Quality of NSW

[tineng]

Today i have just got a bag of NSW from a LFS in pasir ris.....out of curiosity, did a test on the water and this what i found...

Salianty - 1.027 (using Reflectormeter)

PH - 8.5 (PH Pen)

No3 - 0.5ppm (salifert)

Cal - 300 ppm (Red Sea)

KH - 6 (Sera)

PO4 - 0.1 (Azoo)

IMHO, not very good parameters, but safe enough for my tank to handle.....any bro done any test on salt water mixed directly from our tap???? Does it fare better then NSW???

[Tanzy]

Actually those figures are fairly consistent with what other reefers have been getting. The water around Singapore tends to get some surface run off resulting in some phosphates and nitrates. The high salinity could be due to the water sitting in the LFS tank evaporating for too long.

[bonjour2]

Hmm , the waters I collected myself from Sea was as follows;

NH3/4 : Oppm (Azoo test)

NO2:Oppm (Aquarium Pharmaceutical inc)

NO3:0ppm (Tetra)

Cal :300ppm ( Sera)

Salinity : 1.019

[tineng]

acutally, i'm more curious if it will be better if we use our water straight from the tap....any bro done any rough tests????

[keithtanbb]

where do you collect the NSW from , may I ask.....been to east coast, near the sailing club, trying to check if i can collect near the jetty

[pegasus1010]

u can try @ jetty, but best during high tides & not after rain.

visual check for dirt level on the water too.

if too dirty with rubbish or oil, wait for next time.

[djviper]

how u take water from jetty? use a bottle?

[junyong84]

how u take water from jetty? use a bottle?

use a pump! haha...

[djviper]

cant think of anyway to get tons of water from a jetty unless have boat lol

[keithtanbb]

I am trying to collect,NSW from the jetty at east coast...will use a filter before bringing home to at least get rid of the sand, I got jerricans from : 18 litres = $2.90 20 litres $3.plus...(very durable plastics!!!) bought water barrels fro them before - as I firm believer of recycling..use it to irrigate my garden plants,

Teddy General Contractor & Supplier Category : Drums & Barrels-Plastic

Address : 2 Tuas Dr 1 Singapore 638669

Telephone : 6861 0031 /6865 3387Joyce

[surfedelic]

Be careful when you take sea water - there are alot of mantis shrimp larva sometimes and all kind of funny hydroids ..... unless your net is small enough to capture all those unwanted pest < 200 micron net

I had a mantis shrimp boom before ... I used to collect sea water around labrador park area ... but not worth it....so more salt water so corrosive ... might corrode your car boot area if you are not careful ....

Should run your tank with UV if you are doing that.

[pegasus1010]

how u take water from jetty? use a bottle?

tie a rope to a pail, throw pail to collect seawater, then pour into jerrycan via a funnel.

repeat until jerrycan are full.

otherwise find a battery operated pump (slow but mobile) or find a stronger 12 volt dc, hook it up to your car battery & pump it up. u might need very long wires from car to seawater.

[snaper]

u can try @ jetty, but best during high tides & not after rain.

visual check for dirt level on the water too.

if too dirty with rubbish or oil, wait for next time.

Bro, I do collect NSW from the seaside sometime.But what i do was,

i went in almost my chest level with the jerricans and put the whole

jerrrican in the water without opening the cap. Once the jerricans reach

slightly below my waist level,then i open the cap.In this way im collecting

tne middle part of the water only so no need to worry about oil or wat ever

dirt.

N i find that the water is much more cleaner.

[Eric]

Bro, I do collect NSW from the seaside sometime.But what i do was,

i went in almost my chest level with the jerricans and put the whole

jerrrican in the water without opening the cap. Once the jerricans reach

slightly below my waist level,then i open the cap.In this way im collecting

tne middle part of the water only so no need to worry about oil or wat ever

dirt.

N i find that the water is much more cleaner.

Save the trouble, just buy from LFS.....its just $1 per 10-15L from Iwarna. Everytime I visit them, I'll bring back 3 bags of the SW. Every week I change 1 pail of water, abt 1.5 bag. I find it cheaper than using salt mix and tap water tend to have more inpurities.........phosphate,chlorine,nitrate.

Eric

[pegasus1010]

Bro, I do collect NSW from the seaside sometime.But what i do was,

i went in almost my chest level with the jerricans and put the whole

jerrrican in the water without opening the cap. Once the jerricans reach

slightly below my waist level,then i open the cap.In this way im collecting

tne middle part of the water only so no need to worry about oil or wat ever

dirt.

N i find that the water is much more cleaner.

tat's a good tip, thanks bro..

[patrick123]

My only question is, if the KH and Cal are so low (6dkh and 300ppm) compare to where we want to get to, which is about 10dkh and 430ppm for cal, you need to start topping up with KH and Cal. That's going to be expensive too isn't it? Anyone did any measurement on Mg? If the Mg is low, then you got a bigger problem maintaining the Kh.

Salt mix is expensive, but it ensures that the Kh, Cal and Mg are at the ideal level, so you don't have to add anymore additive.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Alentino]

so calcium levels in s'pore waters is only 300ppm? thats pathetic.....

[patrick123]

at this kind of cal level, how do you expect to grow the LPS or SPS? I read somewhere that the calcification stopped when Cal drop to 300ppm and below.

[Ancelot]

patrick:

I think wats the ideal KH for the NSW in Singapore is still an unknown factor. Given for such a huge water body, it is really hard to determine it exactly. So maybe its approximately around 300ppm and maybe might be even more which we might not know.. our testkits give us a rough gauge to the KH not an exact one so if you wanna know might want to do a project with Underwater world or TMSI and determine them? tat will be really interesting! no offences arh... just expressing my view...

Anyway, our waters are actually sparkling with life despite the fact that we have huge oil tankers constantly passing by us. We also have some SPS species, these are particularly true since my uncle's friend is a commercial diver and he told me alot of things beneath the sea. "Singapore's SPS..wow i thought!"

[patrick123]

Yeah...this will be interesting if someone can shed some light. Anyone out there who keep sps and just use the local sea water without any additive?

[bestcom]

Yeah...this will be interesting if someone can shed some light. Anyone out there who keep sps and just use the local sea water without any additive?

when i start my hobby two year ago, i using mix salt (coralife) for my 4ft tank.

since than i lost huge no . of fish and coral. 4-5 sohar, 4 achilles tang. 6 power blue, total more than 100 plus, feel like given up the hobby.

what on my mine is since local fish shop can keep their fish and coral in healthy cond. using sea water, I should follow their step. give up any lodide, strontium,

magnesium. etc. do a 10% every two week (sea water) . only add Aquapharm Trace element.

so far my sohar and power blue is alive for nearly 2 month. and my coral is in

good condition. buble open like fish ball.

IS Sea water is no good for home tank. how the fish going to survive in the sea?

just a simple and stupid question.

Ps. i boutht my sea water from Iwarna. and T95 .

[Ancelot]

when i start my hobby two year ago, i using mix salt (coralife) for my 4ft tank.

since than i lost huge no . of fish and coral. 4-5 sohar, 4 achilles tang. 6 power blue, total more than 100 plus, feel like given up the hobby.

what on my mine is since local fish shop can keep their fish and coral in healthy cond. using sea water, I should follow their step. give up any lodide, strontium,

magnesium. etc. do a 10% every two week (sea water) . only add Aquapharm Trace element.

so far my sohar and power blue is alive for nearly 2 month. and my coral is in

good condition. buble open like fish ball.

IS Sea water is no good for home tank. how the fish going to survive in the sea?

just a simple and stupid question.

Ps. i boutht my sea water from Iwarna. and T95 .

Glad that you find an alternative rather than giving up..

Good attitude you showed there bestcom dude..

[patrick123]

when i start my hobby two year ago, i using mix salt (coralife) for my 4ft tank.

since than i lost huge no . of fish and coral. 4-5 sohar, 4 achilles tang. 6 power blue, total more than 100 plus, feel like given up the hobby.

what on my mine is since local fish shop can keep their fish and coral in healthy cond. using sea water, I should follow their step. give up any lodide, strontium,

magnesium. etc. do a 10% every two week (sea water) . only add Aquapharm Trace element.

so far my sohar and power blue is alive for nearly 2 month. and my coral is in

good condition. buble open like fish ball.

IS Sea water is no good for home tank. how the fish going to survive in the sea?

just a simple and stupid question.

Ps. i boutht my sea water from Iwarna. and T95 .

Hi,

Have you ever considered that the reason you lost fish is because the tank was going through the maturity phase? Furthermore, the fish that you listed out are not the most hardy and easiest fish to keep.

[bestcom]

Hi,

Have you ever considered that the reason you lost fish is because the tank was going through the maturity phase? Furthermore, the fish that you listed out are not the most hardy and easiest fish to keep.

but for a two year old tank, the maturity step shoud be over. singaporean is busy all the time. if you really want to keep this hobby for a long time (min . 5 year)

you must have more free time. i see lot of reefer give up hobby in 1 to 3 year. just because the time they spend on maintenance ttheir tank (after work and weekend)

especially if your are married.

if we can find a simple way to keep the hobby. why not?

[typrobin]

i used to buy seawater from t95 too..but the salinity level is way LOW...1.018 somewhere around this range...

i tested for NO3 and PO3 both at zero...too lazy to test the rest...

i find that my corals enjoy better, bloom bigger and more colour...less death...LPS only...

for SPS tanks, i think it is a MUST for supplements even if u are using salt mix...