Need help

[Circulita17]

hello guys, I need help I tried mixing the salt and water but my refractometer is reading high 1.028 vs the instant ocean hydrometer between 1.025 and 1.026. I got both just to make sure the salinity is close to one another. Yes I am paranoid! I calibrated the refractometer with RO water but I order some calibration fluid. I'm getting frustrated because I want both to be the same or alteast close to one another. Also I drove almost three hours away to a fish store and they had live rock in a container with light but no filtration, can it survive without filtration? I'm keeping my options open when getting live rock. I'm just ready to start but I can't get the salinity levels. Thanks for your help

 

[ScubaFish802]

The rock can be “live” without filtration.
As far as the salinity goes if you calibrated the refractometer to 0 first, I would be inclined to follow what that says

 

[KingTideCorals]

Absolutely alive and building beneficial bacteria, and just work down your salinity over time if you have inhabitants to the proper salinity unless you dont then just do it right away by pulling water out and replenishing with straight RODI water!

 

[mike550]

@Circulita17 I’d trust your refractometer — especially if you just calibrated it. That said if you’re not comfortable using your refractometer, then it might make sense to have your reading double checked with someone else testing the water as well. I’ve seen a number of reefers have issues setting up or reading their refractometer. Personally, I use a Hanna salinity checker.

 

[living_tribunal]

hello guys, I need help I tried mixing the salt and water but my refractometer is reading high 1.028 vs the instant ocean hydrometer between 1.025 and 1.026. I got both just to make sure the salinity is close to one another. Yes I am paranoid! I calibrated the refractometer with RO water but I order some calibration fluid. I'm getting frustrated because I want both to be the same or alteast close to one another. Also I drove almost three hours away to a fish store and they had live rock in a container with light but no filtration, can it survive without filtration? I'm keeping my options open when getting live rock. I'm just ready to start but I can't get the salinity levels. Thanks for your help

Did you allow the temperature of the water to settle before testing with refractometer?

 

[Pistondog]

hello guys, I need help I tried mixing the salt and water but my refractometer is reading high 1.028 vs the instant ocean hydrometer between 1.025 and 1.026. I got both just to make sure the salinity is close to one another. Yes I am paranoid! I calibrated the refractometer with RO water but I order some calibration fluid. I'm getting frustrated because I want both to be the same or alteast close to one another. Also I drove almost three hours away to a fish store and they had live rock in a container with light but no filtration, can it survive without filtration? I'm keeping my options open when getting live rock. I'm just ready to start but I can't get the salinity levels. Thanks for your help

Make sure no bubbles on hydrometer.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Calibrate with calibration fluid not ro. Unless that’s the manufacturer recommendation. If you are setting up a new aquarium it won’t matter if you salinity is a bit off. Best to be off on the low side. Use the instant ocean hydrometer until your calibration fluid comes in. IMO the live rock at the lfs should have some water flow. Find out where it came from. Tampa bay live rock is a good source and they will ship in water. Straight from the ocean to your tank in a couple days. If you are setting up a new tank take your time and watch some BRS videos on cycling. They have good info in them. Good luck.

 

[Circulita17]

The rock can be “live” without filtration.
As far as the salinity goes if you calibrated the refractometer to 0 first, I would be inclined to follow what that says

Thank you for the reply!! Awesome hopefully the rock will help cycle the tank faster. The instructions said it was already calibrated, but both refractometer and hydrometer were showing results too spread out. It said I can calibrate it with RO watet, so I did. Also when I went to the fish store I asked to see if she can calibrate it and she was as clueless as I was. I left frustrated!

 

[Circulita17]

Absolutely alive and building beneficial bacteria, and just work down your salinity over time if you have inhabitants to the proper salinity unless you dont then just do it right away by pulling water out and replenishing with straight RODI water!

Thank you for the reply! I don't have inhabitants right now. Just working on getting the salinity right.

 

[Circulita17]

@Circulita17 I’d trust your refractometer — especially if you just calibrated it. That said if you’re not comfortable using your refractometer, then it might make sense to have your reading double checked with someone else testing the water as well. I’ve seen a number of reefers have issues setting up or reading their refractometer. Personally, I use a Hanna salinity checker.

Thank you for the reply! The instructions say I can calibrate it with RO water but I also order calibration fluid. I don't know anyone who has a saltwater tank so I can't double check. I've seen those and they look amazing! Hopefully in the future I can get a hanna salinity device.

 

[Circulita17]

Did you allow the temperature of the water to settle before testing with refractometer?

Thank you. Settle on the lense of the refractometer or while mixing ? When is the best time to measure salinity? Right after mixing or wait about an hour to make sure it has mixed? If it makes a difference I am using instant ocean.

 

[living_tribunal]

Thank you. Settle on the lense of the refractometer or while mixing ? When is the best time to measure salinity? Right after mixing or wait about an hour to make sure it has mixed? If it makes a difference I am using instant ocean.

You want to make sure the water is pretty mixed. When I used to use a refractometer, I would put some in water, let sit for a minute, then pipette some onto the glass. I would wait 30-45 seconds before closing the screen and then measure.

 

[TruckerTami]

You definitely want to calibrate with 35ppt fluid. I have a Hanna salinity checker, but I also calibrate it once a month and also calibrate my refractometer and double check it often to ensure it’s correct. When checking salinity after mixing salt, you wanna make sure you have the water the correct temperature. When measuring specific gravity, incorrect temperature can give you a different reading.

 

[Circulita17]

Calibrate with calibration fluid not ro. Unless that’s the manufacturer recommendation. If you are setting up a new aquarium it won’t matter if you salinity is a bit off. Best to be off on the low side. Use the instant ocean hydrometer until your calibration fluid comes in. IMO the live rock at the lfs should have some water flow. Find out where it came from. Tampa bay live rock is a good source and they will ship in water. Straight from the ocean to your tank in a couple days. If you are setting up a new tank take your time and watch some BRS videos on cycling. They have good info in them. Good luck.

The instructions say to calibrate with RO water, but I've read others using calibration fluid. So I'm stuck on whether to use water or the fluid. Before the drive I called to make sure they had live rock in stock, I also asked what kind it was and she seemed like she didn't know. I asked her if it was obtained in the ocean she told me yes, and when I went it didn't looked aquacultured. I was very disappointed! I placed an order with KP aquatics but he messaged me that it was going to take weeks due to the hurricane. I've been researching for months and I still feel like I don't know anything. That's how I was with freshwater also, and I know I will get it down with time.

 

[TruckerTami]

I have seen quite a few stores use dry rock and seed it and sell it that way. That’s more then likely what they are selling.

The instructions say to calibrate with RO water, but I've read others using calibration fluid. So I'm stuck on whether to use water or the fluid. Before the drive I called to make sure they had live rock in stock, I also asked what kind it was and she seemed like she didn't know. I asked her if it was obtained in the ocean she told me yes, and when I went it didn't looked aquacultured. I was very disappointed! I placed an order with KP aquatics but he messaged me that it was going to take weeks due to the hurricane. I've been researching for months and I still feel like I don't know anything. That's how I was with freshwater also, and I know I will get it down with time.

 

[Circulita17]

You want to make sure the water is pretty mixed. When I used to use a refractometer, I would put some in water, let sit for a minute, then pipette some onto the glass. I would wait 30-45 seconds before closing the screen and then measure.

Awesome! I will do that tomorrow when I try again with mixing water. Thank you

 

[Circulita17]

You definitely want to calibrate with 35ppt fluid. I have a Hanna salinity checker, but I also calibrate it once a month and also calibrate my refractometer and double check it often to ensure it’s correct. When checking salinity after mixing salt, you wanna make sure you have the water the correct temperature. When measuring specific gravity, incorrect temperature can give you a different reading.

Thank you! Good thing the calibrate fluid will be here tomorrow. I can't wait to get my hands on a hanna, hopefully soon. I have the warmer set to about 78ish! I was thinking the same about the live rock but I just started this hobby and wanted to get a second opinion.

 

[scabbedwings616]

You can have anyone look at it and see where the numbers line up with. If you don’t have a lot of fish or invertebrates or corals in the tank, you can do a water change and bring the salinity down quickly. The fish won’t be affect and neither will the inverts. In my experience, I’ve had this issue and solved it with a water change and brought it back into check. Bringing up the salinity is the one that you really want to take your time with. If you bring it up to fast, you can hurt your fish as it is the same as drip acclimation when the stores typically has hypo-salinity in the their tank.
I would only use dry rock in a reef tank as you know exactly what you are putting in your tank. Yes it takes longer but is better in the long run. If you wanted to seed a tank with Beneficial bacteria, buy a bottle of it and know exactly what’s in it. I wouldn’t advise you not to buy rock that doesn’t have filtration of atleast a skimmer or some kind of flow. Seems like a bad idea. All the local fish stores have a skimmer and flow on their rocks and to have none, should say something to us. Will it have beneficial bacteria, yes, will it seed a tank, yes, could it have underlying issues due to no filtration, yes. Just be careful what you buy.