My salinity has been way off!

[BriDroid]

Luckily only have 2 big Nassauis snails and 2 tiny blue legged hermits. They didn’t seem to mind much. I bought a cheap refractometer and some 35ppt refractometer calibration solution off Amazon. When I calibrate that refractometer to 35ppt with that solution, my tank was only 28ppt! I picked up an Icecap salinity pen from a guy locally, used Randy’s DIY conductivity 35ppt solution and calibrated that pen. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very far off. I’m going to make some of his refractometer solution tonight and toss that other stuff in the trash!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Good thing you caught it before you had fish in there!

 

[exnisstech]

How did you set the tank up of you didn't already have a way to test salinity?

 

[BriDroid]

How did you set the tank up of you didn't already have a way to test salinity?

I set it up with the Amazon Refractometer that I calibrated with the solution from Amazon.

My first key was when I mixed up some water with TM Pro Reef, 1/2 cup per gallon. TM says that should be very close to 1.026-1.027. It wasn’t on my Refractometer. That was my clue to start digging deeper.

I did mix up some of Randy’s Refractometer solution last night and I calibrated it to 1.026 as well.

I really hope this is behind me, and I’m really glad I caught it before anything was in there!

 

[jackson6745]

Luckily only have 2 big Nassauis snails and 2 tiny blue legged hermits. They didn’t seem to mind much. I bought a cheap refractometer and some 35ppt refractometer calibration solution off Amazon. When I calibrate that refractometer to 35ppt with that solution, my tank was only 28ppt! I picked up an Icecap salinity pen from a guy locally, used Randy’s DIY conductivity 35ppt solution and calibrated that pen. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very far off. I’m going to make some of his refractometer solution tonight and toss that other stuff in the trash!

Get a tropic Marin glass hydrometer and cross reference whatever you use with that. I was running low salinity for a year because of one of those cheap sybon refractometers not reading correctly even though I calibrated it frequently.

 

[RWReefer]

Get a tropic Marin glass hydrometer and cross reference whatever you use with that. I was running low salinity for a year because of one of those cheap sybon refractometers not reading correctly even though I calibrated it frequently.

This really should be a recommended piece of equipment for any set up. It just plain works, every single time. Simple, effective, and takes less than a minute.

 

[BriDroid]

Get a tropic Marin glass hydrometer and cross reference whatever you use with that. I was running low salinity for a year because of one of those cheap sybon refractometers not reading correctly even though I calibrated it frequently.

I need to for sure. I did use a calibrated scale and measured the Morton’s salt and DI water out per Randy’s instructions, I feel way more confident that I’m at least in the ballpark now. I’ll try to find one of those hydrometers. BRS has been out of stock forever!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, very few people have actually tested their hydrometers (any hydrometer) to know if they are accurate. I'm not saying they aren't, but one should not assume they are.

 

[DaprDon]

Took my water to be test because I was having white slime. It was 1.021! My refractometer kept saying 1.024. Even after calibration.
I do have a Tropic Marin glass hydrometer but haven't been using it because it is quite large especially in a 20g AIO.
Sure enough it read 1.021.
Slowly increasing my salt. Wondering if this was the main cause of the slime? A couple times my ATO over filled due to filtration back up. I've seen some YouTube posts on white slime and low salinity seemed to be the main issue.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Took my water to be test because I was having white slime. It was 1.021! My refractometer kept saying 1.024. Even after calibration.
I do have a Tropic Marin glass hydrometer but haven't been using it because it is quite large especially in a 20g AIO.
Sure enough it read 1.021.
Slowly increasing my salt. Wondering if this was the main cause of the slime? A couple times my ATO over filled due to filtration back up. I've seen some YouTube posts on white slime and low salinity seemed to be the main issue.

i would not blame cyano on any type of salinity issue.