Don't use pinpoint with low battery!

[ReefLab]

My pinpoint salinity probe was showing low battery but I used it anyways to make new water. I wasn't keep track of how much salt I was adding but it seemed like a lot and it still wasn't reading 1.026. I went ahead and swapped out the 9V battery and the water was 1.0362!!

I diluted it down to 1.026 but there is some precipitate floating on the surface since the salt was so concentrated. I tried raising the temp to 82 and mixing for a few days but there's still precipitate. Should I just throw away the saltwater and make a new batch? Or is it good enough?

 

[ichthyogeek]

If it's reading 1.026, and you trust it, you can still use the water. The precipitate is just Calcium Carbonate + other stuff that is incredibly hard to redissolve. You can leave the precipitate in there (it's not going to harm anything), or remove it.

I get similar results when I'm mixing my water and I add the salt before I add the water. Now...I just wait to add the last 5 gallons of water until after I add the salt (so I can rinse the scoop in the RODI water).

 

[ReefLab]

If it's reading 1.026, and you trust it, you can still use the water. The precipitate is just Calcium Carbonate + other stuff that is incredibly hard to redissolve. You can leave the precipitate in there (it's not going to harm anything), or remove it.

I get similar results when I'm mixing my water and I add the salt before I add the water. Now...I just wait to add the last 5 gallons of water until after I add the salt (so I can rinse the scoop in the RODI water).

ok thanks. its not much precipitate but just wanted to be sure

 

[Cory]

Never knew this thanks! Also dont use the a/c adapter because there is a lot of interference. So use a well charged battery.

 

[ReefLab]

Never knew this thanks! Also dont use the a/c adapter because there is a lot of interference. So use a well charged battery.

I heard about that.

My pH meter also started getting wonky after the low battery indicator came on. Read 8.6. After replacing it read the normal 8.1.
Just bought a pack of batteries from Amazon. Should be good to go now