UCSB Santa Barbara NSW Natural Sea Water...

[boarder]

For those of you from the greater Santa Barbara area this is probably some valuable information....

There is free saltwater (Natural Sea Water) available at UCSB. For the past year I have been paying 75 cents a gallon for pre-mixed sw or mixing my own for 25 cents plus salt costs. I always suspected there was water available at the university, but never figured out how to get it. Maybe I'm real slow (I do go to a cc).. and everyone else already knows this.

Take the 217 to UCSB. Turn left at the fork. Turn right on to UCEN Rd. ( It's the first road with a road sign). Imediatly turn right into the parking lot. There should be a spiggot to the right of you.

If you still have trouble finding it, I can post some pictures of the spiggot and the parking lot... But it's pretty self-explanitory... Oh yeah, use the BLUE hose. Have fun.

 

[Spartan081]

I hear there's also free NSW at scripps institute in san diego and also near the aquarium in long beach somewhere. Does anyone know how to get to these two places?

 

[boarder]

I think directions to all of these facilities needs to be a sticky post(permanent).. So that people can learn good

 

[JetHead]

Do you know if this water spiggot pulls from the local beach area or further out? Or is it for the Marine Science studies?

 

[boarder]

From what I know, it pulls out from pretty far off shore ( a 1/2 mile maybe ). It is then filtered through a sand filter. It is for the Marine Science studies. The spiggot is for public use from what I understand.

 

[JetHead]

You use it first and let us know... lol

I'm just setting up my tank, I'd love it if I could use that water. I'll check into it some more and let you know what I find out.

 

[dattack]

Only problem is some of those places are too far and the cost of gas these days are too high.

 

[rehren]

i've been using this water (ucsb nsw) for over a year, in fact it's the only water to ever be in my tank:

 

[JetHead]

HOT DAMN!!! I'm gonna go look for that spiggot this weekend.

Rehren, is it for use by students and faculty only or is accessible to everyone? My girlfriend is a grad student at the university so I guess I could have her come with me. If I can get my tank to look even half as nice as yours I'll consider it a huge success!!

Thanks for the tips guys! Anyone wanna part with a cup of substrate for seeding my tank in a couple of weeks?

HOT DAMN... FREE WATER!!!

 

[JetHead]

Oh yeah... can I just dump it in the tank when I'm ready, or does it need to be treated with anything?

 

[boarder]

It's ready for the tank... It's heavily filtered through sand so nitrates and biological mater will be almost nill. It's open to the public, I was there today.

 

[rehren]

If I can get my tank to look even half as nice as yours I'll consider it a huge success

thanks. i'm actually breaking the tank down now though, there are still a few things available:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=539733

Oh yeah... can I just dump it in the tank when I'm ready, or does it need to be treated with anything?

just heat it. it's open for the public, although they recently reduced the hose size to 1/2" to stop commercial use i bet. (they used to have a 1" hose, and a 2.5" hose.)

 

[abad36]

So............. where's the one in LB ?
TX

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

I've been using it too for about a year. I usually drive up w/ 2 55G trashcans to fill up so I don't have to go so often. What I don't use imeaditly, I just store in the trashcans until I need it. Never had a problem with it. I did notice that my tank seemed to look better after I started using it.

Here's a pic of my 6+ year ol 45 G Hex. There's more pics in my gallery.

 

[reefpeep2004]

I'm aware of Scripps in SD, but if there's water available in LB, it's news to me?

 

[bgoode]

I don't think LB has water available, they send out tankers out to sea and bring that water back for their use. The Scripps water is available from a spigot similar to the UCSB one it sounds like.

 

[rehren]

i'm sure you can get catalina water in long beach somewhere...

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

LB aquarium uses Catalina water. Which by the by, doesn't come from Catalin Island anymore, it's sucked out of the LB harbor.

 

[bowfront26]

I've been using UCSB's water for a few months now, its great. It sure beats mixing it

 

[OUinLA]

UCSB's water is free for everyone and has been for years. It's there because of the Marine Lab (and they have announcd it's availabitlity on RC many times) but is available to everyone. If you're in the area, you should definately take advantage.