[Lazy Iguana]

There are a few things to keep in mind here.

1. There is a guy who collects wild sea water for many of the fish stores in Miami. You can collect natural sea water.

2. You do not have to be 20 miles offshore. You may have to go 40 miles off shore. You may only have to go 5 miles offshore. It all depends on where you are. For me, the Gulf Stream is only 12 miles off the reef line - but I would not have to get that far offshore to get clean water. However if I lived at the mouth of the Mississippi River I may have to go 50+ miles offshore to get clean water not contaminated with whatever is in the water dumped in by the mighty Mississippi.

3. The guy who collects here drops a hose way down. I have heard more than 100 feet. Any marine bait well pump could bring the water on board. The pump does not have to be at the bottom of the hose, and you are only "lifting" the water from the surface to the collection container - no matter how deep the hose goes. A foot operated bilge pump could fill up a decent size container in not too much time. Any larger than 55 gallons and I would want an electrical pump. A self priming 2000 GPH bait well pump would work great.

4. You have to run the wild sea water through some serious UV. There will be all sorts of plankton and stuff in the water you collect. While this may seem cool, it could also cause a bloom in your tank - or you could introduce bad things. How does red tide in your reef tank sound to you? Also strange things have been known to happen. Like plankton blooms happening in your tank at the same time as plankton blooms in your collection area. kind of cool really - but not really what one wants in a tank.

5. If you are just going to collect 55 gallons, it is not worth it. Even if the fish store charges you a buck a gallon for salt water, you are only "saving" $55 at a time. Now factor in the cost of a boat, the cost of fuel for the boat, the cost of fuel for your tow vehicle, the time spent collecting the water, the hassle (and potential danger) of loading close to 500 pounds of water on your boat (remember to distribute that weight or you WILL be listing to the port or starboard), the hassle of unloading the 55 gallons of water from your boat into another container, the UV sterilizer you will need, washing down the boat, and what the heck - a massive skimmer to remove stuff killed by the UV - are you really "saving" money? Even if you only burn off 10 gallons of fuel in your boat - that is $30 - $50 depending on where you are in the USA and if you fill up at a marina or at a gas station. 10 gallons in a boat is like 1 gallon in your car. Nothing at all. If I go out and only burn 10 gallons it means I did not go very far or I broke down and had to be towed in - and I have a modern efficient DFI two stroke outboard that only has 135 horsepower! If I had twin 250s (serious offshore boat) I could burn off 30 gallons an hour easy. Even if your fish store charges you $3 a gallon for salt water, will you really "save" enough to deal with all of the above?

6. OK no problem. Ill just collect 1000 gallons and make it worth my time. Not going to happen unless you have a very large trawler. While at this volume you could potentially save money (as well as sell water to stores) you are looking at taking on 8,000 pounds of water. I do not know what kind of boat you have, but this much weight would sink mine.

One more thing. IT MAY BE VERY ILLEGAL TO HARVEST LIVE ROCK IN YOUR AREA! I know it is in Florida. You can loose your boat. You will face massive fines. Please check your laws very carefully. If necessary, ask your State's Fish and Game law enforcement agency. Even if they say yes, request a copy of the regulations and keep that on board. Do not just take someone's word for it. The risk is too great. Be careful collecting live animals too - there are probably laws about them too.

Now if you are going offshore anyway for some other reason (like say - blackfin tuna fishing), and just happen to collect some water - (10 or 15 gallons in a new never used portable plastic gas tank) then this is a different story! This may be worth it to you.