Why the high Salinity?

[Victor1046]

Nother question, 110 gal at 2 week into cycle
Salinty is 1.030

I did a 10% water change and now I've turned off the skimmer

Temp 78
Ph 7.4
Amonia .50
Nitrate 40
Nitrate 0

Any thoughts?

 

[alzika]

You...put...too much salt in it?

 

[lifesworksataol]

sometimes when i do a water change or first setup tank the salt takes a few days to totaly disolve - so just bring it down and you will be good - just read how much salt it takes to get a certain salinaty and only put that in - maybe should try someone elses salinaty gaUGE ALSO - your not using one that you leave in the tank are you?

 

[Victor1046]

The water was ocean water and delivered with the tank but ........that's what they said.........

 

[Victor1046]

No I am using one of those arm testers. Not the most scientific but my 10 gallong registers at 1.025 approx.

I am also buying the water from a local marine store here and not making it on my own.

You think more water changes?

 

[Paintbug]

what are you using for top offs from evaporation? if you are using saltwater theres the problem. if you are using RO or tap (which you shouldnt) then the swing arm may be getting some air bubbles on it, which causes a high reading.

 

[Teknagen]

Are you refilling your tank with RO/DI water from evaporation? If you keep adding saltwater the salinity will increase when it evaporates.

 

[Victor1046]

No I am using bottled distilled water

Is that OK? I'm not having too much evap but have added a
few gallons over the course of the two weeks

Thanks for your input

 

[xenon]

My guess is your hydrometer is reading too high.

My coralife hydrometer was off by .04.

Get yourself a refractometer, its only 30$ more and perfectly accurate when you use the pinpoint solution for calibration.

I really wish hydrometers were not invented. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

 

[bertoni]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

That article will describe how to calibrate your SG device, which I think would be worthwhile at this point. I use a conductivity meter, but if you're careful with the swing-arm and keep it clean, it'll be okay.

 

[Paintbug]

double check that the swing arm is clean, and when in use there is not any tiny bubbles on the arm.

 

[Victor1046]

Thank you guys again and again

Vicki

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9446162#post9446162 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xenon
My guess is your hydrometer is reading too high.

My coralife hydrometer was off by .04.

Get yourself a refractometer, its only 30$ more and perfectly accurate when you use the pinpoint solution for calibration.

I really wish hydrometers were not invented. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.

FWIW, I have access to several bottles of the pinpoint solution, and they do not all read out the same on a refractometer. I double checked this with a super accurate NaCl solution based on Randy Holmes-Farley's recipe (made up of 963.5 gms 18.2 megaohm water and 36.50 gms 99.9% minimum HPLC grade NaCl). There have been recent other threads about issues with the pinpoint solution as well.

By wishing hydrometers were not invented, I assume you mean the swing-arm ones. Floating glass hydrometers are very accurate.

 

[syrinx]

Nothing is more foolproof that a lab grade glass hydrometer used at its specified temp of accuracy. Refractometers in the hands of most are a high tech swing arm hydro.

 

[Victor1046]

I am gonna check my local store to see if they have the glass hydrometer and get to the bottom of this today!
Thanks again

 

[Scuba_Steve]

If you really want to be accurate, and dont mind shelling out the $100 get a pinpoint salinity meter. They are well worth and take the guessing games out. True a lab grade hydro is great, but this is accurate, and easy to use!

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9450322#post9450322 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuba_steve1
If you really want to be accurate, and dont mind shelling out the $100 get a pinpoint salinity meter. They are well worth and take the guessing games out. True a lab grade hydro is great, but this is accurate, and easy to use!

There have been threads lately about issues with the meters and the calibration solution...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1007891

A friend of mine has the same issues. We have tested several bottles of the pinpoint calibration solution and find them to calibrate the meter differently. In other words calibrating the pinpoint to 53 mS with one bottle, and then taking a reading from another bottle gives a number that is not 53. We also tested the pinpoint against some refracto calibration solution we made up in the lab (ultra pure water + ultra pure NaCl), and most of them varied. One bottle was dead on, and that was chosen as the one that should be used to calibrate to 53 mS. The variability in the solutions was quite surprising.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

how much of a varience?

 

[crumbletop]

between 1.025 and 1.029 for the SG, and between 52 and 58 for the mS. The guy in the thread I referenced got 72 mS for the pinpoint when using a solution a pharmacist mixed up for him, and even verified the reading with some sea water from the Dominican Republic. We tested 8 bottles and didn't get any that far off.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8951630#post8951630