Distilled Water - Refractometer
- Thread starter imfsub12
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spreston
New member
Please read, http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/index.php
Incorrect.........most of the hobbyist refractometers are made to test brine solutions and not seawater hence they say to use distilled water and set scale to 0 which may give incorrect reading when testing seawater. The correct way to calibrate it to measure seawater is to use the Pinpoint 53.0 mS solution and set to 1.0264
Some refractos will be pretty close if using distilled and set to read 0 however some will be way off, mine was off by .003 using distilled which is quite a bit.
Read the article before you do the duh thing...duh. You may just learn that what you thought was correct was in fact wrong. Brine is not sea water and the refraction is different.
Use the pinpoint 53 ms solution and your refractometer will be correct. Not all refractometers are the same...it isn't worth taking the chance when the solution is so cheap.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/index.php
Incorrect again.........you may want to read this entire article by Randy Holmes-Farley regarding calibrating refractos and it may explain a few things to you.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/index.php#20
i would also recommend using a calibration solution, and its actually pretty easy to make your own.
from the above linked article
1. Measure ¼ cup of Morton's Iodized Salt (about 73.1 g).
2. Add one teaspoon of salt (making about 79.3 g total salt).
3. Measure the full volume of a plastic 2 L Coke or Diet Coke bottle filled with purified freshwater (about 2104.4 g).
4. Dissolve the total salt (79.3 g) in the total water volume (2104 g) to make an approximately 3.65 weight percent solution of NaCl. The volume of this solution will be slightly larger than the Coke bottle, so dissolve it in another container.
from the above linked article
1. Measure ¼ cup of Morton's Iodized Salt (about 73.1 g).
2. Add one teaspoon of salt (making about 79.3 g total salt).
3. Measure the full volume of a plastic 2 L Coke or Diet Coke bottle filled with purified freshwater (about 2104.4 g).
4. Dissolve the total salt (79.3 g) in the total water volume (2104 g) to make an approximately 3.65 weight percent solution of NaCl. The volume of this solution will be slightly larger than the Coke bottle, so dissolve it in another container.
buck50bmg
In Memoriam
Some of you guys really need to get a life
The term brine means water with salt in it
Duhhhhhh Saltwater.
If you read the article you just sent me you will see that a endpoint calibration is OK.
If you want to take one persons take on this subject and follow it blindly with out thinking for yourself then fine, but dont tell people to buy stuff when they dont need it. Heck a .003 difference is nothing!
I was a Sonar Tech in the Navy Submarine force and we used salinity all the time to figure range to a target, we always were monitoring it, and it always swigged far more than .003 from time to time.
Get over the nerdy tweaking and enjoy the hobby
Oh yea even though you use the solution how are you sure that the curve is correct? Did you ever drop the meter? Are you sure it is ATC? If not are you using a calibrated thermometer to make sure????? Did you touch the sample with your bare hands????? Did you get your sample from your sump or the top of the tank or the bottom???? How much flow do you have???? Was your ATO running??? You could go on and on about the little things that will effect salinity......
The term brine means water with salt in it
Duhhhhhh Saltwater.
If you read the article you just sent me you will see that a endpoint calibration is OK.
If you want to take one persons take on this subject and follow it blindly with out thinking for yourself then fine, but dont tell people to buy stuff when they dont need it. Heck a .003 difference is nothing!
I was a Sonar Tech in the Navy Submarine force and we used salinity all the time to figure range to a target, we always were monitoring it, and it always swigged far more than .003 from time to time.
Get over the nerdy tweaking and enjoy the hobby
Oh yea even though you use the solution how are you sure that the curve is correct? Did you ever drop the meter? Are you sure it is ATC? If not are you using a calibrated thermometer to make sure????? Did you touch the sample with your bare hands????? Did you get your sample from your sump or the top of the tank or the bottom???? How much flow do you have???? Was your ATO running??? You could go on and on about the little things that will effect salinity......
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