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testing the PERFECT Salinity need advice

N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
hey guys, so im planning of setting up a QT tank and trying the Hypo salinity method of killing ich supposedly its the easiest yet the safest way without using copper....

well i have a refactometer that i purchased from petco a year ago and ive been using it to measure my salinity in my current DT but how do you really know its reading correctly any time you put distilled water it shows zero
but if you put salt water itll show lets say 1.025 but you can bring the calibration down to read 1.020 and then read distilled water again and youll still get zero...

so i work in a lab where they make inks and one of the scientist lent me a device here is the link
https://www.amazon.com/Atago-PAL-1-...refractometer&qid=1556798352&s=gateway&sr=8-3

this thing supposedly measure salinity to the finest of points i mean its $300 better measure it good
so when i tested it with a cup of salt water it showed up 0.5 percent but the refactometer i have is showing 0.7-0.8 percent which is alittle off and doing hypo requires that sweet spot supposedly..
 
Sponge

Sponge

You need calibration solution for your refractometer. You should not calibrate with RO water. It will get you close but not accurate. You can generally get calibration solution from any reef shop. It’s a small pouch of single use solution that you dial your refractometer to. Simple and accurate
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
You need calibration solution for your refractometer. You should not calibrate with RO water. It will get you close but not accurate. You can generally get calibration solution from any reef shop. It’s a small pouch of single use solution that you dial your refractometer to. Simple and accurate
Click to expand...
you think a fish store would be able to calibrate it for me and itll be perfect?
 
Mrx7899x

Mrx7899x

It depends on the refactometer. The instructions for mine only say to calibrate with distilled water not calibration fluid. It reads spot on with my Milwaukee tester and every icp test I have done.
 
David

David

Sponge said:
You need calibration solution for your refractometer. You should not calibrate with RO water. It will get you close but not accurate. You can generally get calibration solution from any reef shop. It’s a small pouch of single use solution that you dial your refractometer to. Simple and accurate
Click to expand...
Yes. I was making the mistake of calibrating to 0 with rodi, for a while. It was not accurate.
 
David

David

nightmarepl said:
you think a fish store would be able to calibrate it for me and itll be perfect?
Click to expand...
I don’t trust any lfs to test my water. They Test everything in like 2 minutes. It takes me like 30 minutes to do a full set of tests, with development times and making sure I follow all instructions to perfection. I would get calibration fluid, good test kits, and what you need to do it yourself.
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
David said:
I don’t trust any lfs to test my water. They Test everything in like 2 minutes. It takes me like 30 minutes to do a full set of tests, with development times and making sure I follow all instructions to perfection. I would get calibration fluid, good test kits, and what you need to do it yourself.
Click to expand...
yah i might have some of that fluid at work
 
diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
@nightmarepl if you have the refactometer from petco, that uses distiller/rodi water not calibrating fluid. Dont know how calibrating fluid will react to petco instrument
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
The meter in question was designed to measure "brix", which is just sugar in water. Don't chase your tail...
 
Sponge

Sponge

I would say the lesson hear is don’t skimp on your refractometer. Make sure it is intended for salt water. And calibrate them whenever you have doubt. My self, I use two and calibrate if they don’t give me the exact same result Which is not very often.
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
I would say the lesson hear is don’t skimp on your refractometer. Make sure it is intended for salt water. And calibrate them whenever you have doubt. My self, I use two and calibrate if they don’t give me the exact same result Which is not very often.
Click to expand...
yah ima try that calibrating it today to make sure it matches
 
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