Using ocean water/algae in established tank

[sparkiesharkie]

Hi all,

We went to the beach yesterday and collected some cool algae specimens for hopefully a new addition to our macro algae tank (and we are allowed to collect on our beach and only took loose/washed up specimens) and bagged it up in some water (Pacific Ocean, California) and this morning the bag is riddled with life! Tons of copepods and I was curious… would it be death to add it all to my tank? Slowly raise the temp and just add the whole bag in? Am I asking for danger? I know the area we’re in is very nutrient rich and heavily trafficked by humans but not heavily by boat or pollutants… we hiked out quite a ways where the general public doesn’t typically go and collected our loose pieces that way…

Tank is a 20g planted reef with a few softies… clown fish and damsel and one fire shrimp as residents. My tank is kept about 76* so warmer than the Pacific for sure, but most of the macros I have in there are not tropical species and are thriving. AI prime 16hd for lighting.


Should I just freshwater rinse the algae and kiss the rest goodbye? Crying over the loss of easy copepods? or was I dumb and am now asking for another tank of I wanna keep everything?

 

[TX_REEF]

Tampa Bay Saltwater harvests directly from the ocean and recommends you put their products right into your tank - I don't see why your situation would be any dfferent. Always a chance of unseen pests or contaminants, that's just the risk for the reward of "real ocean" stuff.

 

[FernFish]

Hi all,

We went to the beach yesterday and collected some cool algae specimens for hopefully a new addition to our macro algae tank (and we are allowed to collect on our beach and only took loose/washed up specimens) and bagged it up in some water (Pacific Ocean, California) and this morning the bag is riddled with life! Tons of copepods and I was curious… would it be death to add it all to my tank? Slowly raise the temp and just add the whole bag in? Am I asking for danger? I know the area we’re in is very nutrient rich and heavily trafficked by humans but not heavily by boat or pollutants… we hiked out quite a ways where the general public doesn’t typically go and collected our loose pieces that way…

Tank is a 20g planted reef with a few softies… clown fish and damsel and one fire shrimp as residents. My tank is kept about 76* so warmer than the Pacific for sure, but most of the macros I have in there are not tropical species and are thriving. AI prime 16hd for lighting.


Should I just freshwater rinse the algae and kiss the rest goodbye? Crying over the loss of easy copepods? or was I dumb and am now asking for another tank of I wanna keep everything?

I wouldn’t put the copepod in since they’re from cold water, but you could take a chance on the algae

 

[litsoh]

Apparently being closer to the shore puts it more at risk for potential pollutants, etc. I think the algae might be okay though. I use NSW for my tank as well but we have a spigot that dispenses water collected from a couple miles offshore.