Natural Sea Water

[Sackwack]

Hello this is my first post here. I found out about this site from Reefcentral.com. I am posting this thread in order to find out more about the NSW that is offered at scripps.

Is it still offered?
How do I get there?
Is it any good?
Does anybody use it, if so what is your experience?
Any other useful info...

[FlameHawk]

Yes you can still go and get NSW.

http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=9500+Gilman+Drive,+La+Jolla,+CA
you can see scripps pier at bottom left corner of map.

As for "is it any good". Depend on who you ask. There are people swear by it and there are those don't use it for their own reason.

Personally it is too much trouble to go and fetch water and I like to control what I put in my tank. Also in the past, I mix my own water to solve algae issue(doesn't mean what in NSW cause it). Went back to NSW, but problem starts again and some other issues. So I have never go back to NSW again . But main thing is time, money(gasolin...etc), and effort needed to get those water to do water change just not worth it for me.

Someone says sometime the specific gravity tend to be higher, need to add buffer and has more nutrient. But whatever works for you.

take care.

oh I think recently someone mentioned on the other board about certain time can't get water. Anyone know when that is?

[treylane]

It's available 24/7, except they close it occasionally for maintenance, and sometimes you have to wait for giant trucks to finish filling up before you can get your bucket filled.

IMO - If you have the means to make your own saltwater, that seems to be ideal. My smaller tanks seemed much more stable when I used RO/DI water and Instant Ocean. Water changes on the monster tank are large (and thus, expensive) and I've resorted to using Scripps lately.

I've got a 100g water container for hauling scripps water (requires big station wagon or regular pickup truck) that anybody's welcome to borrow for a day or two.

[Sackwack]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking i might save some money but I'm not doing huge water changes on the 60g so I will just save the hedache and mix my own for now.

[ratherbediving]

I use Scripps water-- mostly because I am lazy and cheap. But FWIW I haven't had any problems yet. Treylane-- what problems did you have with stability?

I do a 5 gallon waterchange a week on my 55, although I have been slacking the last couple of months. So far, haven't had any real problems besides low alk.

[treylane]

Mostly just low pH/ca/alk. So far the big system has been very stable with scripps water and a big fat calcium reactor... Ca/Alk additives (or better yet, ca reactors) seem to be extra important for tanks using scripps water. :)

[ratherbediving]

Thanks for the info-- I agree with the low CA/Alk; I try to dose 1.4 liters of kalkwasser per day, and have recently had to use B ionic to raise the levels to where it needs to be. The pH seems to be okay if I keep the Alk up.