Hanna and Refractometer 12ppt different

[buruskeee]

My salinity might be at 46ppt!

I used the refeactometer I just got to check against my Hanna which reads my tank at 34.5ppt. The refractometer read 42ppt out of the box.

I used 2 calibration pouches from Hanna that are supposed to be perfectly 35ppt.

Originally I tested the second calibration pouch with the refractometer and it read 30ppt.

I calibrated twice - both the Hanna checker and the refractometer.

Now my tank water reads 46ppt with the refractometer and 34.8ppt with the Hanna.

I don’t want to make drastic changes to my water in the meantime - what do you all recommend until I can get to check against someone else’s tank water and their testers?

 

[blaxsun]

Get specific refractometer calibration fluid and use that with the refractometer (the Hanna fluid shouldn't be used with a refractometer). I suspect the refractometer will read very close to the Hanna.

 

[buruskeee]

In the mean time though what should I do with my water? Should I lower it? Not touch it? I won’t be able to either get ‘refractometer’ calibration fluid or check against another reefers tank and tester until maybe tomorrow.

I’ve only tested this tank water with the Hanna (was told it’s highly reliable)

I also have my Neptune Apex probe that reads similar to the Hanna but the Apex is notorious for being inaccurate.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

In the mean time though what should I do with my water? Should I lower it? Not touch it? I won’t be able to either get ‘refractometer’ calibration fluid or check against another reefers tank and tester until maybe tomorrow.

I’ve only tested this tank water with the Hanna (was told it’s highly reliable)

I also have my Neptune Apex probe that reads similar to the Hanna but the Apex is notorious for being inaccurate.

Ok, are you using a digital refractometer? If you are using the Milwaukee digital refractometer than the calibration fluid it comes with is horribly inaccurate. Take a water sample and test both, how long has it been reading that? Do your fish and coral look healthy? If it's been like that for some time and your livestock looks OK than it's likely ideal

 

[buruskeee]

Ok, are you using a digital refractometer? If you are using the Milwaukee digital refractometer than the calibration fluid it comes with is horribly inaccurate. Take a water sample and test both, how long has it been reading that? Do your fish and coral look healthy? If it's been like that for some time and your livestock looks OK than it's likely ideal

I’m using the digital Hanna Salinity Checker that uses conductivity.

If the fluid is 1.026, shouldn’t it read the same for the refractometer?

My tank water on both my Hanna and Neptune (calibrated again) reads 34.8ppt. Before using the Hanna calibration fluid on the refractometer, the tank water tested at 42ppt. The calibration fluid measured 30ppt on the refractometer, I adjusted it to 35ppt, and not the tank water on the refractometer reads 46 or 47ppt.

Fish look great - corals are frags are new as it’s a 2 month old tank (just got back into the hobby after over a decade). Some aren’t as extended as I’d hope, others are nicely extended/puffed up.

I don’t want to over react and drop the salinity.

 

[blaxsun]

In the mean time though what should I do with my water? Should I lower it? Not touch it? I won’t be able to either get ‘refractometer’ calibration fluid or check against another reefers tank and tester until maybe tomorrow.

I’ve only tested this tank water with the Hanna (was told it’s highly reliable)

I also have my Neptune Apex probe that reads similar to the Hanna but the Apex is notorious for being inaccurate.

Do nothing until you can get some specific refractometer calibration fluid and get another (or independent) test done on your water. My Apex salinity probe is actually fairly reliable (the Hanna is much less so).

 

[buruskeee]

Do nothing until you can get some specific refractometer calibration fluid and get another (or independent) test done on your water. My Apex salinity probe is actually fairly reliable (the Hanna is much less so).

What got me to get a refractometer was I took a small cup of my tank water a week ago to one of the LFS here (not my main go to) and read a high salinity through a refractometer that I thought possibly may have been an error (or that my sample had some evap since it was like 100ml although had a lid).

Could both Hanna pouches of calibration fluid be a bad batch that I calibrated both my Apex probe and Hanna checker to? I floated them in my 78° tank water before calibrating.

Worst case if I come to find out my tank is at 42ppt, how fast should I lower? 1ppt a day?

I’m going to bring another sample to get tested at my main LFS and also bring both salinity testers to find out tomorrow.

 

[CoralB]

My salinity might be at 46ppt!

I used the refeactometer I just got to check against my Hanna which reads my tank at 34.5ppt. The refractometer read 42ppt out of the box.

I used 2 calibration pouches from Hanna that are supposed to be perfectly 35ppt.

Originally I tested the second calibration pouch with the refractometer and it read 30ppt.

I calibrated twice - both the Hanna checker and the refractometer.

Now my tank water reads 46ppt with the refractometer and 34.8ppt with the Hanna.

I don’t want to make drastic changes to my water in the meantime - what do you all recommend until I can get to check against someone else’s tank water and their testers?

I would tend to go with the Hanna reading imo ,especially after recalibration the Hanna. I would as soon as you can get them checked out . I also have the Hanna checker and have used it with great success .

 

[buruskeee]

I would tend to go with the Hanna reading imo ,especially after recalibration the Hanna. I would as soon as you can get them checked out . I also have the Hanna checker and have used it with great success .

I sure hope so. So much anxiety right now.

What has me concerned is this:

What got me to get a refractometer was I took a small cup of my tank water a week ago to one of the LFS here (not my main go to) and read a high salinity through a refractometer that I thought possibly may have been an error (or that my sample had some evap since it was like 100ml although had a lid).

Can all of the calibration Hanna packets my tester came with truly be bad??

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Do you have a hydrometer? My refracto shows 1.026 when my wet noodle plastic box says 1.023. Would like to get a Hanna though for comparison and an easier to read. Hard to view the refracto lines with declining vision these days

 

[CoralB]

I sure hope so. So much anxiety right now.

What has me concerned is this:


Can all of the calibration Hanna packets my tester came with truly be bad??

It’s possible but I think others would have had the same issue and would have went around the gossip chain . I’ve heard of refracto meters that are bad or have been mis read . Yes anything is possible if you have a store open like a petco or lfs I would go their before they close and get it checked out . You are in California so something should be open yes ?

 

[Pod_01]

How are the critters in the tank? If they look normal sit on your hands and do nothing today.

In the mean time get this:

No calibrations required. Turn off the flow put in tank , read the value, done.

 

[bluerider098]

What got me to get a refractometer was I took a small cup of my tank water a week ago to one of the LFS here (not my main go to) and read a high salinity through a refractometer that I thought possibly may have been an error (or that my sample had some evap since it was like 100ml although had a lid).

Could both Hanna pouches of calibration fluid be a bad batch that I calibrated both my Apex probe and Hanna checker to? I floated them in my 78° tank water before calibrating.

Worst case if I come to find out my tank is at 42ppt, how fast should I lower? 1ppt a day?

I’m going to bring another sample to get tested at my main LFS and also bring both salinity testers to find out tomorrow.

Highly doubt the Hannah is wrong if you calibrated it. No need to float the calibration fluid to temp acclimate as the Hanna automatically compensates for temperature. If your concerned you can always put the Hannah checker directly back in the pouch after calibration for a reading. Don't rinse it or anything before putting it back in or you can contaminate the calibration fluid

Been using the Hannah for 3 years without issue. It will drift over time so you should calibrate it every month or so. Also make sure your rinsing it in rodi water after use before you put away.

 

[buruskeee]

How are the critters in the tank? If they look normal sit on your hands and do nothing today.

In the mean time get this:

No calibrations required. Turn off the flow put in tank , read the value, done.

Can I just leave this in my sump in a low flow area?

 

[buruskeee]

Highly doubt the Hannah is wrong if you calibrated it. No need to float the calibration fluid to temp acclimate as the Hanna automatically compensates for temperature. If your concerned you can always put the Hannah checker directly back in the pouch after calibration for a reading. Don't rinse it or anything before putting it back in or you can contaminate the calibration fluid

Been using the Hannah for 3 years without issue. It will drift over time so you should calibrate it every month or so. Also make sure your rinsing it in rodi water after use before you put away.

I floated it to get more use out of the pouch and calibrated my Apex probe while I was at it.

What if the calibration fluid is bad? I did test the fluid after calibration and it was 35 as expected (but I calibrated to that).

I guess I’ll find out tomorrow (or I guess I can go to petsmart but I don’t trust them and probably they’ll just use a cheap hydrometer lol).

So in the extremely unlikely event my local LFS refractometer also read high and digital testers read similar to mine - what to I trust? I don’t even know how the same water can test differently based on optics and conductivity.

 

[buruskeee]

Do you have a hydrometer? My refracto shows 1.026 when my wet noodle plastic box says 1.023. Would like to get a Hanna though for comparison and an easier to read. Hard to view the refracto lines with declining vision these days

I might need to get one just for even more redundancy now I guess.

 

[Pod_01]

Can I just leave this in my sump in a low flow area?

You can measure in sump or take water out of tank and measure in another container. To take measurement you need calm water surface so the hydrometer is not bobbing up and down.

Also the hydrometer is made from glass so I would take it out and keep it on its protective sleeve.

Once I started using it I figured the salinity really doesn’t change. So these days I use GHL probe for tracking and if I suspect the salinity is off I use the TM Hydrometer. Usually it means I need to clean the GHL probe.

Good luck,

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Can I just leave this in my sump in a low flow area?

I have a “tilt” hydrometer for brewing and thought to leave in tank or sump but algae will grow on it and skew results. A few days is fine but after you’d need to clean and replace.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I may have missed it, but what refractometer are you using, and what calibration fluid?

 

[Garf]

I don’t even know how the same water can test differently based on optics and conductivity.

@blaxsun nailed it, post #2. Unless you’ve sourced a calibration solution designed to be used on both Refractometer and Conductivity meters, and it don’t sound like it. You can make a DIY version for the Refractometer if you want.