Should You Use Natural Seawater In Your Aquarium
November 11, 2007 · Print This Article
It seems very reasonable doesn’t it. We keep seawater aquariums and so why not put [tag-tec]natural seawater[/tag-tec] in them. It saves money too, no more buying those expensive buckets of dry salt mix.
The first consideration is availability. Seawater is heavy, around 10lbs per gallon. If the aquarium is fairly large the amount required will be many gallons, much more if it is an initial fill. Lots of large containers, all suitably safe for seawater, plus a vehicle that can safely transport the bulk and weight. Most aquarists live away from the sea, and the dry salt mix is the obvious way to go.
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Tags: Aquarium Water, home-aquarium, natural-saltwater-fish-tank, saltwater-aquarium, Water Quality
What a joke. You were completely biased from the start. Clearly you are against NSW so why write the article? 1,000 litre container, a generator and a bilge pump and I can collect a tonne of seawater at a time without any issues. That will last me several months. The initial cost to buy the above is negligible compared to artificial salt + RODI fresh.
No, Jim! I’m not against NSW. After all, this is what Mother Nature provides. It follows, therefore, that it should be ok for captive reefs.
I wrote the text from the perspective of the majority of aquarists. They have to get to the sea, collect, and transport. Unfortunately, there is the real question of pollution for many.
Clearly you have the access, the seawater quality, the equipment and transportation availability for collection. 1000 litres is a lot of seawater, and a lot of weight. How many can collect/transport that?
I tried to look at the potential practical problems that would be faced. Seawater that is clean, can be collected and stored safely is an option to a few - and in the past some public aquariums did this, but some now use salt (no doubt at a considerable discount).
Well, I am not very near to the sea, but I took the efforts to try natural sea water!
I have my main tank with synthetic salt water which is doing great, but some thing was lacking out there.
To experiment I set up a small tank and used natural sea water, it was just filtered for large particles and then dumped it the new clean tank, with no sand, no skimmer, etc.
It had only a basic power head for circulation.
It was a total success. I put some of my existing corals in it, and they were never as the were in my main tank, they sensitive types appeared to be hardy……………
The results were great color, more than full polyp extension, fast growth, etc.
This was observed for a year, and the temp tank has out grown its capacity of coral housing without any new addition!
The natural sea water was replaced every three weeks.
I think, synthetic salts formulas lack something untraceable, which makes the difference………….
The natural seawater is as wonder, wish it could flow in my taps!
Hi Sam.
Now that’s very interesting! I wonder how many have done what you did, and run NSW against synthetic. Often that’s how we advance, with trial and error on this and that.
There is no doubt that Mother Nature’s product is best, provided it hasn’t been tainted by humankind. One ’synthetic’ salt manufacturer obtains salt from the Red Sea, by evaporating the liquid. Probably not quite as straightforward as that!
However, the fact remains that most aquarists don’t have the storage and transportation (and/or the will?) to go to the sea or ocean.
I wonder what made your corals happier? Perhaps the synthetic mixes are too chemically ‘harsh’? Must say though that in my soft coral tank my main problem is overgrowth.
Great to read of experiments such as this. Though anecdotal, they cause questions, which can only be good.