Watch your refractometer
- Thread starter jlaudiofreak
- Start date
reefkeeper2
Premium Member
:thumbsup: Same here. After constantly futzing with calibration fluids and constantly questioning my results, I got a good quality hydrometer and put the refractometer away. Easy and dependable and no calibrations!
fcmatt
Member
sure i read it. but have you not read posts about bad refractometers before?
some have been known not to hold their calibration well. perhaps broken in some
way. or perhaps the temp was being ignored.. one bottle warm, the other cold,
or whatever. many possible reasons mistakes can be made. just look at test
kits for example of user errors when i would have thought the directions were
plain and simple.
i guess my point is.. is that on one side you have 100 people saying this brand
works and on another you have a handful saying it sucks...
at what point do you just ignore the ones who had trouble and use the product?
and to be extra careful order another brand at the same time.
if i stopped buying products because one or two people said it was garbage
i would not be able to purchase a single thing in this hobby!!! nada. zip. zilch.
allsps40
New member
You are crazy man, best thing to use period. Ro water is not a good calibration solution.
Every hydrometer I have ever had has been off. Instant Ocean, Red Sea and Coralife all have been off by what I would consider an unacceptable amount. A refractometer is the best way to go but they need to be calibrated about every 2-3 months. You must also make sure that the refractometer and solution are 76 degrees or you will not get a good reading.
If you can't calibrate even your most basic but important equipment then why would said person be in this hobby??
reefkeeper2
Premium Member
I think that would depend on the quality of the hydrometer. The salinity of my system is monitored with a conductivity meter. I use the hydrometer to calibrate the probe. This gives me great consistency. Besides, if you knew your hydrometer was off +/- by a certain amount, you could always adjust accordingly. A refractometers results could drift in any direction at any time.
hydrometers are not accurate or dependable... something that shouldnt even be used imo... for anyone who does use them, how can u say they are acurate when they are proven time and time and time and time again, not to be?? truth is you jus dont know if your reading is correct... my corals and fish are far too important not to know the results i am getting are acurate, and a properly maintained and calibrated refractometer will in fact work well and jus fine... again, one that is properly maintaned and calibrated...
fcmatt
Member
you are probably thinking of the cheap plastic hydrometers. you can buy lab
grade glass floating hydrometers that can compete easily with any refractometer
we normally buy for this hobby. fyi. if you wish to see one that is commonly used
check out tropic marin's glass floating hydrometer. Maximum deviation 0.0001.
you are correct, and my bad... i was thinking of those peices of junk they sell at most places lol... of course i would have assumed there are some high quality scientific grade ones out there, but i guess i jus didnt realize they were around the hobby at all... thank you for correcting me, again my bad...
let me ask, are these your speaking of possible to calibrate? or is it jus proven they are consistant and reliable?
klepto
New member
calibration fluid... always a good thing
:thumbsup: Every time! An precise instrument is a calibrated one. I use Aqua Craft's calibration fluid. It comes in a dropper bottle which is much more user friendly than pinpoints product.
For what its worth, I have tested a couple of Pinpoint bottles against Aqua Craft's fluid and they were identical.
fishypets
New member
I never said to use RO water. I simply said that PinPoint Salinity fluid is not accurate. Stop speed reading and pay attention.
fcmatt
Member
based on what i know.. a glass hydrometer is what it is. you cannot open it up
and change it in some way. that includes the scale on it or inside it.
thus, if you question how accurate it is you must put it in a known sample and
see how it matches up. if it is off, you would have to take note of the difference
and use that going forward. distilled water should read 1.000 and that is another
way to check if it is working correctly. i am pretty sure the scale is linear.
i imagine if you let anything build up on the glass, residue or what not, that
could cause an issue as it would be heavier. i imagine if you somehow jarred
it enough to move scale inside it that would also cause it to malfunction. one
has to watch out for bubbles sticking to it. one has to watch out it is not
touching the glass walls of the container it is floating in. the water has to
be steady and at a known temp that it was designed for.
but then this is all from memory and i have not used one in a decade. they
are pretty fragile and a pain to use compared to a refract. a good one will
be greater then 10 inches tall and break easily. i also do not even have a tall
clear enough glass to fit one in now days.
psykobowler
New member
I never use calibration fluid, just ro water on the refractometer. I just make sure I put 2.5 cups in a 5 gallon bucket when mixing salt. I can't imagine my salinity would go down 1.015 if I do my water changes properly.
Kerreefer
In Memoriam
i had a buddy that coould never understand why all his stuff died all the time. he could kill anything. after a year, he broke down his tank. now my wife's, we went through all his old equipment and i used his New hydrometer to test My tank. it showed salinity at .020. funny enough i keep mine at .0245, so i bought a 3rd hydrometer to check... .0245 like my old one. all this time hyposalinity was his prob. i checked a 5 gallon batch of water and took salinity to what His new hydro would be for .0245 and tested with mine. it ended up being off the charts at .030! lol poor guy.
