New Hobbie Yikes

[BrianC]

Hello everyone,I live in Northern British Columbia, Canada, I have had a freshwater aquarium for 25 years and just recently purchased an XL525 from RedSea in January of this year.
Bad timing re-Covid 19, for the simple reason, I cant aquire fish or Coral for my tank as the airlines are refusing.
On that note not sure how my first go around will be? However I now have time to work out the bugs, one of them being Refractometers.
Nothing was making sense in regards to my Neptune System and My RedSea Refractometer, I spent many of hours researching Neptune forums just to hear people having issues with their Neptune Probe not matching the Refractometers.
I discovered my RedSea refractometer was losing its Calibration after 4 Hrs of sitting at room temp.
Once I learned this I calibrate it before each use and it matches perfectly with Neptune everytime.
Now my question, Is this Normal? are all refractometers having the same Issue? again I'm new to this.

Cheers

 

[Bo.]

Welcome to R2R!

I check calibration on mine daily, and probably have to adjust it once a week. It's super cheap but it works for me.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and to the salty side of the hobby.

 

[SPR1968]

Hi Brian

I won’t comment on the Neptune salinity probe but I have the Red Sea refractometer and it needs calibrating before every use, it’s very sensitive especially to temperature.

Welcome to R2R as well!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Gernader]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[wkd4b11]

Welcome! And no that's not normal for a refractometer. Mine can sit months without recalibration. Just depends on the quality of the refractometer.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Welcome to lots of help, fun and friends!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Welcome to R2R!

I check calibration on mine daily, and probably have to adjust it once a week. It's super cheap but it works for me.

Should we be checking it before each use? I got mine at Petco.

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Hello everyone,I live in Northern British Columbia, Canada, I have had a freshwater aquarium for 25 years and just recently purchased an XL525 from RedSea in January of this year.
Bad timing re-Covid 19, for the simple reason, I cant aquire fish or Coral for my tank as the airlines are refusing.
On that note not sure how my first go around will be? However I now have time to work out the bugs, one of them being Refractometers.
Nothing was making sense in regards to my Neptune System and My RedSea Refractometer, I spent many of hours researching Neptune forums just to hear people having issues with their Neptune Probe not matching the Refractometers.
I discovered my RedSea refractometer was losing its Calibration after 4 Hrs of sitting at room temp.
Once I learned this I calibrate it before each use and it matches perfectly with Neptune everytime.
Now my question, Is this Normal? are all refractometers having the same Issue? again I'm new to this.

Cheers

Welcome to R2R. I’m sure the knowledgable and helpful people here will have a solution for you.

 

[New&no clue]

Welcome to the Reef. Yes, most refractometers need calibration often, especially if there a temperature swings. I always check/calibrate before each use.

 

[boacvh]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Lithoman]

Welcome .. you are about to open your reefing world with tons of knowledge.. Enjoy the ride!

 

[wkd4b11]

Everyone here that's questioning their refractometer and having to constantly recalibrate, save yourself some time and look into getting a Vee Gee STX-3 refractometer.

 

[billybwf]

Welcome to r2r

 

[F i s h y]

Welcome to the party! Happy reefing!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R! I had similar issues with my refractometer, just calibrated it before each use.

 

[AcroNem]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Good advice above

 

[BighohoReef]

Hello everyone,I live in Northern British Columbia, Canada, I have had a freshwater aquarium for 25 years and just recently purchased an XL525 from RedSea in January of this year.
Bad timing re-Covid 19, for the simple reason, I cant aquire fish or Coral for my tank as the airlines are refusing.
On that note not sure how my first go around will be? However I now have time to work out the bugs, one of them being Refractometers.
Nothing was making sense in regards to my Neptune System and My RedSea Refractometer, I spent many of hours researching Neptune forums just to hear people having issues with their Neptune Probe not matching the Refractometers.
I discovered my RedSea refractometer was losing its Calibration after 4 Hrs of sitting at room temp.
Once I learned this I calibrate it before each use and it matches perfectly with Neptune everytime.
Now my question, Is this Normal? are all refractometers having the same Issue? again I'm new to this.

Cheers

Key to this hobby is patience! It was probably perfect timing that way you didn't go coral crazy To answer your last question yes calibration is needed for most refractometer out of the box, it shouldn't take 4hrs though. Either way if you have it dialed in with your Neptune you should feel confident that it's giving you a proper reading.

Welcome to R2R! Make sure to start a build thread on your new thank!

 

[TexAgReefer]

Howdy and welcome to R2R!