Pinpoint and Milwaukee salinity tester fluids

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Dose both brand requires ONLY their brands to calibrate them? Seems like both got some mix reviews of them being off even brand new bottles.

if not, what’s the most recommended brand I should get? Thanks

Peter C · Feb 2, 2022

Tough one.....as salinty probes can be problematic in most scenarios regardless of which brand...even Neptune has it's challenges. Are you using a refractometer by chance?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 2, 2022

No,

The Pinpoint brand is a 53 mS/cm standard, which has that value on any conductivity device and that matches 35 ppt or sg = 1.0264.

Milwaukee makes lots of conductivity standards, Which are you considering?

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Peter C said:
Tough one.....as salinty probes can be problematic in most scenarios regardless of which brand...even Neptune has it's challenges. Are you using a refractometer by chance?

I do, but I need a calibration fluid I trust in order to cross validate them. Brightwell fluid was way off!

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
No,

The Pinpoint brand is a 53 mS/cm standard, which has that value on any conductivity device and that matches 35 ppt or sg = 1.0264.

Milwaukee makes lots of conductivity standards, Which are you considering?

I don’t know which fluid I will get and I am here waiting for answers lol

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 2, 2022

Fishingandreefing said:
I don’t know which fluid I will get and I am here waiting for answers lol

I personally see no reason to buy a hobby brand as opposed to a scientific lab product, but the Pinpoint should be fine, as are the Milwaukee and many other brand conductivity standards. You just need to know what exactly they provide in terms of conductivity.

You want a standard that is at or near 53 mS/cm (35 ppt).

maybe we should start with which device you have and go from there.

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I personally see no reason to buy a hobby brand as opposed to a scientific lab product, but the Pinpoint should be fine, as are the Milwaukee and many other brand conductivity standards. You just need to know what exactly they provide in terms of conductivity.

You want a standard that is at or near 53 mS/cm (35 ppt).

maybe we should start with which device you have and go from there.

Just to clarify? I already have them both as pre owned. So now I am looking for validation/calibration fluids for both. I am not sure which brand of the fluid I should go with

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 2, 2022

Fishingandreefing said:
Just to clarify? I already have them both as pre owned. So now I am looking for validation/calibration fluids for both. I am not sure which brand of the fluid I should go with

Which Milwaukee do you have?

The Pinpoint can use any standard.

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Which Milwaukee do you have?

The Pinpoint can use any standard.

MA887

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Fishingandreefing said:
MA887

So what are my best options for both units?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 2, 2022

OK, first, the Milwaukee MA887 is not a conductivity meter like the Pinpoint, it is a refractometer that must be calibrated with pure fresh water.

You can check it with a 35 ppt fluid made for refractometers, but not necessarily any old conductivity fluid. But you cannot calibrate it to that fluid.

I'd get the Pinpoint fluid from a reliable retailer (ensuring it wasn't diluted), and you can calibrate the Pinpoint with it and check the Milwaukee with it.

Or, you can make your own:

Reef Aquarium Salinity: Homemade Calibration Standards by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Fishingandreefing · Feb 2, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
OK, first, the Milwaukee MA887 is not a conductivity meter like the Pinpoint, it is a refractometer that must be calibrated with pure fresh water.

You can check it with a 35 ppt fluid made for refractometers, but not necessarily any old conductivity fluid. But you cannot calibrate it to that fluid.

I'd get the Pinpoint fluid from a reliable retailer (ensuring it wasn't diluted), and you can calibrate the Pinpoint with it and check the Milwaukee with it.

Or, you can make your own:

Reef Aquarium Salinity: Homemade Calibration Standards by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

I did try to calibrate the Milwaukee with the distill or rodi and it did gave me the correct reading of 1.000. According to them and it should calibrated. However, I compared with several friends and a lfs, my Milwaukee is high. One of the person checked it had a lab grade salinity monitor.

sure will give it a try. Thanks

Milwaukee customer service is horrible. Sent two emails over two weeks ago, no response. I did check my junk box.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 2, 2022

Fishingandreefing said:
I did try to calibrate the Milwaukee with the distill or rodi and it did gave me the correct reading of 1.000. According to them and it should calibrated. However, I compared with several friends and a lfs, my Milwaukee is high. One of the person checked it had a lab grade salinity monitor.

sure will give it a try. Thanks

Milwaukee customer service is horrible. Sent two emails over two weeks ago, no response. I did check my junk box.

The Milwaukee only claims accuracy to +/- 2 ppt, so it has a wide range of uncertainty according to Milwaukee.