Adding a few gallons of ocean water to my tank?

[Lylelovett]

Hi all,

So I'm thought I might grab a few gallons of Pacific Ocean water to add to my tank over time. I have a 150g tank using Instant Ocean reef crystals.

The water won't be taken near a marina or any known pollutant type areas.

Has anyone had experience supplementing their tank in this way?
Will it throw chemistry all out of whack?
Will it do anything beneficial nutrient-wise?
Pros/cons/etc?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Lylelovett]

I've change my mind. This won't be happening. Can ignore/delete this post.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, I've swapped in some ocean water to my tank in the hope of potentially bringing in a new set of microorganisms.

Did it do anything? Maybe, but I never noticed anything different.

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Ask PaulB

 

[MnFish1]

I think you made a good decision to abandon the idea

 

[Lylelovett]

I think you made a good decision to abandon the idea

Hahahh yeah me too. I was all excited about it and it sounded cool. Then as I was reading and thinking about it, it started to seem more troublesome and needlessly risky.

 

[brandon429]

It's too bad a reputable company isn't selling Fijian water reef shots, I'd buy some. Bottle it and ship it in such a way as my reef shot was circulating among corals in Fiji reef waters maximum 10 days ago, that shot water is preferable imo to any bottled additive in reefing for the micro diversity Id want.

Do the samples need to be chilled while packaged and sent to me? Heated like reef water? Aerated in some creative way? Somebody figure it out for profit.


As a person who tries to avoid snake oil additives, I'd buy reef shots if they were legit and bar coded or some proof of freshness let's do it. Someone sell me a shot of cayman east end water or Fijian atoll water, reef shots. I'll do twenty bucks a shot but show me good transfer science proof and viability assessments on endpoint.

 

[Paul B]

Did it do anything? Maybe, but I never noticed anything different.

Been doing it for 50 years. Did I notice anything different? Not really except I get to swim a lot more.

 

[brandon429]

Mb7 is better than pristine reef water? Nope

Reef water will beat it for bacterial diversity, time it takes to up cycle a dry start tank, micronutrients and trace feed inclusions, it’ll win in every way.

somebody is selling / buying ten thousand bottles of mb7 a month. Folks who think reef water doesn’t carry transmissible bacteria / millions of cells are sales targets to be sold bacteria they thought had to come from a company. Buying mb7 in droves is a sign

 

[afrokobe]

It's too bad a reputable company isn't selling Fijian water reef shots, I'd buy some. Bottle it and ship it in such a way as my reef shot was circulating among corals in Fiji reef waters maximum 10 days ago, that shot water is preferable imo to any bottled additive in reefing for the micro diversity Id want.

Do the samples need to be chilled while packaged and sent to me? Heated like reef water? Aerated in some creative way? Somebody figure it out for profit.


As a person who tries to avoid snake oil additives, I'd buy reef shots if they were legit and bar coded or some proof of freshness let's do it. Someone sell me a shot of cayman east end water or Fijian atoll water, reef shots. I'll do twenty bucks a shot but show me good transfer science proof and viability assessments on endpoint.

While not Fiji water, I did dump most of the bags I got from IPSF straight into my tank. So now my tank is seeded with some water from Hawaii

 

[brandon429]

I concur and maybe I’d want that type even more, true arthropods and micro worms plus the ocean water. After seventeen years of rip cleans, my reef is missing exactly those components.

 

[MnFish1]

Been doing it for 50 years. Did I notice anything different? Not really except I get to swim a lot more.

You swim in your clothes?

 

[MnFish1]

Can anyone show any science (even theory) - as to how/why adding any bacteria to a tank after several months is beneficial? The buzzword is always 'diversity', yet - I've never added any ocean water to my tank and I have quite a diverse population according to Aquabiomics DNA analysis. How did it get there? On the other hand - as @Paul B says - it probably won't hurt.

Not a fan of MB7 for the same reason. Research shows that bacteria in an ESTABLISHED tank is probably not significantly changed by adding 'new bacteria', unless their is a Niche for the new bacteria, or the new bacteria outcompete the 'old bacteria'. So - now you have more 'new bacteria' and less 'old bacteria'. From my studying, most of the time adding any bacteria to a tank (again except a new one) - is of little or no benefit. PS - I don't care if people do it, I don't care if people use MB7, etc. I was just curious if anyone had any rationale that shows bacteria addition increases 'diversity' - AND whether thats helpful. PPS - The time value of collecting water, driving it, making sure it has few pollutants, is likely more costly than MB7.?

 

[afrokobe]

Can anyone show any science (even theory) - as to how/why adding any bacteria to a tank after several months is beneficial? The buzzword is always 'diversity', yet - I've never added any ocean water to my tank and I have quite a diverse population according to Aquabiomics DNA analysis. How did it get there? On the other hand - as @Paul B says - it probably won't hurt.

Not a fan of MB7 for the same reason. Research shows that bacteria in an ESTABLISHED tank is probably not significantly changed by adding 'new bacteria', unless their is a Niche for the new bacteria, or the new bacteria outcompete the 'old bacteria'. So - now you have more 'new bacteria' and less 'old bacteria'. From my studying, most of the time adding any bacteria to a tank (again except a new one) - is of little or no benefit. PS - I don't care if people do it, I don't care if people use MB7, etc. I was just curious if anyone had any rationale that shows bacteria addition increases 'diversity' - AND whether thats helpful. PPS - The time value of collecting water, driving it, making sure it has few pollutants, is likely more costly than MB7.?

while I dont have science behind it, you could test it theoretically through this https://aquabiomics.com/

I've seen it pop up a lot lately, but I haven't seen any results yet

 

[MnFish1]

while I dont have science behind it, you could test it theoretically through this https://aquabiomics.com/

I've seen it pop up a lot lately, but I haven't seen any results yet

I think I mentioned in the post - I had the aquabiomics test done on my tank - and it was highly diverse. Every time you add a coral you're adding tons of new bacteria. Same with a fish or CUC, etc.

 

[afrokobe]

I think I mentioned in the post - I had the aquabiomics test done on my tank - and it was highly diverse. Every time you add a coral you're adding tons of new bacteria. Same with a fish or CUC, etc.

oh sorry, I totally missed that part

 

[Cory]

"In a drop (one millilitre) of seawater, one can find 10 million viruses, one million bacteria and about 1,000 small protozoans and algae (called “protists”)."

Microbial research - Coastal Wiki

www.coastalwiki.org

"Aquaria subjected to active filtration via skimming present water column bacteria populations that are approximately 1/10 of those observed on natural reefs. The consequences of this disparity on the long-term health of the tank’s livestock are not known."

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

What are the bacteria populations in the water column of reef tanks, and how does that value compare with bacterial counts in authentic reef water? Does carbon dosing indeed increase water column bacteria populations (i.e., is growth carbon limited)? Does mechanical filtration (protein skimming...

reefs.com

 

[brandon429]

I really needed that for another thread thank you much. hadn't seen that before

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can anyone show any science (even theory) - as to how/why adding any bacteria to a tank after several months is beneficial? The buzzword is always 'diversity', yet - I've never added any ocean water to my tank and I have quite a diverse population according to Aquabiomics DNA analysis. How did it get there? On the other hand - as @Paul B says - it probably won't hurt.

Not a fan of MB7 for the same reason. Research shows that bacteria in an ESTABLISHED tank is probably not significantly changed by adding 'new bacteria', unless their is a Niche for the new bacteria, or the new bacteria outcompete the 'old bacteria'. So - now you have more 'new bacteria' and less 'old bacteria'. From my studying, most of the time adding any bacteria to a tank (again except a new one) - is of little or no benefit. PS - I don't care if people do it, I don't care if people use MB7, etc. I was just curious if anyone had any rationale that shows bacteria addition increases 'diversity' - AND whether thats helpful. PPS - The time value of collecting water, driving it, making sure it has few pollutants, is likely more costly than MB7.?

There's no demonstrated benefit to microorganism diversity in a reef tank.

But there is also little data, and the potential exists for benefit to add more microorganisms that may actually better fit the niches available, hence the reason to try and see.

FWIW, it was not just bacteria that were of interest to me.

 

[Cory]

I really needed that for another thread thank you much. hadn't seen that before

Whats the conversation about?