Ocean Water for Aquarium?

[lilim10]

Just a question since I live close to the ocean, can I use ocean water for a sw aquarium? Shouldn't water from the ocean be perfect, since that's what a sw aquarium is supposed to imitate? Also, wouldn't ocean water have plenty of plankton and pods for the fish?

[marinemad]

i use sea water, my lfs uses sea water , and my local club uses sea water in fact everyone in my area uses it.
some say risky cause you could get contminated water but my tank thriving from it!!
i collect mine from beside our local aquaruim. they use it ! i take it from beside thier inlet.

[Ace25]

The local university (UCSB) (http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/facilities/marine/seawater/seawater.php) around me gives out free filtered sea water to the public. Every one of the members in the local reef club have tried the water, and every single one had problems with it and went back to mixing their own, myself included. Even with testing all the paramenters, and making sure things fall within specs, it always led to major algae blooms in every tank it was put into. After that experience I would never ever put sea water in my tank again that is local.

[Reefscape]

Would never use sea water for a tank...You have zero idea what your putting in the aquarium. you can only test for certain things, and you have to concider all the things you CANT test for which cant be seen....a big no no for me.

[JesterAAK]

We use ocean water we pump in daily at the public aquarium I work at. We pump into a 17k gal resevoir where it gets sand filtered, UV sterilized, and heated. We've never had a problem, however salinity swings can be anywhere from 17ppt to 30 ppt. Be careful though, the water we draw is from approx 15 ft beneath the surface.

[kcress]

I use it and never have a problem.

[1oooop]

check if others have used it, and how it turns out... thats how you'd know good water from bad... same with FW lakes and rivers(BTW, I'm not a salty... but I have tried doing this with my local lake... same concept)

[Virtuoso2K12]

why risk your fish?but that's up to you to take the risk for your fish. I wouldn't get water from a lake to my tank.

[BToast]

Considering how often the beaches off our coast get shut down due to pollution, I think it would be risky at best.

[buttered loins]

Its not risky at all. i have used ocean water for 3 years with no uv sterlillzers and my tank looks fananstic when i change the water. unless you live in a place where pollution is pumped out to sea right by you i would use water from the ocean. it is what the fish live in not in fake sea salt mixture which costs a fortune. IWR to use the oceans cystal clear water.

[BToast]

I doubt if ours is as clean as yours bl, I spend alot of time in ours and it's not pristine in the least. We have alot of drainage from the city, and after a rain it's especially bad.

[cam191919]

i use ocean water, but i get it off shore from the cleanest places i know of. in your case, im with btoast

[BadRoma1]

it's about location, location, location. i've tried sea water by the Re Sea and my tank crashed and some of my corals died.

[corinna]

Im by the mediterranean and only use sea water, with RODI topoffs. No problems so far, but I do go offshore(3 or 4 miles), to collect it.