Venice Jetties (about 20miles away from where I live) the other day and tested the water as far out as I could drive on the jetties and got a sample of the water...And did all kinds of test right there...heres my results

Calcium 390
Alk7.5 DKH
PH 8.0
Temp 76
SG 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Phosphates 0
Silicates 0

Two questions for everyone:

Would you use this water if you had access to it?

Would you treat it before you used it? if so how? (UV, Ozone, Charcoal etc etc)

[Elmo18]

Scuba, I'm not sure but from your tests it seems pretty good. When my father was overseas in Egypt doing tropical fisheries for USAID and all that and building large holding tanks, they actually got water from the Mediterranean sea through large pipes.

Now, I would actually try it out, but how deep will you get this water??? There may be pollutants that will not show up in those tests. I think if you pumped water from a deep enough depth, you'll be fine.

-Elmo

[golfish]

Rocky, I'd be more concerned about pollutants...not to mention lugging all that water from the ocean to your home. I know you tho, if the water works out to be ok you'll have a 100 gal tank and 200 feet of hose in the back of your truck

[scubadude]

Originally posted by golfish
Rocky, I'd be more concerned about pollutants...not to mention lugging all that water from the ocean to your home. I know you tho, if the water works out to be ok you'll have a 100 gal tank and 200 feet of hose in the back of your truck

Who Me?
LOL Mark ....you are too funny! But you see that bulkhead....I can slam a AM3k on there in a heartbeat and I only need 20' of hose...Hardplumb most of it dry fit it so it can break down easily...put a submersible RIO2500 as a primer for the AM3k throw a generator in the back of the truck too and I bet I could fill that 200g tank up in about 5 min. I have to thank shrocat i think for this one....He gave me the idea...I believe it was him

Ok but back to the pollutant issue, wouldnt the pollutants more than likely show up as nitrates, phosphates, or something.....geez I know that there are many other chemicals that are pollutants that I didnt test for but it seems to me that I would show some traces of phos, or ammonia or something! These test where done right after a BIG rain too....so runoff levels should have been high....But I was about 30 yards into away from the beach area ....the jetties go out pretty far. Is there other test I can do for pollutants? I started a thread in Randy Farleys forum in RC maybe he can tell me

[stang69]

How much waterflow in in that area. If not alot I would try to see if there is a way to go out further from shore and get it from the deep if you could. As far as polutants I dont thin k they would show up as nitrates or any other. If there is a water plant close to you see if maybe they could run it throught the barrage of tests for you. My father used to run one such plant and could just about tell you what each and every particle was in the water.


HTH Jeff

[PerryinCA]

I would use it, but I would filter it through a sizeale carbon filter. I think its a good idea.

-Perry

[golfish]

Rocky, That's one clean setup, I'm guessing 225 gal, close?

I'm with Perry, at least run it through a carbon filter.

[scubadude]

Thanx guys! Every1....ordered the tank! Now we have an outbreak of red tide not too far from where I want to collect! grrrrr! Gotta wait till that crap goes away now b4 I do anything though, I Think I will do the carbon like suggested


Here is the quote from Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley when I asked the same question:

The two concerns with natural seawater are the die-off of suspended organisms (which may or may not be a problem), and the potential for pollution, much of which would not show up in your tests (like pesticides).

On balance, if salt mix cost is a concern to you, I'd say try using it. Do a search for others that use natural seawater. They have advice about what tides to collect on (rising, I believe), and storage conditions. Most people prefer collecting far offshore, if possible.

[Biomanjcs72]

THe carbon would get rid of pretty much whatever pollutant, organic or otherwise that is in the water, UV would kill BActeria, Proto's, etc. ANd the Ozone wouldn't hurt either. I think it's a workable solution.

FWIW: THere are plenty of industrial pollutants that wouldn't show up as Nitrates/phosphates: Benzene, TOluene, PCB's, etc. Most organic/petroleum based molecules wouldn't show that way, unless they are post combustion. Having said that, Carbon is excellent at removing these.

You'll just have to figure out a holding/filtration system for the water when it gets back to your house. (anaerobic decay of the planktonic life would not be a good thing, obviously)

[icemark]

yeah any pollutants would show up as Nitrates/Nitrites and phos, so your water looks pretty clean

You big concern should actually be with parasites, with a closed system such as our tanks even a minor increase in parasites can quickly overun a tank.

The most accepted method is to store the water for a couple of weeks in the dark, and everything will settle and die.

All that said, when I lived in San Diego I always my water from the ocean and dumped it right in with no problems.

[PerryinCA]

UV might not be a bad idea.....

-Perry

[reeferbill]

I used NSW last nite for my weekly water change and this morning everything was bigger and more colorful than when I used Reef Crystals. I say go for it as long as you collect it at peak high tide and use it immediatly or you have to store in the dark plus filtering before use.