Refractometer woes….what would you do?

Not sure if this belongs in the advanced section, but it’s a fairly nuanced question.

So for the past few months on this build, I’ve been using my ATC refract. I’ve been calibrating it with some old solution without much of a second thought. By old, I mean I have no clue how old that bottle is. It may be 10 years old for all I know.

I compared it to some swing arm readings to see if it was in the ballpark and it was, so I figured ok good enough.

I got to thinking recently, for no particular reason, that maybe I should order a new bottle of solution, which I did.

I checked and the two bottles are drastically different. If calibrated to the new solution my tank is water is reading 40ppt. It is 5ppt higher than the old solution.

What would you do in this situation? I’ve considered going into the auto water change and adjusting it based on the new calibration solution so that over the next month to two months the tank slowly goes down.

But, nothing seems bothered. All the animals seem fine except for the Duncan coral frag which was open when I got it and never opened again. I have a bunch of inverts who are doing well and seem unbothered, like 3 RFAs and a mini carpet nem who also seem unbothered. Everyone seems happy, so I’m ascared to make a drastic 5ppt change here.

Opinions?
 

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Dropping salinity quickly is not nearly as bad for inhabitants as increasing it quickly. Personally, I would just do a series of water changes over the course of the next couple of weeks with the new water being a bit lower in salinity than what is in the tank now.
 
Oh, and for the record. I don't buy/use solution to calibrate my refractometer. I use RODI water and calibrate to zero.

Oh really? I thought calibrating a refract to zero made it inaccurate? Where did I read that? Maybe I have a Mandela effect and am thinking of something else?
 
Ok NICE!

So I calibrated to the water and got it to 0.

I then checked the new calibration solution and got 35 on the money.

I checked the ancient stuff and got 41………😬

I then checked the aquarium and got 42…….😬

I bailed about a gallon out of the aquarium and got down to 35. I fixed the salt water reservoir to 35 which was also too high.

Almost immediately the Duncan began to extend. Wow.

Goes to show everyone that no matter how long you’ve been doing something, there’s always something to learn.
 
Hmmm, I don’t know. I always heard the calibration fluid was a scam and using RODI was the way to go. Maybe @kharmaguru @Reefing102 @JCOLE can chime in.

When I used them I used to calibrate with ro water to 0. I also bought calibration solution as well but ended up using only ro.

I use a digital one now and double check it with a floating hydrometer every now and then.
 
Glad you got it figured out. I was going to say I don’t use a refractometer but had always heard the use RODI thing
 
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