Poll: How Do You Test Salinity?

[dbl]

No arguing the importance of maintaining correct and consistent salinity in our systems and there are several ways of testing. Curious what methods most folks use. Do you still rely on the old school hydrometer, or do you let your controller do the work for you?

 

[DSC reef]

Red sea refractometer, calibrate with solution before every test.

 

[Water Dog]

Milwaukee digital with an Apex PM2 to keep an eye on daily trends or any out of the ordinary swings.

 

[JoeIII]

I use a hydrometer when I test salinity.

I also marked "I don't test/monitor" because I have probably tested salinity in my DT 3x in the last year.

 

[mta_morrow]

Red sea refractometer, calibrate with solution before every test.

Ditto

 

[Mr. Bill]

Lab-grade floating glass hydrometer (NOT the cheap kind from Petco).

 

[ihavecrabs]

Digital refractometer after calibrating the unit before each use.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I have an American marine pinpoint salinity meter. I plug it in for monitoring the tank, but then its battery powered so i can test the other tanks and mixing reservoirs easily as well. I also have a refractometer that I use Occassionally to double check accuracy

 

[marktea]

Refractometer. My hydrometer had me at 1.33 instead of the displayed 1.025 I was going for

 

[Amps Reef Life]

Refractometer - Manual all the way!

 

[smokin'reefer]

Taste, also have a Red Sea Refractometer and Apex probe just in case.

 

[DSC reef]

Lab-grade floating glass hydrometer (NOT the cheap kind from Petco).

Still using that @Mr. Bill If it's not broke right!

 

[Mr. Bill]

Still using that @Mr. Bill If it's not broke right!

Absolutely, yes. If it's still good enough for scientists, it's good enough for me (plus no calibration required).

 

[dragon99]

Need more than 2 votes, I use 3 methods
Cond probe via Apex on the DT
Refract manual and Refrac digital for water changes and to spot check tank.

I primarily use the Milwaukee when making water, then check it against the manual refractometer. I check the manual and digital against the DT (probe) before each WC.

 

[GoVols]

Bought the

Vee Gee Scientific STX-3 (Refractometer)​

when it was on sale and love this thing

Regards, GoVols

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I like conductivity. Fast and easy, easy to calibrate or check calibration, and some devices read temp and conductivity in real time making them perfect for acclimation.

They can also be used to monitor limewater potency, which is otherwise hard to do with sufficient accuracy to be useful.

Mine could also be used to measure RO/DI purity, but not all have the dynamic range to read seawater and RO/ DI.

 

[reefwiser]

I use all of the above but can only vote for two. Its always good to check things different ways you never know when one testing method could trip you up.

 

[Christopher B Keyes]

I have always went old school with the hydrometer but, I recently calibrated it with solution and found it to be way off. I am still using it however with the new marks added. Someday I would love to afford one of those newfangled refractometers! Just too much money going to corals!!

 

[Christopher B Keyes]

I have always went old school with the hydrometer but, I recently calibrated it with solution and found it to be way off. I am still using it however with the new marks added. Someday I would love to afford one of those newfangled refractometers! Just too much money going to corals!!

Too busy reefing!

 

[Sleepydoc]

I have a conductivity probe on my Apex but honestly have found it to be too inconsistent, so I just use my refractometer with calibration solution that I got when I set up my tank.