Tires of salinity problems

[FugeTown]

Snake oil implies a misleading product. If you educate yourself, you may laugh at your own writing.

Today's world I don't trust a lot of stuff especially that 35 ppt solution maybe I got a bad batch cause it's way off. I've only bought it once possibly there's a reputable company that makes it you trust?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I can not get my salinity stable to save my life
It’s clear the apex probe is complete garbage. I have recalibrated it 3 times and it’s only 3 months old

I have 4 different refractometers and 4 different bottles of calibration fluid, they all read different

Spend the money on the Hannah checker last night and. Guess what, it reads different also

I have no clue which one to believe all I know is my SPS is ****** off because the salt is bouncing all Over

I can never get in the 34 range it’s either in 32 or 37

The apex probe seems to continuously read low
This is a big problem because I have an auto water change system and need to check my main 100 gallon salt tank for it

I don’t know what the solution is but an ideas would be helpful! Thanks everyone

On my past 24 gallon DT, all I did is hook a dosing pump to a seconds timer,feeding h2o and had a seperate 1/4 tubing with plastic ball valve, dripping out, into bucket. No issues. No high tech. Saltilinity stable, plus work like auto water changer.......

 

[W1ngz]

@Randy Holmes-Farley your patience in dealing with so many people who believe and sometimes insist that their consumer/hobbyist opinions mean anything in a discipline that requires years of training and experience amazes me. You are to be commended, and are a far better man than I.

 

[FugeTown]

@Randy Holmes-Farley your patience in dealing with so many people who believe and sometimes insist that their consumer/hobbyist opinions mean anything in a discipline that requires years of training and experience amazes me. You are to be commended, and are a far better man than I.

He is a great person with lots of patience, this is a great hobbyist forum good for all levels of experience. I believe everyone's opinion matters, I know it's off topic but I'm a professional HVAC installer 20 years in the trade I have to train people but I always listen to their opinions I feel everyone has say even if they are wrong. That's one of the great things about being a professional like Randy he has patience to teach us on these hobby forums that why it's fun for me to ask questions because I learn tons here I've learn so much on reef2reef. If you never ask you don't learn , my question about a reputable 35 ppt calibration fluid was a perfectly legit question I thought I could of bought a crappy brand from amazon , amazon sells a lot of junk if you didn't know already.

 

[FragileReefer]

Reefdudes on YT did a good video on testing the salinity checkers. He compares 4-5 of them and found that the ones calibrated at 35ppm were most "accurate" most the time. But as others have said it's hard to know that the number is your number.

But with my Sonics probe I need to take a reading away from my equipment, it gives false readings in my AIO sump compared to the end of the peninsula. And clean it off with a Cotton cloth. If there is any dried salt on the receptors it gives a bad reading. It calibrates at 30ppm but I've learned to deal with it's quirk. And I've learned how to keep things stable.

 

[David Calzada]

Hello there,

I've experienced the same problem before, and found out my refractometer was not working properly. One way I discover that it was my refractometer was because I had a calcium swing. Now that I have a red sea refractometer everything has been better.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Simple- everything in my tank is doing well.

Could it be off, yeah maybe but not by much. My other refractometer are all close. If I started changing things, I'll end up like the guy who started this thread about chasing a perfect number. That's where the trouble begins.

I agree it's best to calibrate it will calibration fluid and won't argue using RO/DI. It's just what I do, and my corals are growing beautifully. I'm no expert/professional in the field like you are, but I try my best. If it's working for me, I'm not changing a thing.

OK, I'm not trying to get you to change, just for others to understand the issues.

Happy Reefing.

 

[ScottR]

That is untrue. If you calibrate a refractometer using an actual 35 ppt fluid intended for refractometers, IT CANNOT be off for measuring 35 ppt (a few electronic refractometers cannot be calibrated this way due to the software, but still must read it correctly)

if you use RO/DI, it could be off and you would never know it.

This is true. Large temperature differences can also throw off refractometers as well.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

@Rscott, I agree with those that are saying, pick one method and go with that. If you really wanted to get creative, you could order an ICP test, take the sample and measure the salinity of the water with all of your refractometers and Hanna checker, record the results of your measurements, and then see what the ICP test says. Then you could choose the instrument that measured closest to the ICP test and go with that one.

When I did an ICP test, I used the ATI ICP test and also did a full set of water tests at the same time. I was surprised to see how close my home tests were to the ICP results. My salinity with a BRS ATC refractometer calibrated with a 35 ppt solution said that my tank water was 35 ppt. The ICP test said it was 35.16 ppt. I now have confidence that my tests are reasonably accurate.

Just a thought.

 

[Reefer3000]

I've noticed that my refractometers read a bit different too but only from 1.024-1.027. The trick is to choose one refractometer or the Hannah checker and stick with that one exclusively. Remember the rule of keeping your parameters stable over chasing numbers. You stick with one salinity checker for all your water changes and you'll be stable.

From what I noticed, corals and fish don't mind anything from 1.023-1.028 as long as they stay steady at whatever number you're at. Obviously the goal is 1.026 but if your tank is plus or minus .001 it really doesn't matter too much. If the apex probe is giving you trouble, just turn it off.

I only check my salinity of my new water and again after my water change. Once it's done, it will stay stable as long as it is topped off with Ro/di so the water level remains the same.

I think you have too much of a good thing with all these different refractometers. None of them are perfect. Again, stick with one and only use that. Calibrate it every month or so and don't over think it.

 

[Reefer3000]

Have you tried calibrating all the probes together?? U mist. Be having a fault. Somwere

 

[Jon Fishman]

My swing arm does fine..... or it doesn’t..... either way, that’s what I use

 

[Marco S]

I won't jump into the debate on refractometers and calibration and accuracy, but I will say that the Apex probe being low is a very common thing. I posted about mine several months ago when I was setting it up and could not get the calibration to match my refractometer. A lot of others posted that they had the same problem and to just use the probe to measure swings in salinity and not the actual number. So what I did was match the number from the probe to 35 on my refractometer and it was 32 on the probe. Now I just know that 32 on my probe is really 35 and just make sure it does not fluctuate more that .5 either way. It may swing a bit more on smaller tanks, but with my Reefer 750 XXL it has stayed between 31.7 and 32.3 over the last 6 months.

If you are anything like me, (a bit OCD) than you really need to stick with stable numbers instead of actual numbers. I would drive myself crazy trying to get my Salinity, PH, Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium etc... at the exact numbers recommended in the beginning and it was not fun at all and I would get really frustrated. Now I just settle for getting close and staying stable because I kept hearing over and over that stability is the key to success.

 

[ReefDude2019]

I won't jump into the debate on refractometers and calibration and accuracy, but I will say that the Apex probe being low is a very common thing. I posted about mine several months ago when I was setting it up and could not get the calibration to match my refractometer. A lot of others posted that they had the same problem and to just use the probe to measure swings in salinity and not the actual number. So what I did was match the number from the probe to 35 on my refractometer and it was 32 on the probe. Now I just know that 32 on my probe is really 35 and just make sure it does not fluctuate more that .5 either way. It may swing a bit more on smaller tanks, but with my Reefer 750 XXL it has stayed between 31.7 and 32.3 over the last 6 months.

If you are anything like me, (a bit OCD) than you really need to stick with stable numbers instead of actual numbers. I would drive myself crazy trying to get my Salinity, PH, Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium etc... at the exact numbers recommended in the beginning and it was not fun at all and I would get really frustrated. Now I just settle for getting close and staying stable because I kept hearing over and over that stability is the key to success.

I agree 100% with that!

I don’t currently have a tank up and running yet, but had a mixed reef for three years and although I never had issues with salinity, I struggled with PH for the first year until I finally accepted I would never hit 8.1 - 8.3. I settled for keeping it stable and my coral thrived perfectly fine. You can chase numbers all day and never hit them and get frustrated or keep stable and enjoy your tank. It’s up to you.

 

[K7BMG]

Yes stability and pick A test method.
Pick a back up test method and leave it at that.

I am new to reefing and still learning but know that each test is different from the next.
The over all percentage between them all I feel is so slight that it almost does not matter.

I have a Milwaukee and a ATI. I have never mixed a batch of salt water over 1.025 ever.
Yet my 140G tests at 1.025 to 1.026 on average.
My nano at 1.026 to 1,027 on average.
Same salt, same RO/DI just different tanks.
My best guess is that dosing and other additives and livestock change the parameter in some way.
In the beginning I was freaked out. Though I kept the water level the same the numbers always were different.
At the end of the day my Nano is doing great, I have two Dendro's, some GSP and a Rose bubble tip, all are flourishing. See pic below.

my 140G is doing ok. I don't have the same growth in the 140G. I assume lighting and different corals.

Yes still have brown algae still in the ugly stage but week by week it is going away.