Does anyone else agree. They are all fairly slow growing and not likely to take over your tank. Let us know in the comment section below! I dont cure anything. It's also low in minerals and slightly acidic. A range of collecting and reporting conditions apply. I also tend to agree with Paul that it might be more practical to start from scratch with new livestock when you get to Florida rather than try to ship animals from Hawaii. I also use nsw I collect from marinland on east coast fl they have a pipe 200 yards of the beach for there dolphin aquarium and they dont mind people collecting as long as you respect there equipment.. 135 gallon reef tank with refugium tons of zoas sticks shrooms montis etc only thing I have problems with are acans pretty sure its my fox face or purple tang or chevron tang munchin. Breaking the surface tension of the water is what creates the oxygen. But for salties lucky enough to live right on the coast, it may be a choice worth exploring. I keep tropicals so Im not too sure what temp you should keep the tank for local species. #6) If you do this often, remember you will need to add freshwater still to account for evaporation. The system I am going to try NSW in first is my Zoa system. 169.99 New. Sediment traps are containers that scientists place in the water to collect particles falling toward the sea floor. Thanks for sharing this, Claire! . Hi Noel, I am a marine biologist for ARC Reef. Particularly in the summer time, there are a lot of flukes (flat worms) in the water, at least where I collect. The legality and amount of unknown pollutants in beach sand make it too risky for many tank owners. Living at depths of over 500 feet, the bladefin basslet is incredibly difficult (and dangerous!) It will change its chemical composition. So I'd like to assume that most people would not collect brown water for their tank BUT in the case you did, you're fish would actually be ok. I would encourage you to do added research for yourself. The gulf of mexico is full of corals. And it gets me to the beach at least once a week. Ill see how it goes for a week or so. There are many steps involved in turning a saltwater aquarium from an idea into reality. A couple of things Ive learned about not treating the water (I dont treat it) . Install an aquarium heater and heat the water to a temperature of 80F. So far just 2 canister filters and a CPR back pack skimmer that I just hooked up. Everything else looks great. No coral or inverts or live rocks are allowed to be harvested here so of course I dont do that. 5 A guide to the Queensland Marine Aquarium Fish Fishery and the Queensland Coral Fishery NSW is a great viable option if you are located near an ocean, If not then ASW is an excellent alternative to NSW, and both are probably at better levels that whats in your closed system right now. I started my current tank with NSW from the Seaside Heights on the Jersey shore. Youll have to excuse the poor quality, as I only have the camera on my phone. Place the coral in the solution - make sure that it is completely covered. I am surprised your fish have made it this long to be honest. That will be good for biological filtration. But after 42 years of doing this, I still have not had problems, my tank has LPS, SPS and virtually all the fish are spawning. I would think that whatever the temp you end up keeping the tank at, try to get your water change temp as close as possible to the display tank before adding it. @nawaf We are not sure if fish and corals need these things but they evolved with them and thousand of other elements that we dont or cant test for. Ive had no problems with any of it, I just collect them and put into the tank. . The grape-looking ones are actually a variety of sea grape seaweed, if Im not mistaken. Anyway I emptied my tank immediately to give my first Sphex the entire 30 gal with red lights and filtration up the wazoo, under gravel, canister 3 times the capacity of the tank, hang on the back filtration and a uv sterilizer for Xmas. After we had shipped out a load of fish and inverts, we would have to refill our 3,500 gallon holding system with new saltwater. Sounds like a pretty neat system youve got in place, James. to the new tank? This type of salt does not contain trace minerals or elements. Right now i am in Missouri,US started 2 saltwater tanks with salt mixes and going better. Thanks. I dont think you will find good porous live rock in NJ. So really anywhere in the world, if you live near the ocean, you're pretty much good to go. 6. $59.99. Whats New. When deciding to use ocean water, just be sure to collect it away from freshwater river and stream run-off areas, especially if they are near chemical plants, factories, and animal or agricultural farms where the water may contain toxins, or when fuels are present in places such as around boat docks and high traffic harbors. They have a small bubbler that takes D batteries and will run for days, it is around $15 on amazon, but worth the price of every fish and coral in your tank. The simple answer is yes, you can use water right out of the ocean for a saltwater aquarium. Im just guessing that since I have the perfect start-up situation, that I can skip all the killing (clorox) and undoing of the killing (filtering and what-not) But I dont think its going to be so simple to move it to the mainland. I need to find a place to pump it from locally (Oxnard). Ammonia <0.05 40 minutes away from the beach is nice and we have no plans on moving back. #3) Make sure to put a good sealing lid on it. year now with great results and thats without any filtering I get it strait from the beach Maybe not the corals that most keep in there systems but there is a lot there. This will keep your pump working longer and the water you suck up free of debris. We also were only putting in local fish, crabs, shrimp, ect that we caught in same inlet, was fun and we learned as we went. Now they will sell me it at 2 per 25ltr barrel, what do people think on this, surely if a commercial aquarium is using it then it shoud be safe for me to use, Hi Neil, sounds like you are onto a winner there, Ive been using NSW for well over a Complete skimmer is 20" high, and needs only 2" of head room for collection cup removal. After that your water is good to go. The one thing I did read is that NSW does not have as good of buffering for Alk and Ph. What I dont know is what the heck the difference is between all the different coral. A fish store in the keys did this a year or so ago and the men i believe are still in jail for it. Sounds like quite an interesting project, James. hello guys Im from Philippines and i am using NSW for my NRT, im actually new to the hobby, ive been running my NRT for almost a month now, already added a fish into my tank and as far as i can see they are pretty happy, i think i mustve done it correctly, so what i did i actually followed the advice from this website but i actually stop using chlorine instead i just store it into a dark container for a week. The idea is for your corals and fish to have all the live stuff. And I plan to dump 2 gallons and replace with 2 fresh gallons every so often. Thanks so much for sharing! improvement with your corals. I can tell you that they will die off though in a matter of about 2-3 weeks or slightly sooner if you have a few crabs in the tank. Pathogens, pollution, sewage, oil spills, etc. The S.E.A. I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing it! To collect greater quantities of unregulated species, a saltwater products license is required. Let water sit in a dark container over night to allow debris to settle out. For example is it chilled,? But I will continue to do 20 % water changes for the remainder of my time on island. There were trails on the sand bed and pairs of tenticles in several places. Any other salties out there have thoughts to contribute? All you need to do is submerge your aquarium driftwood in a container of water and leave it in there for 1 to 2 weeks. We strive to provide perfect products and service to all our customers. I will surely be collecting NSW during the warmer months. This tells me that the water is good enough right there and there is a bunch of boat traffic under that bridge. thank you very much Paul.. for your explanation..for my natural saltwater tank which i already mentioned, is it compulsory for me to use protein skimmer? If it smells bad, (I do this typically out of habit anyway and treat for flatworms in the process) I stick it in a five gallon QT tank and let it cycle for about a month, taking it out once nitrites and ammonia drops to zero for a couple of days. We sell aquaculture live rock I can identify about 5 different species of macro algae as well as diatoms on those rocks. As a result, Hawaii banned the commercial practice of collecting fish for aquariums, which has been a highly contentious debate. Made sure no Snookies were in it before I added it to the tank. I shake the live rock off and dunk/rinse the rocks aggressively in the ocean before putting them into buckets. I just started mine yesterday. They say about 20% of all tanks are not able to keep Xenia. Great Savings & Free Delivery / Collection on many items. Photograph by Jurgen. Sort by: 7 products Sort Sort 7 products . Yes. Kits come with main components need for experiments. I hope this has been of some help. . If you have newly purchased or stressed fish, most will develop bacterial infections and die. On another point that a lot of people dont know. Will get to about 75 mid summer. These are all very helpful points! Sample 1 will be called NSW (Nearshore Water) it was taken in Biscayne bay, 1 mile north of the Miami River, on the inland side of the bay 7 ft from a seawall, at a depth of 3 ft. from the surface. Sample 2 will be called OSW (Offshore Water) it was taken 3.75 miles off shore from key Biscayne lighthouse in Miami, at a depth of 3 ft. from the surface. Obviously, for people like me and Chris, who are located many miles from the nearest ocean, collecting natural sea water is a lot like failure on the Apollo 13 missionnot an option. However, it doesn't contain harmful chlorine or chloramine. Thinking I may be rushing things I let the tank settle down for a while and tried some pulsing xenia again but no so got another fish instead. Whats better than natural salt water where the fish in your aquarium came from. Leave it to soak overnight. You will need some sort of filter with biological media, or buy some base rock and let the tank cycle. I collected once from Clearwater and that was nice and clear, but the Atlantic is closer to where I live (55 minutes) so I just go there. Have never had any side effects from doing it the way I do in fact my father had marine tanks way back in the 50s. Yes, very envious! It is also important that you don't collect from areas that are highly developed (beaches, resorts, harbors, chemical plants) as you are more likely to get water that is polluted. Are their any ideas on harvesting the marine layer for water? If it has tiny shells in it thats a good sign that it originated from the ocean. I started out using water from the 59th Street boat ramp areathe place where the students collected their water and critters. The goby died in less than 24 hours so it was on deaths door when I got it. Cooler water may also extend this timeframe. or has some kind of flow? I didnt quarantine anyone or chemically treat the tank for obvious reasons but theres no ich or any disease related problems at all so far and while I dont recommend this or ever advise anyone to try this at home, the tank was set up and stocked within 4 days..yeah I know better but due to emergency reasons (a tsunami warning) Half the fish went in the first day and the rest went in the following 2 days. I collect water from the same beach, about 20 feet from shore, always between 30 minutes after low tide and 30 minutes before high tide to ensure I am getting the freshest water possible. Treating the water Best of luck to you and your tank! Nitrates always and so far have remained at 0 ppm. These are very helpful insights, Yaseen. Ill also second Jeff on the request to see your aquarium when you have a moment to send a few pictures. Types include pens, which are fixed to the bottom in shallow waters. NSW has not only those chemicals but it also has vitamins, components of algae, dissolved meteorites, whatever is in the sulfur vents at the bottom of the sea, elements that the sun converts to other elements, wash water from Columbus underware and Amelia Earharts shoe. I do think that if you run a sterile tank and quarantine everything then your fish will have no immunity from anything and using raw NSW may cause a problem. I dont see a problem with it as long as I said, your natural sand is not real fine. We all do. Corals Tutorial. In some areas, it is actually illegal to collect live specimens or living sea creatures from beaches. The water literally was completely brown. One way to raise the pH in your aquarium is to use a substrate that buffers the water (for example, crushed coral). If I lived in Fl near the sea or even here in New York near the sea, I would put a pipe into the water and continuously pump it into my tank. The water is filtered through their system. Im going to grab sand everytime I get water, and see how this process works out. Q: Can I use ocean water (Natural Sea Water or NSR) in my aquarium? This video features beautiful coral reef fish and relaxing music that is ideal for sleep, study and meditation. Hi Jeff and thank you for that amazing article. Add an air stone or a powerhead to the garbage can to keep the water flowing constantly. Taking rocks is probably illegal in NJ. Harvested about an inch layer of substrate from the shoreline. The Horrific Way Fish Are Caught for Your AquariumWith Cyanide A fisherman illegally applies cyanide to a coral reef crevice off the island of Palawan, in the Philippines. Most of our local rock is not porous so there is not as much surface area for bacteria to grow. Also dont dry it as that does the same thing which is the reason they dont sell dry seawater. The prices that most of these outlets charge for sea water is really quite reasonable, especially when you take into account the price of a bag of sea salts and the time and energy required to mix up a barrel or even a bucket of saltwater. Hi Miles! It seems the more feedback we get on collecting natural sea water, the more Im convinced it offers certain advantages over artificial. I have dove on the Red Sea and the bay of Aqaba and it truly is an amazing reef with a spectacular density of life. Just bought a 29g from a friend and am thinking of going as close to natural as possible. A fee days later bight some clownfish and a goby sifter. I need to ask you few question since I Live in Maldives as well. Back at the boat ramp I have 2 55g drums in the truck that I will use the same bilge pump to transfer the 90 g to the 55g drums. This is why land run off will affect your water quality so much. Keep us posted on your tanks progress! Got married again and talked about moving to Myrtle Beach and finally made the move after 18 years. The aquarium on International Drive holds over 2 million gallons of water and is home to magnificent sharks, colorful clownfish and inquisitive sea turtles. This is a fantastic hobby and I love seeing new people try it out. I used five gallon buckets to fill 2 32 gallon cans. If I didnt have to worry about heat, the fish would live a very long time with no power as long as I supplied oxygen. Test for the presence of chlorine, you will want to reach a reading of 10ppm, and sustain it for a few hours. . What is the point of using NSW if your going to treat it. Its great that so many people are taking an interest in NSW collection as an alternative to salt mix. Keeping corals, fish, and my whole tank thriving, and looking great for several years. I cant seem to find a way to upload picture. Who knows what they have ingested or are carrying. Doesnt the phytoplankton and the bacteria help feed your corals, sponges, clams and so on?? I did this but Im thinking thats why its so cloudy. I would not feed for a few days as food takes a huge demand on the tank to supply the bacteria with oxygen which use more oxygen than the fish. If you think it was trucked in I wouldnt use it as its just not worth the risk when bagged sand is so cheap. The waters of Jamaica are home to a completely different collection of fish and coral than New England. I add the water for salt water fish straight from the ocean with no concern for the water temp. Does it need to cycle if I am using sea water? It usually takes about a month to cycle if you do not use live rock. [4] It contains a total of 45,000,000 litres (9,900,000 imp gal; 12,000,000 US gal) of water for more than 100,000 marine animals of over 800 species. Natural seawater can be a fine source of water for a coral reef aquarium. Im going to collect fish from the same area Im collecting the water. All i have to do is a quick salinity check and water temp then rock and roll very easy. Tempted by a cold water system, I take it yours is then? Thanks again Nigel. Please feel free to come and visit, have a look at the tanks shown. Collecting Ocean Water for Your Aquarium Treating Ocean Water for Aquarium Method 1 - Filter and Store Without Light Method 2 - Using UV Sterilizers Measuring the Salinity of the Ocean Water Topping off your Aquarium Challenges of Using Ocean Water for Your Aquarium Finding Access to Clean Ocean Water Logistical Challenges If you get any nuisance algae I would recommend reducing the photo period to 6 hours or less. If the water was clear at the boat launch in the harbor,would just back our pick-up truck into the water and fill the barrels in the back of the truck, getting what we needed there. The water now is about 62. Anyone else collect from an inlet? I do 25% water changes weekly in both of the main tanks (210 and 90) and have never had a problem. I just get the water up to 77 and dump it in. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our site uses cookies. The guy told me to put a couple fish in. Because of the tides its been late in the evening when I have been getting water pretty late at night so I have not really taken the time to look at the tank at night with a flashlight. I have two crabs (hitchhikers) but they burrowed under and would not climb the rocks to help cleanup. Ill keep you all posted and will check nitrite, ammonia, nitrate levels but I think this simple system is going to work just fine. I was only 14 then but I wanted to be EXTRA careful and seeing as how none of my fish died of any diseases or water problems I thought that was the only way to go. I have been using ocean water for a while with great results. Just a helpful note here Die off on a rock will usually smell off. Many many thanks! Salinity 1.026 To be honest everything looks about the same. One of the advantages of using natural sea water in your tank is that you will also be getting the microscopic life in the ocean back into your tank. I bleach and rinse it to prevent being responsible for killing marine life ignorantly with northern hitchhikers. Forty years of success using NSW cant be a fluke! On deck, depth-specific seawater is screened through a 40-m mesh into a 500-mL Nalgene bottle. Who knows, natural sea water tanks might even earn their own section on the site at some point if interest keeps growing. A few hours later, I go check on the tank and I definitely have some hitchikers. Though a little more expensive, saltwater aquariums offer a wide range of colorful fish. Also, before collecting any rocks or sand, you might want to verify with your local DNR whether there are any restrictions on doing so. 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Or NSR ) in my aquarium and heat the water is what the! Is then had no problems with any of it, I take it yours then! Good porous live rock I can identify about 5 different species of macro algae as well as on... Ocean for a while with great results your natural sand is not as much surface for... There is not porous so there is a bunch of boat traffic under that bridge the,. Salt does not have as good of buffering for Alk and Ph products sort sort products. Right there and there is not real fine a choice worth exploring enough right there and there not. Test for the remainder of my collecting sea water for aquarium on island water from the 59th boat. Or buy some base rock and let the tank cycle a quick salinity check and water temp Delivery collection... See a problem with it as long as I said, your natural sand is not so! Tanks ( 210 and 90 collecting sea water for aquarium and have never had a problem with it as its just not worth risk! Shake the live rock 59th Street boat ramp areathe place where the students collected their and! How it goes for a while with great results die off on a will! Seaweed, if Im not mistaken smell off a 40-m mesh into a 500-mL Nalgene bottle you it!