Taking care of a Stichodactyla gigantea
- Thread starter Finsky
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Finsky
New member
Electronic salnity monitor and two hydrometers
Electronic salnity monitor and two hydrometers
Howdy:
I invested in a Pinpoint Salinity Monitor and a Pinpoint pH Monitor a few years back and they are the two of the best investments I have made in saltwater aquarium keeping. I keep the pH probe in the tank and the monitor always running with a 9 volt battery. The salinity probe is always in the tank although I keep the monitor turned off as it drains a 9 volt in a few days.
Anyways, I am able to bring the specific gravity of the 120H tank to 1.0237 (1.024) and then I use "two" Coralife Deep Six hydrometers to see where the needles settle. This allows me to become very accurate with the hydrometers when I am testing the replacement water in my 30 gallon rubbermade brute with the two hydrometers. Also, this method lets me know whether either of my hydrometers has a problem by judging the distance between the two readings.
For specific gravity of 1.024, one hyrdrometer needle has the top edge just on the bottom edge of 1.023 and the second hydrometer needle is always just below around 1.0225.
This has worked for years and I recently had a professor of marine biology friend over and he mentioned that the Pinpoint Monitor did not give a consistent reading for him and when did I last calibrate it. It had not been calibrated for a couple of years and when I did calibrate a couple of months ago it came in at 52.9 mS and I adjusted the screw to bring it back to 53.0. This was an extremely small miscalibration.
I have found that the Pinpoint Monitors can be affected by metal halides when used with a "plug in the wall" adaptor so I switched to using 9 volt batteries which solved that problem.
Temperature can run 80 F to 82 F in the winter and 82 F to 85 F just a few minutes ago. I have had a red rose bubble tip anemone split in this tank and it has gone up to a maximum of 86 F in past summers although this summer I have kept it at 85 F maximum near the end of the day and even installed a glass cover with a brand new 60" Marineland Pro Lighting System with two 150double ended metal halides at 14,000 K and two 54 watt T5-HO actinic bulbs and two 54 watt T5-HO 10,000K daylight bulbs
Electronic salnity monitor and two hydrometers
Howdy:
I invested in a Pinpoint Salinity Monitor and a Pinpoint pH Monitor a few years back and they are the two of the best investments I have made in saltwater aquarium keeping. I keep the pH probe in the tank and the monitor always running with a 9 volt battery. The salinity probe is always in the tank although I keep the monitor turned off as it drains a 9 volt in a few days.
Anyways, I am able to bring the specific gravity of the 120H tank to 1.0237 (1.024) and then I use "two" Coralife Deep Six hydrometers to see where the needles settle. This allows me to become very accurate with the hydrometers when I am testing the replacement water in my 30 gallon rubbermade brute with the two hydrometers. Also, this method lets me know whether either of my hydrometers has a problem by judging the distance between the two readings.
For specific gravity of 1.024, one hyrdrometer needle has the top edge just on the bottom edge of 1.023 and the second hydrometer needle is always just below around 1.0225.
This has worked for years and I recently had a professor of marine biology friend over and he mentioned that the Pinpoint Monitor did not give a consistent reading for him and when did I last calibrate it. It had not been calibrated for a couple of years and when I did calibrate a couple of months ago it came in at 52.9 mS and I adjusted the screw to bring it back to 53.0. This was an extremely small miscalibration.
I have found that the Pinpoint Monitors can be affected by metal halides when used with a "plug in the wall" adaptor so I switched to using 9 volt batteries which solved that problem.
Temperature can run 80 F to 82 F in the winter and 82 F to 85 F just a few minutes ago. I have had a red rose bubble tip anemone split in this tank and it has gone up to a maximum of 86 F in past summers although this summer I have kept it at 85 F maximum near the end of the day and even installed a glass cover with a brand new 60" Marineland Pro Lighting System with two 150double ended metal halides at 14,000 K and two 54 watt T5-HO actinic bulbs and two 54 watt T5-HO 10,000K daylight bulbs
Last edited:
Ohh...
Can you do me a favor and re-test using a refractometer, if you have one.
I have seen hydrometers on friends tanks run amuck, then to be tested with a refractometer and see how far off it was. One friend was lucky, a different one was not so happy.
I do like the salnity probe over the hydrometer.
I was just wondering.
Can you do me a favor and re-test using a refractometer, if you have one.
I have seen hydrometers on friends tanks run amuck, then to be tested with a refractometer and see how far off it was. One friend was lucky, a different one was not so happy.
I do like the salnity probe over the hydrometer.
I was just wondering.
Finsky
New member
Pinpoint Salinity Monitor
Pinpoint Salinity Monitor
Hello:
I do not own a refractor although they are accurate to within ±0.0010 specific gravity when calibrated with Pinpoint 53.00 mS calibration fluid.
The Pinpoint Salinity Monitor is accurate to within +-.0003 specific gravity when calibrated with 53.00 mS so your accuracy using the electronic monitor is 30% of the error deviation that you would get using the refractor.
My specific gravity of my aquarium falls within the range of 1.0237 plus or minus .0003 which would be 1.0234 to 1.0240.
With a refractor, the range would fall within 1.0237 plus or minus .001 or 1.0227 to 1.0247.
As you can see, the refractor could be measuring almost 1.025 and I prefer to keep my tanks within 1.022 to 1.024 as I have six tanks with very valuable clownfish brood stock.
Of course, evaporation can cause more of a deviation than both of the above deviation error fluctuations using either piece of equipment.
Pinpoint Salinity Monitor
Hello:
I do not own a refractor although they are accurate to within ±0.0010 specific gravity when calibrated with Pinpoint 53.00 mS calibration fluid.
The Pinpoint Salinity Monitor is accurate to within +-.0003 specific gravity when calibrated with 53.00 mS so your accuracy using the electronic monitor is 30% of the error deviation that you would get using the refractor.
My specific gravity of my aquarium falls within the range of 1.0237 plus or minus .0003 which would be 1.0234 to 1.0240.
With a refractor, the range would fall within 1.0237 plus or minus .001 or 1.0227 to 1.0247.
As you can see, the refractor could be measuring almost 1.025 and I prefer to keep my tanks within 1.022 to 1.024 as I have six tanks with very valuable clownfish brood stock.
Of course, evaporation can cause more of a deviation than both of the above deviation error fluctuations using either piece of equipment.
CoralsAddiction
Active member
Hi, any updates on your gigantea(s)?
CoralsAddiction
Active member
For the past month, the gigantean has been basking in the LED lights of two 36" Marineland Reef Capable fixtures and seems to be liking it.
I have to admit...it's one of the hardiest gigs I've seen on this forum. Props to you for taking good care of this animal.
geckoejon
Active member
really? did you recently change the lighting in the tank? have you ever measured the par level that the gig is getting? just curious...
