TRANSFERRING STRAIGHT FROM THE OCEAN PRECAUTIONS OR EXPERIENCES...?

[BRB]

HAPPY THURSDAY
Soo I was curious to input on adding snails or crabs or getting buckets of local ocean water and adding directly to reef tank. Anything to be aware of?

I'd be using pacific ocean water and inverts from southern California...

 

[Maddlesrain]

California waters are significantly cooler than most reef tanks, so the critters may not fair too well unless you're running a cold system. I'd also worry about transferring any bacteria or parasites using ocean water, however, I know people do have systems where they use ocean water exclusively, but I think this typically is done when collecting and keeping only animals collected from that specific area in a tank.

 

[ludnix]

California waters are significantly cooler than most reef tanks, so the critters may not fair too well unless you're running a cold system. I'd also worry about transferring any bacteria or parasites using ocean water, however, I know people do have systems where they use ocean water exclusively, but I think this typically is done when collecting and keeping only animals collected from that specific area in a tank.

To add to this, usually ocean collected water is filtered before use, though not always. I would agree that our coast is too cold due to the southern currents coming down from Alaska. The East coast gets the warm currents and has considerably warmer water, resulting in tropical fish being transported up the east coast. There are clownfish and anemones all the way up in Ireland due their currents. Even the catalina gobies are not well suited for our tanks due the temperature difference.

Here's the North Pacific Gyre. On the Northern Hemisphere the gyres all go clockwise, so the east coast gets the warm equatorial waters moved up it's coast. You may have read about the lionfish invasion all the way up in new york. Our water is cold and nutrient laden, not a good environment for the hobby's usual inverts.

 

[BRB]

To add to this, usually ocean collected water is filtered before use, though not always. I would agree that our coast is too cold due to the southern currents coming down from Alaska. The East coast gets the warm currents and has considerably warmer water, resulting in tropical fish being transported up the east coast. There are clownfish and anemones all the way up in Ireland due their currents. Even the catalina gobies are not well suited for our tanks due the temperature difference.

Here's the North Pacific Gyre. On the Northern Hemisphere the gyres all go clockwise, so the east coast gets the warm equatorial waters moved up it's coast. You may have read about the lionfish invasion all the way up in new york. Our water is cold and nutrient laden, not a good environment for the hobby's usual inverts.

Awesome thank you for the detailed info... I'll stick to making water or buying it... you think even the snails wouldn't be a great idea either?

 

[ludnix]

Awesome thank you for the detailed info... I'll stick to making water or buying it... you think even the snails wouldn't be a great idea either?

I think the water would be better to use than the snails, I wish we could collect locally, but I don't think any of the inverts will survive more than few months as best. You can collect local water, running it through some sort of filtration and heating it up and it should be good to use. All the calcium, and other elements should be present in the same proportion needed for a reef tank. You need to be concerned about where you collect it though, you would want to avoid marinas or other areas with heavy boat traffic to avoid pollutants, you also will see more organic waste on the shore than further out, but it's obviously more convenient to get it from the shore unless you're on a boat frequently. The large aquariums that pump it in for their tanks usually run it through a fluidized sand bed filter and other means to get the waste out. I think unless you're doing it on a large scale like a research facility or public aquarium it might not be worth the risk though. Using RO/DI and salt mixes lets us guarantee the purity of our saltwater and we never have to wonder if maybe we incidentally did a water change with water that had a little diesel from a near by boat in it or some other contaminate.

 

[BRB]

I think the water would be better to use than the snails, I wish we could collect locally, but I don't think any of the inverts will survive more than few months as best. You can collect local water, running it through some sort of filtration and heating it up and it should be good to use. All the calcium, and other elements should be present in the same proportion needed for a reef tank. You need to be concerned about where you collect it though, you would want to avoid marinas or other areas with heavy boat traffic to avoid pollutants, you also will see more organic waste on the shore than further out, but it's obviously more convenient to get it from the shore unless you're on a boat frequently. The large aquariums that pump it in for their tanks usually run it through a fluidized sand bed filter and other means to get the waste out. I think unless you're doing it on a large scale like a research facility or public aquarium it might not be worth the risk though. Using RO/DI and salt mixes lets us guarantee the purity of our saltwater and we never have to wonder if maybe we incidentally did a water change with water that had a little diesel from a near by boat in it or some other contaminate.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL THE KNOWLEDGE... ILL STICK WITH JUST GETTING THEM FROM LFS AND ONLINE...