How many of us are using NJ seawater?

[Stan]

Just checking who else is using bay or ocean water from NJ and location.

I am getting it during high tide from a Barnaget bay lagoon in Forked River.

Any problems noted?

I also used sand from the bay. Problem is that after about 3 months, you will get dozens of NJ crabs that were eggs in the sand.


I found a common NJ spider crab hitchhiker that I named Fred. So far, Fred has been alive 8 months and molted twice. Hand fed daily and is my favorite of all of my reef.

 

[horseplay]

I have not used the water but did use some of the rocks harvested from the sandy hook bay which are covered in sea lettuce and barnacles. I am always Leary of taking anything from federal land so have not done this in a bigger scale. My convict tang went nuts picking at the rocks.

 

[Stan]

I grab sea lettuce floating in the lagoon in the summer, tangs tear it apart.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

I'm about 20min from LBI and have thought about doing this but just never have. When I started out folks would tell me that to do this without issues you would need to go 2mils off shore and to think the shore line as like your tank skimmer (it collect all the junk) I never done research into it because frankly I don't feel like taking bucket to the beach to collect water and then lug them home lol.

 

[Mrx7899x]

My parents have a place down beach heaven west. I have been wanting to set up a tank down there with water and sand from the beach just never got around to it. Never thought about using rock from there think it would be cool

 

[DangerDave]

The Little Egg Harbor is 100ft from my front door. I thought about using water in the past, but was afraid of hitchhikers. Is this an overblown fear?

Dave

 

[MadReefer]

I lived 1/2 mile from the bay and 15 miles from Sandy Hook. I wanted to do this but was told not cause you would have to circulate and store the water in darkness to kill off nasty stuff. I live in Lakewood now and not sure where to even go if I wanted to try this.

 

[diana a]

I had been collecting seawater from Sandy Hook for over 2 year. The only time I wouldn't venture there was in the winter (Thankgiving - April)...just too cold and windy. During that time I would get my water from Tropiquarium or ACC. Now that Trop is gone I asked for a 6 stage BRS filter for Christmas. When I collected water from Sandy Hook, I ran the water through a diatom filter before using.

 

[Stan]

I get water year round. When my corals look unhappy, I do a 50% water change directly from the lagoon- I adjust temp only.

I don't treat it in any way. I have been doing saltwater tanks since 1984, at 11, taught by Steve from AquaOceans.

Using that local water has made keeping my reef easy. I have been keeping acros and gonipora and they have zero problems with it.

 

[hubcap]

I live on Shark River.
I dont know if id have the gumption to dump that stuff in my tank.
I suppose I could test out the water first.

Any tips on best times to harvest? Low tides? Lunar high tides? Before it rains?


(side note: This forum is great. Ive been spending a lot of time here reading over the knowledge. Thanks, folks, for taking the time to share.)

 

[diana a]

I would think before rain and at high tide.

 

[Stan]

Match salinity and temp. I always use carbon, polypad and a UV. I took my lagoon's water to Tropicorium for testing and was shocked that all levels were perfect.

High tide when it hasn't rained for a couple of days. I was worried about runoff, fertilizers, etc.

 

[jose7878]

I used to when I started my tank. I did it for a yr. My tank looked great.
I used to collect it when high tide was coming in.

 

[MadReefer]

How does everyone collect?
Do you scoop with buckets, pump, etc?

 

[diana a]

I would walk out to Sandy hook beach and fill my 5 gallon containers from tropiquarium using a small buckets. When I returned home I would filter the water.

 

[jose7878]

How does everyone collect?
Do you scoop with buckets, pump, etc?

I would go on a fishing pier and high tide was coming in. I would throw a 5gallon bucket over the edge tied to a rope and hoist it up. I would collect 25gallons

 

[hubcap]

Match salinity and temp. I always use carbon, polypad and a UV. I took my lagoon's water to Tropicorium for testing and was shocked that all levels were perfect.

This astonishes me, in a good way. In my case, Shark River, its pretty silty and shallow and Routes 18 and 35, Id imagine, contribute a chit-ton of road runoff to it. Being that your levels were right where you wanted them to be, only sparks my curiosity further.....People have become more environmentally friendly, so, now, maybe, that will translate into better quality water for us to get from local (free) sources. Do you recall what the salinity was when harvested? (pre filtered, etc)
I have noticed the river -does- look better than it has in the past.......and whats stopping me from harvesting water from the inlet, right? (That IS legal.....right? We're talking Jersey here, so, its got to be asked.)

High tide when it hasn't rained for a couple of days. I was worried about runoff, fertilizers, etc.

Exactly my other concern. Local fertilizers. People love their green fkn lawns around here.

 

[Stan]

salinity 3 miles from barnaget inlet is 1.022-1.025. always test salinity at +70 degrees or levels will read low on a refractometer.

 

[hubcap]

salinity 3 miles from barnaget inlet is 1.022-1.025.

Nice. Your filtration setup close enough to run a direct line? Dont tell me you didnt think about this already. Im coming to find reefers are, in some ways, like addicts.

always test salinity at +70 degrees or levels will read low on a refractometer.

great tip...

 

[Stan]

I wouldn't run direct as water quality changes when boats go by. gas, drainage, stirring up of the sediment. I did think of it, but it is unpredictable when the bennies come down. lol