Nsw V Synthetic

[nigwell]

             HI guys, been keeping fish of one form or another for 20 years +   Have now got a marine tank which has been up and running for about a year. Am more interested in the invert side of things so thought of going to the beach for some anemones. with that in mind looked for some Beadlets and snakelock  among other things, got them home and they went mad   so much so I had to take some back. The beadlets  produced young from their mouths while the snakelocks  seemed to divide in half.   Got some fish    two common Clowns  a Fox Face and a Yellow Tang. All was going ok   the tank seemed to be surviving but not what you would call thriving, so I took the bit between my teeth and tried some NSW and wow its gone mad. I don't treat the water at all other than bringing it to temperature it goes straight in,   no dark room   no filters   no chemicals.  I was wondering if anyone out there was doing the same, if so I would very much love to hear from you, or any other comments come to that.
 
                                                                           cheers  nigwell.

 

[RRaquariums]

I've never used natural sea water since I live a long way from any ocean. I do however know some people who use it but they run it through a barrel with a UV sterilizer on it to kill any possible bacteria or diseases that could make there way in. This seems to work well for them but can't say much since I've never tried it. I personally use instant ocean synthetic sea mix and have been happy with it since I started in the hobby and it's very reasonably priced.
It's awesome to hear it's working for you but something to keep in mind is maybe keep some salt mix on hand in case you can't get nsw for some reason and need to do a water change for an emergency situation.
Either way glad to hear it's going good and would love to see some pics

 

[nigwell]

Thanks for feed back     yeah so would I   um  how do I do that.............?  

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Don't use NSW... you will drain the ocean!

  Just kidding... (or am I?)
 
 
Re: pictures...
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/422939-uploading-pictures-to-forum/
 
Or...
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/417089-how-to-upload-photos-using-photobucket/

 

[Donya]

NSW should be used with caution. You can certainly get positive effects from the microlife in it, which would not normally be in a marine system otherwise, but many people consider it to not be worth the risk, since you can also get some bad things. Aside from the fact that it can be rather polluted, you can also have sudden plankton dieoffs that create nutrient spikes. Being safe nutrient/chemical-wise once or for a while doesn't mean it will be safe all the time. You can get seasonal blooms of things that will cause ammonia/nitrite spikes mere hours after collection, particularly if it's bottled up or even just left to sit for a while without aeration (I've observed that issue even after just a few hours on some collections). You can also end up with larval beasties that start out invisible and grow into bigger things, such as worms and crabs that can be detrimental to community tanks and reefs. For example, I had some baby native crabs show up out of the blue in a well-established tank that had, just a couple of months prior, a bit of water contamination from some local water. 
 
Also, if you are mingling store-bought livestock (and thereby water) with your tank, please don't re-release anything - that's one way that invasive things get introduced (stuff can get introduced at the larval/spore level that's impossible to see). 

 

[nigwell]

  Yes know what you saying and I know I'm taking a chance, but wow its worth it,  so far anyway. will keep you posted.