Sea Water?

I am getting ready to buy a house that is very close to the ocean. I was just wondering if anyone had tried to pump in real sea water to use a filtration instead of trying to mix. To elibrate more I was thinking of sticking a pump in ocean and simply use it as my sump. Where you would have a constant exchange of water? Anyone had any luck with this type of setup?

 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium pumps water directly out of the ocean and uses it in all of their displays. They are pumping water at an insane rate and the maint on the filters is probably more than you could afford. Another issue is that they have a very clean bay and monitor the water quality.

It would be very risky for someone to use sea water at home due to not being sure what all is in the water.

 

I live in colorado so no but I would try it if I lived that close to ocean.

 

I think the water would not be that clear since it will never settle in the tank

 

I have heard of this before. Running some plumbing to the ocean and having it constantly recycle. Bad thing is that the water is contaminated, or gets contaminated one day.

 

The Aquarium has rather large pipes running out over 1000' offshore and has to blow them out with what they call a pig on a monthly basis. The pig is a one time use resin covered plug that gets forced through the pipe with water preasure. It does a fairly good job cleaning the pipes but the pig is shreaded by the time it comes out the end.

 

I just make trips back and forth to the ocean. Its way too cold right now to have in my aquarium ~45-50 degrees. So I get about 20 gallons at a time and heat it up first. It is better than any salt mix you can get. You just need to be committed enough to lug all that water around. Also, make sure you are collecting from an area that gets a lot of flow, not deep within a harbor. I got to the head of a harbor where the flow is; it gives me the best, cleanest, and freshest water.

 

I agree with the others in that it may not be the best qualiy close to shore. You also don't know what you could suck up, ie. bacteria, algae, contaminates. Although, there are people here who have used sea water as a source, just not directly pumped into their tanks.

 

I might try it as an experiment for a couple of years to see how well a tank does with it in there.

 

Am not sure where you live, but some LFS sell NSW and very cheap. My LFS sells it at .50 per gal. You avoid the pump, plumbing, heaters and filters. You could always get a big container and have a company(saltwater) to fill it up every so often and with some pumps, just flip some switches to do a w/c. Just a thought. luna