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sea water vs stuff n a box?


DG

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hey, new to marine setup (had africans for a few years) , have two tanks one 45litre and one 125litre both newly cycled.

problem is the that i have brought a new tank which holds 240litre and have moved everything from the 125l into it, now i dont know what water to make the difference up with? some say go to the beach and some are saying no dont it has yucky things in it! :-? any help would be great :hail:

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I use Natural Sea water, have not had any problems at all, infact i find it easier to get the sg right, rather than mixing my own.

Just make sure it is a nice clear day, not like the past week, where it has all been stirred up.

Makes it alot easier. If you have a refracto metre, this will help, adding RO water as needed.

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Go NSW all the way, When I used the Instant Ocean salt mix last time it totally buggered up my skimmer and airflow for some reason, made it go crazy filling up the cup every 10 mins and we had to play around with it heaps, as a consequence our fine-tuning is off and we haven't got the air flow quite right since!! Apparently this has been heard of before?? :-?

Also on this site in the links to reference sites you will find a link for the Auckland tides, Just make sure to get it on an incoming tide and like Krama said not after crappy weather :D

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I use ASW because I find it a lot easier and cheaper than waiting months for the tides to be right when the weather's right so I can go get the water then having to drive 45 minutes out to get it, spend half an hour getting water then 45 minutes drive back.

Actually, I've got a big box of salt sitting outside the front door that was delivered sometime today. Probably should go get it.:)

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i use asw and im close to the beach (5min) i do this for a couple of reasons as i dont want saltwater driiping thru my vehicle its Quick and easy to make and you now exactly whats going into your tank. And if you have to do a Quick water change for whatever reason its there you dont have to worry about tides and when they fit in around work e.t.c I generally find it less hassle and once youve made it up a few times you get a good idea of how much fits into x amount of water. Generally i find it to be less of a hassle and the main reason is live stock isnt exactly cheep and i would be gutted to add nsw and found i may have introduced a parasite. ( Im overly catuious but id rather that than lose live stock.) But at he end of the day if your more comfortable using nsw use that i beleive it comes down to personal prefernce.

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hey, new to marine setup (had africans for a few years) , have two tanks one 45litre and one 125litre both newly cycled.

problem is the that i have brought a new tank which holds 240litre and have moved everything from the 125l into it, now i dont know what water to make the difference up with? some say go to the beach and some are saying no dont it has yucky things in it! :-? any help would be great :hail:

someones quote awhile back has always stuck in my mind, "artificial salt is just striving to be like the real thing"

its also great to get something for free in this hobby :)

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NSW can contain lots of bacteria and parasites. Get a microscope and check.

Most beaches in Auckland get tested so you would think they test for a reason not for the fun of it.

Logic would tell you it is not safe especially in Auckland, look at all the crap that goes in the water from waste pipes.

The other reason I believe NSW has a downside is that the water is not clean as it contains many traces of dissolved organics.

So many people on this forum that have use NSW also have had problems with their tanks and they still discount the NSW for some reason.

Nsw might be ok most of the time however your luck does run out some times.

Test the ammonia/po4 as some test have shown high levels,

If you do it to save money then the hobby is not for you as it does not get cheaper.

It cost only about $130 for a 25kg bucket which does 800l.

NSW does contain some benefits however around Auckland it has to many downsides for me to risk all my stock just to save a few cents.

Go NSW all the way, When I used the Instant Ocean salt mix last time it totally buggered up my skimmer and airflow for some reason, made it go crazy filling up the cup every 10 mins and we had to play around with it heaps, as a consequence our fine-tuning is off and we haven't got the air flow quite right since!! Apparently this has been heard of before??

Never had this happen as you should mix the water overnight. by mixing it overnight you remove all the chemicals in the salt water. i would use a big airstone.

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When i have customers that live on the coast i tell them its at there risk, BUT it should be fine. The closest one to auckland being past waiwera. I recomend to my Auckland customers that they use ASW. I know some one who normally uses takapuna water and thought that mission bay would be fine he had quite a few problems. Basically its up too you

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stating that using ASW is preferable assumes a pure source of H2O, probably from an RO/DI system......

if you do not have RO/DI then you are going to be adding more nutrients into your system via ASW then using NSW.....

if one of the two people who import fish/corals use it, in there business, I can accept its safe.

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I also understand that Jansens use NSW for all there tanks (so they tell me). I have recently switched from ASW and although my tank is fairly new I have had no problems with this water. I test if for Amm, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phos etc before adding results are showing 0 on salifert test kits for all those tests. My recent tests on the MAG and Calcium content of the water from Takapuna Boat reamp where I collect returned 1350 and 440 respectively so right on the money there too.

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