Best salinity tester???

[Saltyreef]

I like this, I've never seen one before. Do you use the plastic tube storing package for testing the water?

I think you can but i just either float it in a bucket or when my flow is off ill drop it straight into the tank.
It needs quite a bit of depth to float at the 1.025-1.026 mark so i cant remember 100% if the package is sufficent.
The ones we use at work wont as the package is too narrow.

Just get yourself one of these.

 

[Sean Clark]

You can save money and not have to worry about temperature compensation by taste-testing to the correct salinity. Calibrate with RODI for zero and a cup of noodles for high salinity.

I have been doing it all wrong this whole time! ALL WRONG!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Everyone will have a different favorite or opinion. For me, has been the Hanna digital unit. Ice Cap has been off a little for me

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

I like this, I've never seen one before. Do you use the plastic tube storing package for testing the water?

Just get the right size PLASTIC beaker for it.
Glass hydrometer in a glass container is a bad idea = breaking one or both very easily.

EDIT I SEE THIS HAS BEEN POSTED ALREADY... but it's worth posting again anyway

 

[G Santana]

I went Milwaukee digital, it's easy to use.

 

[ApoIsland]

I'm curious about which salinity tester is best and used by people here, and why.

Right now I have a issue with my Hanna salinity tester not working properly, so I got a hydrometer for the time ( nothing else available in my city) but would like to get something soon, as I don't fully trust the hydrometer.

I have been using this for 10 years without issue. When I first started I would bring my water to the LFS for testing once a month just to be sure. Always came out exact so I stopped checking.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I have been using this for 10 years without issue. When I first started I would bring my water to the LFS for testing once a month just to be sure. Always came out exact so I stopped checking.

I think I'm going to get one of these with a 500 ml plastic test tube.

 

[atomos]

I'm happy with the Hanna and the Vee Gee.

​

 

[radiata]

I am a BIG Milwaukee fan. I've been using one for many years now. Two or three years ago I noticed that it seemed to be what I call "drifting". Usually, when you get a reading it stays the same when you hit the READ button a second, third or forth time. But, I would get a 1.025 reading, hit READ and get a 1.026, hit READ again and get a 1.028, yada, yada... So I would just re-calibrate the unit with distilled water (use distilled, not RO or RODI...), and the subsequent reading wouldn't "drift".

I asked Milwaukee reps about it at a reef show, but they just suggested I change the battery. This didn't help. (Note: the unit actually shows you the status of the battery every time you turn the unit on!)

So... thinking my original unit had seen better days (and, I had purchased it new), I picked up a second one, (this time used). So far, the replacement hasn't "drifted". Thank you Milwaukee...

I use a dispenser bottle like this for my zeroing out with distilled water:

Wash Bottle, 250ml - Polyethylene - Eisco Labs | eBay

250ml capacity wash bottle, made of with high quality polyethylene plastic. Translucent, flexible & unbreakable. High chemical durability & moderate heat tolerance. Can withstand temperatures between -50?.

www.ebay.com

And, I strongly suggest you use one too. If you look hard enough, you'll even find one with "Distilled Water" printed right there on on the bottle. (Caveat ~ be sue to use real Distilled Water.) You'd also be smart to pick up a hundred or more three milliliter disposable pipettes while you're on eBay. They're really inexpensive and greatly simplify the water sample collection process.

All that said, if I had bothered to zero out my original unit before every use, I believe I wouldn't have experienced the "drifting" noted above. I've tested my original unit, with zeroing at start up, against my newer unit, and found both readings to be relatively identical.

Thank you Milwaukee! You've saved me endless hours interpreting the readings of hydrometers and refractometers. Feel free to use this post as an endorsement!

If you do any fish or coral acclimation, how many times do you take a salinity reading in the process ? Each reading could take just seconds with this Milwaukee...

 

[stephanjupillat]

Hanna digital. I test every morning. After a week or 2 it drifts from 34 to 34.5. So I go through a lot of calibration packets. No big deal though. I have the milwalki digital but it only gives whole numbers. I also have used the fauna hydrometer and it’s great, but watch out for bubbles that stick to the glass. I have seen it off a full point.

 

[rusgum]

Hanna

 

[ReefRondo]

I agree with all of the above statements with regards to the Milwaukee checker and eventually I ended up with two of them but they both drifted quite a bit. I then got the handheld Hanna checker and just being able to dip the unit in there and get a reading in 5 seconds. Certainly works for me. I think it depends on how many tanks you have and your budget as these units are not cheap. I personally have 4 tanks, 3 mixing stations etc so it is worth it for me to have invested in something a little quicker.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I ended up getting another Hanna Checker. I really like the ease of use and the product. I'll give them another chance lol I bought a bunch of calibration packets as well.

 

[SY2932]

Tropic Marin precision hydrometer with a glass 500 mL graduated cylinder. Plastic is nice but unless you have the hydrometer at the very top, you will not be able to read it...

 

[Simon Reefing]

Milwaukee hands down

 

[Laith]

Tropic Marin high precision hydrometer big but extremely accurate and cheaper than most other options. I also use Hannah it always reads .02 lower than my tropic but that makes it easy for quick tests.

High Precision Hydrometer

Ensure that your equipment is reading correctly and your aquarium is at the right salinity with Tropic Marin's High Precision Hydrometer. Many tank inhabitants are sensitive even to minor changes of the water conditions. Unfortunately as we've all experienced, salinity reading equipment as...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The best....
And cheap

Fwiw my miluakee is close enough not to care.

As above... most accurate way to measure salinity. I was using the Hanna digital refractometer but it kept reading much lower (even after multiple calibrations) than ICP results which kept showing a PPT of 38. The Tropic Marin is spot on (remember to measure temp and keep it clean!).

Here is more on my switch to the Fauna Marin (and the mistake i initially made using it!).

I still use the Hanna for quick checks but now know that it is consistently 3PPT off so I look for a reading of 32 instead of 35.

Saving on salt too!

 

[fachatga]

I’d go for hydrometer every time after my testers that need calibration failed me with bad calibration fluid.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm always amazed at the hyperbolic statements from hydrometer fans.

Clearly, they are not the "most accurate" way to measure salinity.

They can be perfectly fine if used appropriately and corrected for temperature issues, but chemical oceanographers do not use hydrometers. They use conductivity meters:

Key Physical Variables in the Ocean: Temperature, Salinity, and Density

What do oceanographers measure in the ocean? What are temperature and salinity and how are they defined?

www.nature.com

"However, almost all modern estimates of salinity rely on measurements of the electrical conductivity (or, at high precision, on measurements of the ratio of the conductivity of a sample of seawater to the conductivity of a special reference material called IAPSO Standard Seawater"

 

[Wasabiroot]

I use Veegee scientific's refractometer. A bit pricey, but built like a tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

I'm always amazed at the hyperbolic statements from hydrometer fans.

Clearly, they are not the "most accurate" way to measure salinity.

They can be perfectly fine if used appropriately and corrected for temperature issues, but chemical oceanographers do not use hydrometers. They use conductivity meters:

Key Physical Variables in the Ocean: Temperature, Salinity, and Density

What do oceanographers measure in the ocean? What are temperature and salinity and how are they defined?

www.nature.com

"However, almost all modern estimates of salinity rely on measurements of the electrical conductivity (or, at high precision, on measurements of the ratio of the conductivity of a sample of seawater to the conductivity of a special reference material called IAPSO Standard Seawater"

If we could all afford one of these....
And the calibration fluid you reference.....

CTD (instrument) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

IAPSO Standard Seawater P121

This is a sealed glass capsule of seawater.

www.generaloceanics.com

Id much rather ensure my water is at 77 degrees and float my highly precise hydrometer once.
hand marking a cheap plastic coralife hydrometer after that to ensure it doesnt break

You can keep your fancy gadgets lol.