Water from the ocean.

Tristan

Detritus
The University of Guam Marine Lab has a faucet that connects 400 feet into the ocean. if i use that faucet for my aquarium, would it contain plankton and other stuff like that?
 
along with all the crap that is in the water. if you use ocean water you need to get it a couple miles offshore to be shure it does not contain crap frome people and boats in it
 
along with all the crap that is in the water. if you use ocean water you need to get it a couple miles offshore to be shure it does not contain crap frome people and boats in it

Well, there's no boating in that area of Guam. the only polluted water in Guam are at the shipping ports.

Guam laws are VERY strict on water pollution and there are always a couple of agricultural officers that go from beach to beach to put everybody in check.
 
I would test the water and then probably use it if it tested okay. One can only try it, right?

thanks for the advice. ill be sure to test it first. So if it's not polluted would the water contain all the calcium, trace elements, plankton, blah blah blah?
 
thanks for the advice. ill be sure to test it first. So if it's not polluted would the water contain all the calcium, trace elements, plankton, blah blah blah?

To ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, haha...sorry guys, but you guys are forgetting the 2nd part of his question...that water should contain all the trace elements (i.e. calcium, magnesium, etc.), BUT plankton probabally not. The other thing is, depending on the demands of your system, the levels of trace elements in this water may not be sufficient enough for your system, thus, you would either need to perform water changes much more frequently or still substitute minerals.

A question for you...How's living in Guam?!?!?! :shock:
 
To ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, haha...sorry guys, but you guys are forgetting the 2nd part of his question...that water should contain all the trace elements (i.e. calcium, magnesium, etc.), BUT plankton probabally not. The other thing is, depending on the demands of your system, the levels of trace elements in this water may not be sufficient enough for your system, thus, you would either need to perform water changes much more frequently or still substitute minerals.

A question for you...How's living in Guam?!?!?! :shock:

I love it. Guam is a pretty laid back place. The day goes by at a slower pace, so if you love to relax, Guam is a place for you. A lot of people that the people here live in huts and ride carabaos lol. not true. Guam is like a mini Hawaii. Most of the houses here are concrete too.
When im not at school or work, i just pop open a beer and play my ukulele, or go snorkling.
PLUS if you know the right people, aquarium stuff is cheap to NOTHING. Some of the really expensive fishes are a dime a dozen here.
 
To ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, haha...sorry guys, but you guys are forgetting the 2nd part of his question...that water should contain all the trace elements (i.e. calcium, magnesium, etc.), BUT plankton probabally not. The other thing is, depending on the demands of your system, the levels of trace elements in this water may not be sufficient enough for your system, thus, you would either need to perform water changes much more frequently or still substitute minerals.

A question for you...How's living in Guam?!?!?! :shock:

Damn, plankton is one thing i cant find here

I love it. Guam is a pretty laid back place. The day goes by at a slower pace, so if you love to relax, Guam is a place for you. A lot of people think that the people here live in huts and ride carabaos lol. not true. Guam is like a mini Hawaii. Most of the houses here are concrete too.
When im not at school or work, i just pop open a beer and play my ukulele, or go snorkling.
PLUS if you know the right people, aquarium stuff is cheap to NOTHING. Some of the really expensive fishes are a dime a dozen here.
 
I only have one question, what are they using the water for? Maybe they use that as a check for pollutants or something. Sort of like a monitoring well here in Jersey!! :shock: You see here, we need to check our ground water for all the crap people pour into the rivers and ground.....
 
I only have one question, what are they using the water for? Maybe they use that as a check for pollutants or something. Sort of like a monitoring well here in Jersey!! :shock: You see here, we need to check our ground water for all the crap people pour into the rivers and ground.....

The lab has alot of specimens like starfish, sea urchins and stuff like that and the pipeline runs through the tanks just cycling the water in and out.

Thanks for your concern
 
I also say if it's good enough for them it should be for you too. Can you ask someone who uses it if its ok for your tank? YOu will still need to add the plankton though, I guess. Maybe they can help you out there as well. What does everyone else around you use? I hear Guam is beautiful. I met a WWII guy and we were talking, he remembers how pretty the reefs are on your island. He also said at the edge of the reef the water drops off real quick to like miles deep.. he called it "Guam" deep!!!, LOL.
 
I also say if it's good enough for them it should be for you too. Can you ask someone who uses it if its ok for your tank? YOu will still need to add the plankton though, I guess. Maybe they can help you out there as well. What does everyone else around you use? I hear Guam is beautiful. I met a WWII guy and we were talking, he remembers how pretty the reefs are on your island. He also said at the edge of the reef the water drops off real quick to like miles deep.. he called it "Guam" deep!!!, LOL.

People on guam use half ocean water, half RO/DI, but not too many people have saltwater aquariums here and no one to guide me, so thank god for all you peeps at LivingReefs.com!
lol yea he's talking about the Marianas Trench. It's the deepest you can ever get in the ocean.

Alot of people come to guam just for diving.

It would be a great vacation if you came here for that reason.
 
To ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, haha...sorry guys, but you guys are forgetting the 2nd part of his question...that water should contain all the trace elements (i.e. calcium, magnesium, etc.), BUT plankton probabally not. The other thing is, depending on the demands of your system, the levels of trace elements in this water may not be sufficient enough for your system, thus, you would either need to perform water changes much more frequently or still substitute minerals.

A question for you...How's living in Guam?!?!?! :shock:


I'm going to have to disagree with you. Unless they massively filter and UV sterilize the water somewhere in the pipe work, there would definitely be plankton. The definition of plankton is any drifting organism in the pelagic zone (so, not on the bottom of the ocean) which provides food for larger organisms. So, any ocean water that he's likely able to get would definitely have plankton. The best way to know for sure is take a sample of the water fresh from the pipe and throw it on a slide, and check it out on a microscope. See little specks? Ok, you have plankton.

If you're looking specifically for phytoplankton, which I know a lot of people use in their tanks to feed corals, those are harder to tell if you have high concentrations of that or not. If you can get someone to send it to you (an online retailer or someone in the states, for example) you can culture phytoplankton yourself pretty easily-- just need a jar and an air stone. Sounds like you might even be able to sell it to other reefers, if it isn't available locally.

As for the metals concentrations, just doing a normal number of water changes would fix that. Most people strive to keep their tank params near natural ocean water anyway, so all you need to do is find out how fast stuff is consumed by your reef, and do the appropriate number of water changes.
 
I didn't realize I had answered that one so acertively...I really wasn't sure to be quite honest, hence the "probably", though I should have said "Posssibly not...but I'm not sure." wasn't sure if water travel through the pipe would affect the amount of plankton or not...glad you corrected me tanked :bounce:
 
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