seawater vs DIY saltwater

[jsoon]

I am tired of topping up salt to ensure the salinity of my tank everytime I change water.

I heard that using seawater is a good alternative. The only issue is that the LFS have to ensure that we are getting good quality seawater passed through UV.

But one interesting discovery I heard was that seawater has less nitrate compared to DIY saltwater.

Any comments ?

[terryansimon]

nitrate reduction is possible because of the fact that sea water is taken directly from the sea itself, where the water has a huge filtration media in the form of sand in the sea bed. you know how thick and vast that is? talk about a massive natural filter.

but natural sea water. there is a problem. pollutants and the presence of heavy metals in the water itself. you can't control that and you don't really know what is going into your tank itself.

I'd still recommend self-made saltwater as compared to going natural. yes its good to go natural, but you don't know what sort of foreign bodies you're introducing into your tank itself.

[andysho]

you can use sea water if u are staying in nice beaches

like tioman or best great barrire reef

but this is singapore

the water so dirty i think not a good idea to use

[SBS_Transit]

may be u can take singapore sea water and use a RO and UV to clean it ?

[KapoKidd]

Hi,

Interesting topic...but when making DIY saltwater, is it a MUST to use dionized water or just can use normal tapwater. Noob here.

[aStRoBo|]

may be u can take singapore sea water and use a RO and UV to clean it ?

Use RO it totally purify ur seawater already..can use for own consumption~

[SBS_Transit]

Use RO it totally purify ur seawater already..can use for own consumption~

LOLx i didint know that

[KapoKidd]

What's RO?

[aStRoBo|]

RO= Reverse Osmosis

Machine will cost thousands over

Use to purify water

Singapore is using it for it's newater

[KapoKidd]

So is it ok to use tap water....??

[boxfish]

I thought salt mix is simpler than sea water? just MUCH more expensive.

the ley-chey-ness is only 5 mins work..

but must agree not easy to overcome the inertia

[SBS_Transit]

So is it ok to use tap water....??

can use tap water also, just add salt

[blacknails]

But seawater bought from LFS like R*born.. Is properly filtered and completely safe right?

[Achilles Tang]

I am tired of topping up salt to ensure the salinity of my tank everytime I change water.

I heard that using seawater is a good alternative. The only issue is that the LFS have to ensure that we are getting good quality seawater passed through UV.

But one interesting discovery I heard was that seawater has less nitrate compared to DIY saltwater.

Any comments ?

This topic has been discussed before but i'll chip in again.

Natural Salt Water (NSW) in the local context is not the best alternative but can be a cheaper one if you have a very large tank and you stay on landed property where a truck can take water off our coasts and transport & pump it into your tanks. Morgan does this as he has not much choices due to cost of maintaining his extremely large tanks.

The trade-off is that the water is often dirty and murky and may contain higher levels of phosphates due to fertilizer runoffs from the land (we have lots of parks and golf courses around). Also do consider the very higher amount of commercial traffic which contributes pollution into the water.

Whether they have been pre-filtered by the LFS or not, there are things in the water that the hobby test kits may not be able to detect.

Why take the risk, IMO?

Saltmix water on the other hand, is much much cleaner and contains high levels of calcium and consistent PH unlike local NSW. There shouldn't be any nitrates detected in your saltmix water. UNLESS your tapwater supply already contains nitrates. But with a proper DSB system, that little amount of nitrates should be easily dealt with.

I think you may be unduly worried over nothing as this information is wrong.

My 2 cents.

AT

[jsoon]

Thanks, AT. Couldn't find this thread anymore..that why I post it up.

BTW, what kind of brand of salt do all of you use ? Again, hear say, that certain brand of salt mix may have nitrate residue. Don't know if this true.