Artificial seawater

Artificial seawater (or ASW) is a mixture of dissolved mineral salts (and sometimes vitamins) that simulates seawater. Artificial seawater is primarily used in marine biology and marine aquaria, and allows the easy preparation of media appropriate for marine organisms (including algae, bacteria, plants and animals). From a scientific perspective, artificial seawater has the advantage of reproducibility over natural seawater.

Additional recommended knowledge

How to quickly check pipettes?

What is the Sensitivity of my Balance?

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Example

The tables below present an example of an artificial seawater preparation devised by Kester, Duedall, Connors and Pytkowicz (1967)^[1]. The recipe consists of two lists of mineral salts, the first of anhydrous salts that can be weighed out, the second of hydrous salts that should be added to the artificial seawater as a solution.

While all of the compounds listed in the recipe above are inorganic, mineral salts, some artificial seawater recipes, such as Goldman and McCarthy (1978)^[2], make use of trace solutions of vitamins or organic compounds.

References

See also

• Algae culture
• Aquarium
• Seawater