Anyone ever thought of collecting sea water and filling a tank with it?

[Jhbard]

I would think there is probably a high risk of things like
disease, pollutants, parasites and more
Still I think it is a interesting idea.

 

[Sirlagzalott]

Waaay back in the day, that's how it was done. The problem with doing so is the shoreline is typically the dirtiest part of the ocean. Think of the way action as nature's protein skimmer. So ideally, you could do it but you probably want to get your water from away from the beach. Also, you'll be bringing in all of the planktonic good and bad that float around. A lot of beneficial and harmful hitchhikers have a planktonic phase of their development. And finally, the ocean harbors more viruses than stars in the galaxy. So long story short, may not be worth the risk.

A huge neglected frontier in reefkeeping

True

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reeferbadness]

I added seawater to my first 180g tank - it is collected far offshore here in San Diego county - and it was a good way to jumpstart the tank and helps avoid some cycling (along with lots of live rock). They have a service here that does this (i did it through my LFS)

 

[Evil1]

Reach out to @Paul B. I believe he has been doing it for years and still does

 

[MrStoffel]

This is in fact something fairly common in the hobby in belgium & the netherlands.
We have a well known spot with great water quality, because it has oyster and lobster farms nearby.
People go there and pump up water, ranging from a few liters, to full truck loads being sold by local fish stores.
We do need to add some extra salt, since the salinity is slightly lower than preferred for a reef tank.
And it is also recommended to gather water right before high tide. Also during summer we try to avoid it, as it is said that there would be more pollutants in the water at that time.

 

[Jasonak]

Theres a few discussions about this, if theres a sea life center near you maybe talk to them and see if they will hook you up with there water. My friend used to get his from the sealife center and his tank was very healthy. The center is 180 miles from me but he had job that would take him there weekly to that town. He got to be friends with the operators and they would hook him up water.

 

[Dom]

I would think there is probably a high risk of things like
disease, pollutants, parasites and more
Still I think it is a interesting idea.

Yes, they are called NSW tanks (natural sea water) tanks.

Many people here on R2R use NSW. I would, except, the area I live in has a harbor with big commercial ships. I would't chance the water around here.

 

[Jhbard]

I plan on doing something like this with a 40 gal and adding some small fish and invertebrates. From a bay or tidepool of course not taking anything I shouldn't.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Interestingly, the Shedd Aquarium in 1930 shipped 1M US gallons of seawater from oceans via railroad for their saltwater exhibits! A lot of coastal farms/aquaculture facilities have their systems directly plumbed to the ocean, but yes it comes with a new set of engineering considerations.