Distilled Water - Refractometer

[buck50bmg]

So you are making sure the fluid is at exactly 77 F right? Even with ATC?

 

[mbbuna]

all the "duhs" and "get a life" comments are not appreciated. this is an information exchange board so if you cant do that with out the condescending remarks i suggest you refrain from commenting at all.

Oh yea even though you use the solution how are you sure that the curve is correct?

if you calibrate with with a solution that is at NSW levels and you are testing a sample of NSW then the slope is of little consequence. that is the whole reason for calibrating with something like the pinpoint solution. if the slope is off and you calibrate with distilled it can be very far off when testing seawater.

 

[HowardW]

<<< The term brine means water with salt in it
Duhhhhhh Saltwater. >>>


Nope........a brine solution and seawater are not the same as far as many test instruments are concerned including refractometers.





<<< that is the whole reason for calibrating with something like the pinpoint solution. if the slope is off and you calibrate with distilled it can be very far off when testing seawater. >>>


Exactly!.........many of the marine hobbyist refractos can and will be off as much as .003 - .005 when calibrated to 0 using distilled water which is a very large margin of error and would pretty much defeat the whole purpose of spending money on a refractometer in the first place.

 

[imfsub12]

ok where can you get this pinpoint solution in CANADA.. don't want usa places.. as duty will be a killer...

 

[mbbuna]

cant help you with that but you can make your own in 5 minutes with salt and RO water

 

[JNye]

if i use that recipe to make my own I calibrate to 1.0264? sorry i did not read the article.

 

[A.T.T.R]

a .003 difference is huge
1.020 is to low.. 1.026 is ideal
my refractometer calibrated with RODI ( same as distilled) was off by over .005

everything has a range and you try to calibrate in that range
why do you think you use ph solution 7 and 10 instead o 4 and 7 ?

 

[imfsub12]

CAn i USE Distilled WATER for my water in the home made solution.. ????? should still work..

 

[mbbuna]

yes you can use distilled. distilled water is purified water just like RO water is purified water, the two are just processed differently

 

[imfsub12]

sweet have all the stuff here .. just waiting to get a scale to measure right....

if my salinity is high damm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JayB1224]

I calibrated my refractometer today with pinpoint 53 solution.
My salinity was +.004 putting my tank @ 1.030.....Holy shnikies!
I was previously using RO water for calibration...never again.....eventhough the directions say to use it.

 

[E.J. Coral]

I also use distilled water to calibrate my refractometer. I use NSW that I collect myself. It reads 1.026 every time.