ofzakaria
Guest
not healthy practice my man. Calibrating refracto is highly recommended
Salinity
- Thread starter svreef
- Start date
not healthy practice my man. Calibrating refracto is highly recommendedsfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Yeah last "cheap Instant Ocean!!!!" purchase I made had 2 of the bags that were super solid. Granted I used them anyways because at the time I was keeping fish alive in an aiptasia infested tank so didn't care about calcium or alkalinity, but yeah when I got my 200g tank up I decided to "splurge" on salt.Well ... it is pretty obvious if your salt mix has been exposed to moisture.
I hate it when you pick up a bag and realize it is a solid brick because some warehouse worker was careless with a box cutter.
Patio
Supporting Member
I also put my salt mix on a scale and weigh before mixing. Then follow up with hannah, although not every time (shame on me lol). My scale has sharpie pen writing all over it to remind of how many grams of each various brand of salt to use per 5 gallons of water (more like 4.5g or to the designated marking I wrote on the bucket).
NanoCrazed
Supporting Member
But if my rodi reads zero, and NSW reads 1.026.... seems like a acceptable risk. Plus, there are times my rodi reservoir runs dry... so my tank creeps up in sg anyway -- proving at least in my tanks sg stability is nice but not the most critical variable to control.
Flagg37
Guest
Something @rygh reminded me a long time ago is that once you drop the couple drops of water on the refractometer the water will change temperature much closer to the temperature of the refractometer. It’s probably a good idea to store it in the sump cabinet so that it’s close to the temperature of the tank.
ofzakaria
Guest
What I read is that its recomended to store the refracto and its cal solutions where the water to be tested is.
But in my case since my mixing station is in the garage it get way too cold or too hot. So what I actually do is take the water sample to inside the house and wait for 30min before I use it so refracto, the cal solution and the water sample are all withen the range of the refracto spec range.
Now I started using heater in my mixing station, so I at least solved the winter issue. I keep refracto and its solution inside the house, when I mix I heat the water while mixing it to 75 degree so I make sure am mixing 35ppt indeed.
Still the summer is a challenge..
Mozby
Guest
\
was not accurate. It tested at 1.027. Since I used it to calibrate my refractometer back when I had my nuvo20, my tank salinity was always 1.027 and I was none the wiser.
Since then, I've upgraded to the Milwaukee and use RO to calibrate/check that it reads 0. Now I trust my readings a lot more.
I believe the reason for more "wrongs" lies with the calibration solutions. I tried this awhile ago with @Rostato and we concluded that the calibration solution that I had (from BRS)
was not accurate. It tested at 1.027. Since I used it to calibrate my refractometer back when I had my nuvo20, my tank salinity was always 1.027 and I was none the wiser.
Since then, I've upgraded to the Milwaukee and use RO to calibrate/check that it reads 0. Now I trust my readings a lot more.
ofzakaria
Guest
I personally agree with your approach.
I do not like the approach of: look there, other are inconsistent so it's ok to be inconsistent. This is common theme I see with test equipments vendors trying to downplay inaccuracies.
If there is inconsistency the right thing to do is to try and figure out why. Not to say let's live with it..
One of the reasons I pay attention to calibration procedures and cal solutions is because of how important the base line is in any measurment. If you seek accuracy you have to start with solid foundation, which in this case is the calibration procedure of the instrument..
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Now this...
www.bulkreefsupply.com
High Precision Hydrometer
Ensure that your equipment is reading correctly and your aquarium is at the right salinity with Tropic Marin's High Precision Hydrometer. Many tank inhabitants are sensitive even to minor changes of the water conditions. Unfortunately as we've all experienced, salinity reading equipment as...
www.bulkreefsupply.com
Coral reefer
Past President
That’s the first type I ever hadNow this...
High Precision Hydrometer
Ensure that your equipment is reading correctly and your aquarium is at the right salinity with Tropic Marin's High Precision Hydrometer. Many tank inhabitants are sensitive even to minor changes of the water conditions. Unfortunately as we've all experienced, salinity reading equipment as...
ofzakaria
Guest
Same here. I used it for years actually. This can be one of the most accurate in home measurment tools if you make sure water temp is at what the hydrometer spec it for.
This one is spec'ed for 77degree..
ofzakaria
Guest
I believe BC run on the high end to reduce hos dosing and to run bit high major elements... there is a link on my jurnal someone posted where Aramco explained why he run it high.
RandyC
Supporting Member
The gist: he accidentally ran high once, things looked better, so he kept it high. I don’t think he’s done much research (or documented it) into why it’s better for him.
!!!HIGH SALINITY, AM I A ONE MAN GANG? OR ANYONE ELSE IN??
Not so curiously, this is another one of those subjects that I seem to find myself and explaining and repeating more often than others. Anytime I'll send over some system param's if someone ask's, the very first response, and usually alarmingly so, goes "Whoa! is that a typo, or do you really...
www.reef2reef.com
ofzakaria
Guest
I have a feeling his observation was due to higher consetrations of trace elements due to higher salinity..just predictionThe gist: he accidentally ran high once, things looked better, so he kept it high. I don’t think he’s done much research (or documented it) into why it’s better for him.
!!!HIGH SALINITY, AM I A ONE MAN GANG? OR ANYONE ELSE IN??
Not so curiously, this is another one of those subjects that I seem to find myself and explaining and repeating more often than others. Anytime I'll send over some system param's if someone ask's, the very first response, and usually alarmingly so, goes "Whoa! is that a typo, or do you really...
Flagg37
Guest
That’s what I remembered. Just figured I’d ask to see if anyone else was doing the same thing and why. His reasoning seemed very flimsy. You don’t need to run salinity high just to keep major, minor, and trace elements elevated.The gist: he accidentally ran high once, things looked better, so he kept it high. I don’t think he’s done much research (or documented it) into why it’s better for him.
!!!HIGH SALINITY, AM I A ONE MAN GANG? OR ANYONE ELSE IN??
Not so curiously, this is another one of those subjects that I seem to find myself and explaining and repeating more often than others. Anytime I'll send over some system param's if someone ask's, the very first response, and usually alarmingly so, goes "Whoa! is that a typo, or do you really...
ofzakaria
Guest
Got a new Milwaukee refracto today cause mine broke..
Look how wishy washy the calibration instruction is.
Inside the package there is a card that strongly say use only distilled water to calibrate...
In the same box there is the manual which on page 9 say, use DI or distilled water lol...
Look how wishy washy the calibration instruction is.
Inside the package there is a card that strongly say use only distilled water to calibrate...
In the same box there is the manual which on page 9 say, use DI or distilled water lol...
