Tropic marin pro reef high dkh

[Schulks]

Cups are units of volume and grams are units of weight. Not sure if that matters to @arking_mark
i'm ordering the TM Hydrometer right now. I'm so done with salinity!!!

Also I use the new salt bag as a weight like im doing some kind of cowbell lifts. It is a good workout and mixes the bag lol.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

+100.

TM hydrometer is the boss of salinity tools

I went to Home Depot and got myself a 3 inch of PVC pipe about 18 inches long and glued a cap on the bottom, and I use that to put my water in so the hydrometer could accurately measure it

 

[Fish Styx]

that’s my next option. What would you recommend for Acro tank?

Fritz Reef Pro. I just switched over from TM for similar reasons.

 

[Zach Hart]

Fritz Reef Pro. I just switched over from TM for similar reasons.

Oh really no way. I thought it was just me as everyone else online seems to praise it. I was thinking of changing to Red Sea blue bucket. Params look about right for what I’m aiming for and I used it before

 

[Fish Styx]

Oh really no way. I thought it was just me as everyone else online seems to praise it. I was thinking of changing to Red Sea blue bucket. Params look about right for what I’m aiming for and I used it before

I've used TM for years without issues. Both the reef pro and bio-actif. The last 3 batches have been so inconsistent even after stirring the bucket.

 

[Zach Hart]

I've used TM for years without issues. Both the reef pro and bio-actif. The last 3 batches have been so inconsistent even after stirring the bucket.

I wonder if something like that turkey issue they had a while ago is happening again

 

[arking_mark]

Cups are units of volume and grams are units of weight. Not sure if that matters to @arking_mark
i'm ordering the TM Hydrometer right now. I'm so done with salinity!!!

Also I use the new salt bag as a weight like im doing some kind of cowbell lifts. It is a good workout and mixes the bag lol.

It does. That's why I just provided the published instructions that show the metric and English units for mixing the salt...which is based on volume of salt for English units and grams for metric.

 

[Fish Styx]

I wonder if something like that turkey issue they had a while ago is happening again

Perhaps, but they closed that production facility down, to my understanding. If this is another QA failure in their manufacturing process just a year out from the last debacle it would be surprising.

 

[Schulks]

@arking_mark the instructions you listed actually say 140-150g in parenthesize right beside the units of volume.

 

[arking_mark]

@arking_mark the instructions you listed actually say 140-150g in parenthesize right beside the units of volume.

Yes...already fixed in my post.

 

[EricR]

I went to Home Depot and got myself a 3 inch of PVC pipe about 18 inches long and glued a cap on the bottom, and I use that to put my water in so the hydrometer could accurately measure it

Dude,,, how do you read it in that?
Graduated 500 mL standing cylinders that you can see through are like $10-$15 on Amazon ... but I applaud your DIYedness on this one.

 

[Schulks]

@arking_mark
So is it your opinion that you MUST use the volume to accurately measure salt or are the instructions ok you can use either one? I am just confused now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Cups are units of volume and grams are units of weight. Not sure if that matters to @arking_mark
i'm ordering the TM Hydrometer right now. I'm so done with salinity!!!

Also I use the new salt bag as a weight like im doing some kind of cowbell lifts. It is a good workout and mixes the bag lol.

Yes, he knows. But the volume in cups is a specified volume measurement of dry salt in the quote he showed from the salt manufacturer.

FWIW, no reefer is measuring salinity. That would require a complex drying and weighing procedure. We all make surrogate measurements of salinity with other types of physical measurements, such as refractive index, density, or conductivity.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Dude,,, how do you read it in that?
Graduated 500 mL standing cylinders that you can see through are like $10-$15 on Amazon ... but I applaud your DIYedness on this one.

I fill it about 2-3 inches from the top. It’s 3 1/2 cups worth of water and I stick the hydrometer in there and it’s pretty much at the top easy to see and read, and then I pour the water back in the tank. And this cost me about three dollars just for the cap because I had the pipe laying around from another aquarium project. And it’s super heavy duty and sturdy stands up straight and I have no worries of it ever tipping over. I even store the hydrometer in there for extra safety when not being used.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@arking_mark
So is it your opinion that you MUST use the volume to accurately measure salt or are the instructions ok you can use either one? I am just confused now.

Either is close enough, and neither is perfect. It's always best to monitor it with the same salinity device you use in the aquarium.

 

[arking_mark]

@arking_mark
So is it your opinion that you MUST use the volume to accurately measure salt or are the instructions ok you can use either one? I am just confused now.

To unconfuse you.

The OP was getting a "high" alk reading that they believed were accurate and was questioning the quality of the salt.

They were mixing it to a specific salinity that they were measuring to and believed.

If salinity was off, this would explain the off Alk readings.

Mixing the salt mixed based on instructions (instead of salinity measurement) should provide artificail saltwater with the manufactures listed concentrations.

If this measures Alk as expected, you have a salinity measurement issue.

Just another way to assess what may be the issue...

Is it a bad batch or quality salt?

Is it an Alk measurement issue?

Is it a Salinity measurement issue?

 

[Saltyreef]

I went to Home Depot and got myself a 3 inch of PVC pipe about 18 inches long and glued a cap on the bottom, and I use that to put my water in so the hydrometer could accurately measure it

Heck yeah.

My next project was to make a standpipe the same ID as the hydrometers OD (tight tolerance) but with holes and no bottom cap. Glue it to the inside of a 5g bucket so when i mix it up the hydrometer is reading in real time.

I call it the saltybucket

I just marked up a cheap plastic swing arm hydrometer instead so i dont worry about pulling my glass one out anymore.
Its calibrated for life pending i heat my water to 77*

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Heck yeah.

My next project was to make a standpipe the same ID as the hydrometers OD (tight tolerance) but with holes and no bottom cap. Glue it to the inside of a 5g bucket so when i mix it up the hydrometer is reading in real time.

I call it the saltybucket

I just marked up a cheap plastic swing arm hydrometer instead so i dont worry about pulling my glass one out anymore.
Its calibrated for life pending i heat my water to 77*

FWIW, I'd check it at least once to know that it was calibrated correctly.

 

[Saltyreef]

Oh really no way. I thought it was just me as everyone else online seems to praise it. I was thinking of changing to Red Sea blue bucket. Params look about right for what I’m aiming for and I used it before

Not a bad choice. Its all I use and I have no complaints. Love the free batch analysis with each bucket.

 

[Saltyreef]

FWIW, I'd check it at least once to know that it was calibrated correctly.

Which?
The plastic one was checked and corrected against my glass TM @ 77 degrees and marked accordingly.
Ive compared against a calibrated digital device as well.
I trust the TM glass hydrometer to be calibrated by some lab standard. (Dont know what institution certifies this for salinity like NIST for temperature as an example)