Real Ocean Water vs Synthetic water??

Discussion in 'Salt' started by TheSurgeonSween, Feb 15, 2011.

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  1. gcarroll

    gcarroll Zoanthid

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    There are issues with NSW from CA. None of the concers that others have stated are realy an issue. I can't speak for the company Catalina salt water but I can say that their biggest client is Aquarium of the Pacific. Ocean in Motion is the NSW supplier that I prefer. Some of the best wholsalers in LA are using his water. Also 2 of the largest reefing events in the country trust in his water. There has never been an issue with any of the tanks. I ran his water for a long time until my source closed up shop. The water is very good but a few things you need to keep in mind. Water off the CA coast is slightly higher in silicates also it is also slightly lower in alk, cal and mag than oceans that surround tropical reefs. I run an sps reef so I am overly concerned with water quality. Softie, LPS and mixed reefs can have great success with this water without concern.

    Running GFO or other phosphate media is sufficient to handle the silicates.

    You can dose with a calcium reactor or two-part to take care of the alk, cal and mag. However, if you are not keeping a sps dominated tank, then those supplements shouldn't be needed
     
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  3. rocketmandb

    rocketmandb Ocellaris Clown

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    The issues with real sea water:

    - Potential to introduce parasites and disease.

    - Potential to introduce pollutants. It tends to be collected close to shore where there is a relatively high number of pollutants in the water.

    - Chemistry of the water. See pollutants. What's the phosphate reading?
     
  4. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Most "sea water" is so filtered, this probably isn't an issue. This is discuses a lot. IIRC The issue is that because it is so filtered, it probably is no better than synthetic and synthetic is cheaper. Also, when water is sitting in storage, with temperature and humidity changes, and also due to the filtering process, some trace elements can precipitate out or be inadvertently removed. This doesn't happen with unmixed salt powder. So, again, probably no better than synthetic, maybe worse even, but still more expensive.
     
  5. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    heavily filtered ocean water isn't exactly 'natural' is it...

    NSW is misnomer IMO.

    NSFW is awesome IMO :p
     
  6. gcarroll

    gcarroll Zoanthid

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    That is assuming these pathogens can withstand the reef temps that we keep in our tanks. Here in CA the ocean temp is approx 65 degrees. the 15 degree increase in temps can be very detrimental to any marine organism. In the 13 years of my hobby experience, I have never seen this be an issue. How many times have we heard about a bad batch of synthetic salt.
    Once again far more likely to experience a quality control problem with synthetic.
    .05 - .03 her in CA
    Here in CA, the water sources go through a sand filter to filter out plankton and particulates. No other mechanical or chemical filtration. Remember, in SoCal, NSW is cheaper than mix at most stores becasue it is readily available. Also, I have never seen any evidence of precipitated elements on any of the storage containers. remember the cal, alk, and mag levels are lower than synthetic so it is less likely to precipitate. Also few stores in SoCal do not circulate their NSW so many don't have organics settling on the botom of their storage containers.

    Matt Rogers has been to SoCal shows and can verify that all the tanks always have crystal clear water. I can't say the same for other shows across the country using synthetic. Every year at MACNA, it smells like coral death on friday morning when the building opens to the exhibitors.
     
  7. tank1970

    tank1970 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    I recently changed to royal nature salt - this salt is evaporated from the ocean. I have been completely happy with it so far. mixes great and cal/mag have been right on :)
     
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  9. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    gcarroll

    re:socal

    What company is that? I know the ones we get out here are filtered though UV and micron filters.

    As to temp swings I defiantly don't agree that pathogens and algae would be directly effected by those temp swings. Most can adapt to wide ranges. Even if they died, spores and such would survive. I don't believe this is an issue though, because spores and such are all over our tanks anyways. Whether the take hold depends more on tank husbandry and water conditions than anything IMO. Same reason I think qting corals and inverts isn't particularly effective.

    The uv and micron filtration is more useful to prevent nutrient accumulation from organic breakdown in shipping. If it is collected and then used right away, I think there is more of a benefit. In the last 9.5 years, I haven't had issues with synthetic though. At least for a big tank, I think I'd be inclined to still stick with is as opposed to lugging around lots of heavy water, but for smaller tanks it may make sense. Especially if it is cheaper.
     
  10. Tropical Addict

    Tropical Addict Bubble Tip Anemone

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    I got a bad batch of salt mix. Not only did my tank crash but so did my husbands. Killed some of our favorite fish and coral. We started getting our water from Scripps in San Diego. Which is free btw and what they use in all if their tanks. Our tanks are doing great and I have never had an issue with the water. I plan on using their water always.
     
  11. WhiskyTango

    WhiskyTango Eyelash Blennie

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    I've done it here in the Key West, but normally from blue water off the reef and not the nasty inshore green stuff.

    Even blue water has microscopic parasites and disease you really won't want in a reef tank.

    Having said that, I've thought of rigging up a multi-staged stepped down filtration system like so: raw seawater through 200 micron sock, to 100 micron sock, 50 micron cartridge, 20 micron cartridge, 5 micron cartridge, phosban reactor, carbon reactor, inline UV sterilizer to DT.

    That should remove eggs, cysts, phosphates, detergents, hydrocarbons and kill diseases.
     
  12. gcarroll

    gcarroll Zoanthid

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    I am referring to Ocean in Motion. The water used to comes from Scripps but now comes from multiple sources as the business has grown. These water sources are the same water sources that provide water for public aquariums and research facilities in So Cal. I forgot to add that the water is put through a filter sock during delivery.