What hardware to trust?

[Baffels]

Hi all!

New tank is almost cycled, but I have a question. For temp and salinity I am getting very different results from my apex and the hanna salinity tester. Which one should I trust?

 

[mtraylor]

Get yourself one of these and trust this.

LED Refractometer for Reading Salinity with Calibration Fluid

Precise & Reliable Specific Gravity Readings in any Lighting Conditions! Refractometers are a must-have piece of equipment for any aquarists! Easily and accurately measure the salinity of your tank and with the built-in LED light, your readings will be consistent no matter the type of ambient...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The Apex salinity is not that reliable IMO. I would go with the hanna for now.

 

[Amelanchier]

I am not familiar with either the Hanna or the apex (I use a refractometer like the person above me linked to) but can either of your current instruments be calibrated? And if so, have you calibrated them per the manufacturer’s instructions?

 

[Dburr1014]

I feel most apex users don't know about this.

(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Apex Salinity Calibration and TC Factor

I was trying to calibrate my new salinity probe a few weeks ago, and ran into all sorts of problems. Calibrations that were way off the mark, big fluctuations in readings that couldn't possibly be correct (and were verifiably not), etc. After searching around the internet, it was clear that a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[PatW]

The thing about refractometers that is nice is you can buy calibration fluid set at 35 ppt. That way, if you have a concern about accuracy you can recalibrate in minutes. Also it only takes a drop or two to calibrate so a bottle of calibration fluid lasts a LOOOOOONNNNG time.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

The Hanna is more likely to be accurate assuming you calibrated it first for salinity.

The apex will be equally accurate only if you calibrate it properly.

If they don't match, chances are you missed something in the apex calibration. Most people miss matching calibration solution to tank temp cause the BRS video misses that very important step, forgot to enable Temp Compensation, or didn't let the probe soak in the sump 24hrs-1week before calibrating.


Temp could go either way. The Hanna are reasonably accurate there out of the box and the Neptune Temp input is not necessarily factory calibrated to the exact probe you were given. The only way to know for absolute certainty is to get an NIST traceable thermometer.

 

[Sean Clark]

What should you trust?
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/high-precision-hydrometer-tropic-marin.html

Messzylinder und Präzisions-Aräometer/hy | Produktinformationen

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

 

[GarrettT]

What should you trust?
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/high-precision-hydrometer-tropic-marin.html

Messzylinder und Präzisions-Aräometer/hy | Produktinformationen

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

Unfortunately, I’ve had this fail on me.

My VeeGee has not and is easy to check with the proper solution.

 

[Sean Clark]

Unfortunately, I’ve had this fail on me.

My VeeGee has not and is easy to check with the proper solution.

The VeeGee 6602-11 looks pretty nice but they are all calibrated for 60 deg F as opposed to 77 deg F like the tropic marin.

 

[GarrettT]

The VeeGee 6602-11 looks pretty nice but they are all calibrated for 60 deg F as opposed to 77 deg F like the tropic marin.

VeeGee STX-3. I should have been more specific.

 

[Baffels]

I am not familiar with either the Hanna or the apex (I use a refractometer like the person above me linked to) but can either of your current instruments be calibrated? And if so, have you calibrated them per the manufacturer’s instructions?

Yes, both were calibrated last week.

 

[Baffels]

The Hanna is more likely to be accurate assuming you calibrated it first for salinity.

The apex will be equally accurate only if you calibrate it properly.

If they don't match, chances are you missed something in the apex calibration. Most people miss matching calibration solution to tank temp cause the BRS video misses that very important step, forgot to enable Temp Compensation, or didn't let the probe soak in the sump 24hrs-1week before calibrating.


Temp could go either way. The Hanna are reasonably accurate there out of the box and the Neptune Temp input is not necessarily factory calibrated to the exact probe you were given. The only way to know for absolute certainty is to get an NIST traceable thermometer.

This must be it. I just followed the instructions in the apex app, which said nothing about soaking the probe or brining the solution to temp.

 

[Baffels]

I feel most apex users don't know about this.

(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Apex Salinity Calibration and TC Factor

I was trying to calibrate my new salinity probe a few weeks ago, and ran into all sorts of problems. Calibrations that were way off the mark, big fluctuations in readings that couldn't possibly be correct (and were verifiably not), etc. After searching around the internet, it was clear that a...

www.reef2reef.com

You are correct, I had no idea about this. Thank you!

 

[Baffels]

Get yourself one of these and trust this.

LED Refractometer for Reading Salinity with Calibration Fluid

Precise & Reliable Specific Gravity Readings in any Lighting Conditions! Refractometers are a must-have piece of equipment for any aquarists! Easily and accurately measure the salinity of your tank and with the built-in LED light, your readings will be consistent no matter the type of ambient...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The Apex salinity is not that reliable IMO. I would go with the hanna for now.

I have one and it matches the Hannah pretty spot on. This is more of an issue with the Apex it seems.