Catalina water

S

SFreefer

New member
So I have been looking for some NSW to start my new 200G system with and all the stores in SF seem to want 1.25 per gallon for this stuff.

Now I know the actual Catalina Water Co. sells it cheaper than this so I called them directly to ask for a dealer here in SF. According to the person I spoke with there is no N. California dealer that carries their water.

So, what water is being sold in the local stores as Catalina water?
 
You are going to go broke if you pay for NSW to fill your tank. why not spend the $200 some dollars you would spend on NSW plus whatever you would pay for containers and buy a RODI unit and make it yourself?
 
There are a lot who carry Catalina. I know as of last time I went to New Alameda Aquatics they carry catalina.

All About Fish carries Harbor Bay.

If I were you, I'd take a road trip down to UC Santa Barbara and get some of their NSW for free =) It's the best NSW you can get!
 
Their is a Catalina North and South. The story is that Catalina North use to work for Catalina South and the water comes from Monterey.
 
i got my Catalina from Aquatic Central in Ocean Ave. they are $.80 cents a gallon. you called Catalina and they said there is no dealer in N Cal? the owner of Aquatic Central told me he's the only dealer in this area that carry Catalina. i hope i am not getting another brand of NSW that i am not even aware of.
 
If you guys are willing to drive to Bodegabay for a field trip, their is a place called UC Davis marine research center. They sell NSW for .05 cents a galon. If you have a big truck and large containers, then this will be worth your while.

The only caution is when you are using sea water, make sure to treat it correctly before use, since it has alot of silicate and life form that you need to filter out before putting it into your tank
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10047078#post10047078 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by northbay-reefer
If you guys are willing to drive to Bodegabay for a field trip, their is a place called UC Davis marine research center. They sell NSW for .05 cents a galon. If you have a big truck and large containers, then this will be worth your while.

The only caution is when you are using sea water, make sure to treat it correctly before use, since it has alot of silicate and life form that you need to filter out before putting it into your tank
Click to expand...

.... depending on how the sea water is treated. checkout the way UCSB treats their NSW, it's totally amazing. I have yet to see a tank in Santa Barbara look anything less than spectacular.

Santa Barbara is a bit of a unique place, being the only town in the united states (according to some websites i found) to not use floride in the water by choice, something like the first Co-Op pioneers, home of the BRAGG liquid aminos etc.

So naturally, they'd have free and amazing water.

Anyway I digress =P Maybe the UC Davis place does a similar process like that of UCSB where you really don't have to worry about the water.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=541355&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
 
Kinetic, I havent used the water from out there yet so I am not sure how it is treated. But I have three 55 gal drums ready to go and pick up some water with some fellow reefers. When am there I will ask and let everyone know how it was treated. I am planing to treat it myself anyway before adding it to my main tank, but I think its good to use NSW to get the elements that the synthetic salt might be missing.
 
I own an RO/DI already but I don't have the containers nor the tubing to get 200 gallons in my tank that way. I think going to UCSB might be a good idea except it's way too far.

As far as Catalina water being sold in Nor Call: I'll called Catalina water myself and they said there are no dealers that carry their water this far north. http://www.catalinawater.com/

She did say that their might be "Catalina Island" water here but that there will be no "Catalina Water" distributors this far north.

This might be the UCD place here:
http://www.bml.ucdavis.edu/facility/physplant.html
 
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The BML is technically an "all-UC" facility, although UCD administers it. I worked there for a summer and was never aware they sold seawater to the public. As far as I understand it is virtually raw seawater, although this was 3 years ago. We got crabs and snails stuck in the gravity fed pipes in the wet labs all the time and they were making plans to fix this issue. Horseshoe Cove is very small and receives a steady current from the NW that flushes it out regularly--there's no need to worry about toxic metals, pollutants, or salinity fluctuations you might get if you obtained water from a bay or estuary.

When I worked at UCD we trucked in 800 gallons of seawater at a time. We got it from the same pump station that the BML did. There are some issues. For one, there are a lot of dissolved organics. Plankton/bacteria dies off and will put a bit of nitrogen and phosphate in the water. Also, the alkalinity and pH tended to be a bit on the low side. I would test and boost calcium and alkalinity as needed. I would also filter the water through a fine micron sock before adding it to my tank.

Having said all that, the water is perfect if you are concerned about trace element ratios. We had a Merten's carpet anemone that was going on it's 19th year in captivity when we left, and I swear it had something to do with that water...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10053513#post10053513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by northbay-reefer
SFreefer yeap thats the UC davis one .... its probably closer to go to UC davis
Click to expand...

I can virtually guarantee UCD will not sell anyone seawater. :D
 
i am very concern of what kind of water i am getting if there is no Catalina dealers here. the owner of Aquatic Central assures me those are in fact Catalina water. he said he also has Half Moon Bay or something like that. also, if you got o PetCo, you will also see Catalina water there. it's in a box of 5 gallon each.
 
I dunno, I use only NSW on all my tanks. I get mine from Lucky Goldfish in Oakland and they charge $1 a gallon there. Dunno if that is worth the trip.

I'd say that if you are filling a tank that size though, it would be way cheaper to use synthetic while it is cycling. You can just keep filling 5 gallon buckets, although that might be time consuming.
 
or try to borrow some jugs from people. I have about 4 I can spare for a week or so. How were you planning on moving the water you may buy?
 
If you are serious about driving somewhere far to pick up NSW on a regular basis, you'd probably want to look into purchasing a horizontal round tank:

roundhorsml.jpg


They come in lots of different sizes. My concern with using 55 g drums is that a lot would spill out.
 
According to the page I linked here: http://www.bml.ucdavis.edu/facility/physplant.html

The water is filtered to 30microns. They also have raw seawater for planktonic samples.

The water in Petco is in fact actual Catalina Water Company water. The woman I spoke to on the phone informed me of this choice but when I told her the price Petco charged for it she almost fainted.

I am either going to get a large container like the one above and find a reliable source in the Bay Area for NSW or I will buy a smaller 50 gallon container with a float valve in it and do a few loads.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10054182#post10054182 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by juaninsac
I can virtually guarantee UCD will not sell anyone seawater. :D
Click to expand...

I called them about a month ago, and they told me that they will sell the NSW water, but you will need to call them ahead of time so they can prepare the pump for you
 
SFreefer,
did you ask them if Aquatic Central is one of their dealer or not? again, the owner told me that he's the only dealer around here that carries Catalina water. if he's mistaken for something else, i am somewhat concern of the water i am getting. also, are you in SF? if so, when you go up to get the water, can i ask you to bring me like 10 gallon? i will provide some containers and pay you the gas and such. just PM me. btw, i have a 10g nano so 10 gallon of NSW will last me a few months.

thx!
 
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