Salinity help

Deontae · Feb 21, 2021

Hey guys I’ve been having trouble with my tank over the last couple months and I decided to buy some calibration liquid for my refractometer, and to my surprise it said my tank water was at 25ppt after I calibrated. Can this really be true? And if so what is the best way to get it back up to 35ppt
Thanks for any help

DC Reefer · Feb 21, 2021

Before I started increasing salinity I would try and verify the salinity of the tank. A lot of LFS will test the salinity of a water sample for you. Assuming you are at 25ppt I would turn off the ATO and top off manually with salt water until you get salinity back up to where you want it. You could even top off with strong salt 40ppt water to move it a little faster. This would raise it slowly and put less stress on acclimating back up.

Reef. · Feb 21, 2021

Deontae said:
Hey guys I’ve been having trouble with my tank over the last couple months and I decided to buy some calibration liquid for my refractometer, and to my surprise it said my tank water was at 25ppt after I calibrated. Can this really be true? And if so what is the best way to get it back up to 35ppt
Thanks for any help

Make your own, very easy, bought salinity solutions can be off.

Also very important is to get a reader you trust, the only one I trust 100% is Tropic Marin hydrometer, even after i calibrate my refractometer it is off the next time I use it.

Buy some 0.01g scales (Amazon just type that in the search box) then mix 3.65g of table salt with 96.35g of rodi water if using a refractometer it should read exactly 35ppt.

Reef Tripp · Feb 21, 2021

I would not trust calibration liquids, better make your own liquid with Randy's recipe.

Reef. · Feb 21, 2021

Reef - Tripp said:
I would not trust calibration liquids, better make your own liquid with Randy's recipe.

I agree, I have just posted it.

Deontae · Feb 21, 2021

Reef. said:
I agree, I have just posted it.

Alright thanks for the replies, I think I’ll bring some water to an lfs and then move from there

Reef. · Feb 21, 2021

Deontae said:
Alright thanks for the replies, I think I’ll bring some water to an lfs and then move from there

bad move, they are generally no better at taking salinity reading as the average guy. Do it yourself.

Deontae · Feb 22, 2021

Reef. said:
bad move, they are generally no better at taking salinity reading as the average guy. Do it yourself.

Okay then would this scale work?

Reef. · Feb 22, 2021

Deontae said:
Okay then would this scale work?

Yes.

Take your time and get the measurements exactly, you just have to add a drop of water too much to be off, if you are nervous you can double or triple the amounts to make more so any mistakes in measuring don’t matter as much.

Deontae · Feb 22, 2021

Reef. said:
Yes.

Take your time and get the measurements exactly, you just have to add a drop of water too much to be off, if you are nervous you can double or triple the amounts to make more so any mistakes in measuring don’t matter as much.

Alright thank you

Dbichler · Feb 22, 2021

I agree with the tropic marine hydrometer will never go bad and always accurate but yes do as directed above to get your refractometer calibrated

Reef. · Feb 22, 2021

Dbichler said:
I agree with the tropic marine hydrometer will never go bad and always accurate but yes do as directed above to get your refractometer calibrated

you can also save the diy solution in an airtight bottle to check the refractometer each time you use it, mine goes out after one use, if you do use an airtight bottle, don’t keep the lid of for any longer than needed or the water in the bottle will evaporate changing the salinity.