UK seawater

[andywg]

This question is aimed squarely at Navare, but I thought others may be interested or have input.

Navare has mentioned that he uses natural seawater for water changes. I assume this is from a local source, i.e. a beach. Is this so, and is it good?

Furthermore, as my description shows, I currently reside in the glorious seaside paradise of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. I know this is known as the Thames estuary and I was wondering at what point the water is salty enough to use for marine (reeflike).

As an aside I know a seahorse was found in the area...

Reponses, as ever, are greatfuly received - unless nasty, then I have to power up the nuclear-powered stapler!

Andy

 

[chkltcow]

General wisdom is to only use seawater if you collect it a few miles from the shore, to make sure it's not polluted or anything. I haven't been to England or seen the Thames, but I know around here.... the mouth of any river is NOT a good place to be taking water from. Too much nasty stuff finds its way into our rivers and gets carried out to sea. But, who knows.... maybe you guys actually have nice clean pure water over there

Unless you have a boat and can get a few miles into the North Sea to take the water from... I'd probably avoid using natural seawater.

As for what point it's marine/reef water.... get a hydrometer/refractometer, and it should be between 1.020 and 1.025 specific gravity. 1.023 is usally what people aim for because it makes fish happy and inverts happy.

 

[Navarre]

I use Natural sea water collected from a pier in St Ives. I will get a photo of the location for you and post it here today if the light is still good enough (its about 20 mins drive)

I have tested all the beaches within 20 miles of this location and the water is relatively good. However , with the amount of wrecks the southwest has aroundit, oil does sit just beneath the surface of the sand and this means tht some areas can be high in phosphate.

I found this location in St Ives as i was told of a company that uses this water (with little to no refinement) and bottles it up for business that uses pure natural sea water for testing conductivity (not sure how it all works).

THey charge roughly £1500 for about 1 gallon of the stuff and can ship it out in tanker lorries (god knows what that would cost!)

This led me to believe that the water in this bay (St Ives is a large coastal bay) is actually of fairly high quality.

I have been using the water from this location since September 2003 with no adverse effect.

Whilst i actually would encourage anyone close to this location to use this water, I would however advise extreme caution when using water from other sources. The English channel is just about the dirtiest water i have seen and although i have never vistsed london or know of the location you talk of, i would be very worried about using it. However, saying that, if marine life has been found alive and healthy then by allmeans take some tests and see if the readings are favorable. Even then i would not use it in 1 large water change. If the water is showing good results then add small amounts each time you do a water change and see if the tank has any adverse effects. My main concern would be high phosphates, low salinity and possible chemical pollution from shipping or local factories upstream.

 

[maestro]

£1500 for a gallon of water? that cant be right can it?

 

[Navarre]

I used to have the website to show people but i cannot find it now )

Its a company that bottles this water and sends it all over the world to laboratories for tests on conductitiy? Im not sure what else its used for but all i know is that it needs tobe very clean water with as close to zero contaminants as possible.

I will try and do some reasearch on googole for this company again (i really though i had it saved on my favorites ) )

 

[Def]

I used to live in Southend, and trust me - you don't want to use that water.

 

[andywg]

Thanks for the responses peoples.

I'll look into getting some tests done sometime. With regards to getting a way out, Southend pier is over a mile long, so I'll test it from there and see how it does.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

 

[Def]

Andy, the pier won't make any difference - you're still in the estuary and pretty far down the coast. You'd be better off trying in Billericay. Next time you're by the pier, look across the water and you can see the industrial factories etc on the other shore. Besides, how are you going to get the water up onto the pier - bucket by bucket?

Cost you a fortune every time you went on the pier too...

BTW, random note, have they turned London Road into a bus lane yet? I keep meaning to come back down to visit some time, but....................

 

[Navarre]

Yeah i had visions of you walking along a 1 mile pier with a 5 gallon bucket under each arm.. ouch!

 

[andywg]

Actually, if you walk up the pier you can ride the train back for free...still, that would mean lots of trips on the initial stint to fill the tank (I'm looking for around 40 gallons )

Oh well, I guess I'll plump for RO water when I get round to setting up my salty tank (still sorting out the 2 sumps for my 85 UK Gallon FW...).

London Road is not bus only and I doubt it will be. (Although you never can tell round here...). However the council has spent the last month raising the roads where they cross the high street so that there is no height difference between the pavement area and the road Fantastic for people hard of sight

Thanks for the help peoples. You guys are fantastic as ever

Andy