refractometer surprise

T

triggerfish

New member
i just bought a refractometer and to my surprise i have been keeping my water at 1.029. the cheap swing arm hydrometer was reading 1.023.
i knew it wasn't accurate but 6 points wtf.

everyone should do themselves a favor and check how far off your hydrometer may be.

what are the effects of high salinity on fish? it can't be good?
 
Wow...that's way off. The ironic thing about fish is that they're adaptable, so if the salinity went up gradually over time, then they adapted to it. But now, you have to gradually bring the salinity back down so that the sudden change doesn't shock them.
 
jeni, they didn' have the calibration solution at the store, so for now i just used distilled water per the instructions.
do you know of any place that sells the solution?

all fish are going into a separate tank tonight to begin hypo. Crypt will be defeated.
 
I think steady is more critical than a little high or low (just my thought) I use dial type(have 3) and i have a refractometer just to double check.
 
i got one for 30 bucks on ebay. and i calibrated it with some solution i got also. it was showing me that my salt was at 1.023 so i was like yeah its good when i took a sample of water to my lfs their refracto read it was at 1.020 so even the solution i bought online was not working. because when i calibrated it with the solution from my lfs it showed me it was at 1.020. i know i read somewhere that temperature will knock off the refracto calibration. is that tru because i took it to the lfs and they calibrated and when i got home i had to recalibrate it again and it was freezing outside. and i only recalibrate it like once a week if it needs it and it stays the right way. but most the time its ok when i check it with the solution.
 
Well its good you caught it now. I've read somewhere that it's a little easier on the fish if you have to lower the specific gravity than to raise it because there's less oxygen in the water as the density goes up. But either way make changes slowly.
On the refracto I was told to ALWAYS zero it out every time before you use it.
It is always changing due to temp, and humidity.
Just don't do what I was doing when I was calibrating it with the refraco solution fluid and calibrate it by looking at the specific gravity, calibrate it to 1.035 PPT.
BTW I never read instructions, I need pictures to understand it. HAHAHAHA.
 
triggerfish - have you been happy with your refractometer purchase? do you consider it a necessary piece of equipment?

I have 3 hydrometers I have collected over the years and the readings all seem to be fairly close to one another. Is the benefit of a refractometer mainly accuracy?
 
my plastic refracto is off two points. my tank is at .025 and my refracto says .027, i had my local lfs check it so i know where im at so when mine say 27 im actually at 25
 
No refractometer or hydrometer is any good, without calibrating it with Pinpoint solution or some other premixed calibrated solution.
 
I have a Deep Six Hydrometer and it is off .003 on the low side, but Mario at Aquatica tested it against his refractometer before I bought it so I know 1.020 is actually 1.023 "I just dont have the extra $$$$ for a refractometer of my own:sad:"and all my fishes seem to be happy. I have also had it for 2+ years and every time I bring up a sample to the LFS its at 1.023 when mine says 1.020
 
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