Nutri Seawater

[trhbay]

All-

I was at my local ,marine fish store today getting some RO Water. The owner mentioned that I should look in buying some Nutri Seawater instead of the 5 gal. of RO. He talked about the bacteria in this product (basically from what I understand it is "natural" sea water.

My questions is has anyone used this product?

I have a 46g bowfront and thought that this might be a good once a month replacement for one of my water changes.

Thoughts?

[Rob]

i have not used it before. so i cant speak from experince.
from what i know it may help in cycling a tank (not eliminate the need)

in a proper tank, you will have most of the "benificial bacteria" that is needed. adn the proper cutures to replenish those removed by filtration (ie.. skimmer, ozone, UV) as far as trace elments you will get these from a good synthetic sea salt mix. personally for me, it would come down to costlets do the following comarison

using Nutri-Seawater vs standard RO water and sythetic sea salt.
comparison on a 50 gallon change (i know this is high, but an easy number to get prices)

Nutri-Seawater
12 - 4.4 gl bottles = 179.40 ($14.95 Source)

Standard RO and Sythentic Salt
50 gallons RO water = $25 (based on $.50 per gallon, my local water stores sells RO/DI water for $.45)
Note** if you have a home RO/DI unit this cost is about $.01 per gallon or less

50 gallon salt mix = $15.95 (Source)
Note** i price Reef Crystal, which is more expensive and contains more major and minor trace elements than standard Synthetic Sea Salt

not these totals asume you are buying local, and do not include taxes

Total Costs
Nutri-Seawater = $179.40
Sythentic/RO H2O = $40.95
for a difference of = $138.45

now, i know you are not going to use 50 gallons a week, so lets go an extended comparison.

You have a 40 gallon tank, so you "should be" changing about 5 gallons every week or two. so lets say you change 5 gallons every 2 weeks
5 gls x 26 weeks = total need of 130 gallon over the coarse of a year

so using the numbers from above
130 gls - Nutri-Seawater = $466.44
130 gls - Sythetic/RO Water = $106.47

so basically, it is going to cost you more than 4X as much... even if you did 1 of 4 water changes with Nutri-Seawater, it would still be far more expensive. I know many people (including myself) taht keep successfull tanks, with home RO water and regular Instant Ocean salt (not reef crystals), which cut your costs more than in half...

so im not sying the stuff is not good, jsut questioning if its really worth more than 4X the cost..

Hope this helps, let me know if you have more questions.

[rroselavy]

I thought I'd update this thread a bit:

I've been using Catalina (purified) NSW for my 24G Nano, which I obtain from my LSF for $0.60/gallon. They sold me two 5 gallon containers, so it is relatively easy for me to haul the water home once every 3-4 weeks. I may purchase two more to keep me from visiting the LSF too often... ;-)

Using Catalina makes my work a bit more idiot proof, saves me some free time (which I don't have that much of), and is a bit cheaper than store bought RO/DI + salts. If I had a tank >55 gallons, I would definitely install my own RO/DI and mix my own (unless I could get someone to deliver Catalina). ;-)

For the curious, I have tested the Catalina water with my Red Sea kit, and the pH results were somewhere between 8.0<->8.1, with Alkalinity measuring "High". Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates all measured zero.

[fat walrus]

the catalina NSW is one thing, but that Nutri-Seawater is another. i've seen it at petco, so the profit margin must be huge. from what i understand, it is only available in 4.4 gal jugs with no provisions for refill. i suspect that maybe nutri may be a retail jargon for non-filtered.

[pham411]

wow that stuff is expensive. if i had to buy water i would buy a ro unit and mix my own saltwater. just cheaper in the long run. but fortunatly i use NSW provided by my local aquarium and i find it to be really benificial.

[rroselavy]

Originally Posted by pham411

...but fortunatly i use NSW provided by my local aquarium and i find it to be really benificial.

You dont have to gloat about it... :-)

Are you sure the water you get from the local acquarium isn't from their weekly 10% water change? ;-) Seriously, does the aquarium give away water for the asking, or are you part of an inner circle?

[pham411]

Originally Posted by rroselavy

You dont have to gloat about it... :-)

Are you sure the water you get from the local acquarium isn't from their weekly 10% water change? ;-) Seriously, does the aquarium give away water for the asking, or are you part of an inner circle?

hahah, well i hope its not their weekly change water. you first need to pay a $45 members fee to support the aquarium to get the NSW. according to the biologist there it is pumped from a underground cave where it is first filtered by the LR then again filtered before you can get it.

i just think its kinda expensive to buy nutri seawater, i mean if you have an established aquarium is there a need to buy nutri when salt mixes already contain lots of benificial elements? hmm........... thoughts ne1??

[fat walrus]

there are some stores that cheat by mixing their own water and calling it NSW. there are actually a couple of stores i know of that do sell their old water as nutrient rich water....there's a sucker born everyday. my lfs buys his from C-Pure, formerly Catalina Water Norcal. Oddly his competitor sells old water for $4 gal while i see many customers question the quality of his NSW at $1 gal.

[pham411]

Originally Posted by fat walrus

there are some stores that cheat by mixing their own water and calling it NSW.

damn thats scandalis!
[/quote]
there are actually a couple of stores i know of that do sell their old water as nutrient rich water[/quote]
nutrient rich is right....

[fat walrus]

Originally Posted by pham411

damn thats scandalis!

there are actually a couple of stores i know of that do sell their old water as nutrient rich water[/quote]
nutrient rich is right....[/quote]
yes, very rich in nitrates, uric acids, organic phosphates, EDTA, glutonates, ick spores, dormant viruses, proteins, and whatever DUH that that tank has ever encountered. and don't forget low in calcium, kh, buffering capacity, trace..minor..and major elements.