... or at least calibrate your hydrometer with a friends refractometer regularly.
Up until about 6 weeks ago I was running old school with the same hydrometer I had been using since 2000. I have never calibrated it and never assumed it to be off by much. I figured if my Specific Gravity was off by 0.002 or so in either direction, who cares, as long as its stable right?
Well, I bought a refractometer about six weeks back, really out of a once a month desire to have new "cool guy stuff." After calibrating the refractometer to a known concentration, I checked my tank water... 1.033!
Over a span of about 3 weeks I've brought my SG back down to 1.025 and my tank has never looked better. I never really noticed any serious issues will the SG so high but I've noticed the color of many of my corals color has improved since I've brought it back down. My frogsspawn and crocea clam which all paled out when I introduced them months back, now finally have the rich colors they had when I first put them in. Also, I'm seeing new polyps on some of my zoanthids that haven't grown in probably close to a year, and I could never figure out why. Finally, most likely unrelated, but yet a strange coincidence, the Lobophora algae I've been futilely battling for over a year is finally starting to recede!
I knew hydrometers could be inaccurate but I never guessed they could be that far off. I figure the one I have started out fine but slowly degraded over time and became less and less accurate. Its odd how one could be in this hobby for so long and over look something so basic
. This is just a little advice to save someone the same mistake I made. If you have a hydrometer and want to check it against a refractometer shoot me a PM.
Later,
Up until about 6 weeks ago I was running old school with the same hydrometer I had been using since 2000. I have never calibrated it and never assumed it to be off by much. I figured if my Specific Gravity was off by 0.002 or so in either direction, who cares, as long as its stable right?
Well, I bought a refractometer about six weeks back, really out of a once a month desire to have new "cool guy stuff." After calibrating the refractometer to a known concentration, I checked my tank water... 1.033!
Over a span of about 3 weeks I've brought my SG back down to 1.025 and my tank has never looked better. I never really noticed any serious issues will the SG so high but I've noticed the color of many of my corals color has improved since I've brought it back down. My frogsspawn and crocea clam which all paled out when I introduced them months back, now finally have the rich colors they had when I first put them in. Also, I'm seeing new polyps on some of my zoanthids that haven't grown in probably close to a year, and I could never figure out why. Finally, most likely unrelated, but yet a strange coincidence, the Lobophora algae I've been futilely battling for over a year is finally starting to recede!
I knew hydrometers could be inaccurate but I never guessed they could be that far off. I figure the one I have started out fine but slowly degraded over time and became less and less accurate. Its odd how one could be in this hobby for so long and over look something so basic
. This is just a little advice to save someone the same mistake I made. If you have a hydrometer and want to check it against a refractometer shoot me a PM.Later,
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