ABx and Refractometer

piranhaman00 · Mar 12, 2020

Hi I need quick help I can’t find google.

Will water tinted by ABx yellow (furan 2) throw off refractometer? I was told fish were at 1.018 but I’m reading 1.023.

piranhaman00 · Mar 12, 2020

Well I tested tank water at 1.018. Dumped some furan 2 in the water and it then tested at 1.024. I wasn’t aware of this, can anyone back this up?

Flippers4pups · Mar 12, 2020

Though I've not heard of Furan doing this, I suspect the color is throwing the refractometer off.

@Big G, can you confirm?

piranhaman00 · Mar 12, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
Though I've not heard of Furan doing this, I suspect the color is throwing the refractometer off.

@Big G, can you confirm?

My guess too. The water is very visibly yellow.

I just double checked again on a diff tank.

Pulled out a cup of water.

Tank water: 1.025
Half packet furan 2: 1.027
Full packet furan 2: 1.032

Crazy I never heard of this before. I was confused to see the difference from what I was told the sg was because this lfs is top notch. I always double check anyway. I started mixing new salt when I decided to test that theory. Sure enough furan 2 will affect the ability of the refractometer to get accurate result.

Almost just dumped 2 cbb in salinity 0.007 different which would be a lot of shock.

Edit: salinity is not increasing but refractometer is giving high results

Flippers4pups · Mar 12, 2020

piranhaman00 said:
My guess too. The water is very visibly yellow.

I just double checked again on a diff tank.

Pulled out a cup of water.

Tank water: 1.025
Half packet furan 2: 1.027
Full packet furan 2: 1.032

Crazy I never heard of this before. I was confused to see the difference from what I was told the sg was because this lfs is top notch. I always double check anyway. I started mixing new salt when I decided to test that theory. Sure enough furan 2 will increase the salinity of water on a refractometer.

Almost just dumped 2 cbb in salinity 0.007 different which would be a lot of shock.