Ssdangeranger
Active Member
Which hydrometer would you trust until I get a refractomter
Hydrometer use
- Thread starter Ssdangeranger
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Redfoxtang
2500 Club Member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
R2R Secret Santa 2024
R2R App User
Tampa Bay Reef Keepers
Hospitality Award
Honestly I trust no hydrometer. But I would use both until your refractometer comes. I use the Hanna salinity test and I always calibrate and then match up with a calibrated refractometer!!
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
One is reading 1.024 the othe 1.028
If you have a kitchen scale, table salt, and some liquid measuring cups, you can make your own standard and see what the hydrometers read.
Add 35 grams of table salt to a large liquid measuring cup. Add water until the 1 L mark. Stir up until the salt is dissolved. It will be about 1.025 s.g. or 33 ppt salinity.
Add 35 grams of table salt to a large liquid measuring cup. Add water until the 1 L mark. Stir up until the salt is dissolved. It will be about 1.025 s.g. or 33 ppt salinity.
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
You do mean 1 liter rights. 35 grams to 1 liter
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
Ok I did the test not thinking you could do that. But the coralife one is dead on the other is off by 2.5 ppt. Thanks for the advise
L = liter, yes. 35 grams of salt in the solution. So measure out the salt first, then add water...so you will have a little less than 1L of water. Salt + water = Total volume of 1 Liter.
That was quick. Sounds good.
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
Probably gonna be how I measure out my salt from now on 9.35 pounds of salt to 32 gallons of ro water. That’s what it will take to fill my trash can up that will get me close so I don’t have to second guess my hydrometer
you still should check as you don’t know exactly what the container holds, just because it says 32g doesn’t mean that’s to the very top of the barrel.
You only have to be off a little to throw your salinity off by quite a bit.
That pencils out correctly, as long as the salt mix is anhydrous. Best to check after with your hydrometer, or a calibrated refractometer.
Ssdangeranger
Active Member
Yeah I still will check but it’s a faster way to get close instead of just adding salt measuring then if I go over I gotta take some out in a clean bucket and add some more water.
WVNed
The fish are staring at me with hungry eyes.
Or you can calibrate your hydrometer and make a line on it with a sharpie.
Then you can drop it on the floor or in your tank or mixing bucket. You can do that hundreds of times. You can stick it in a drawer for years as I have two. Clean it a couple of times a decade.
It will always read the same. Mine has for more than 10 years.
I used a conductivity meter to calibrate mine. Dip it and knock it to get the bubbles off. Takes 5 seconds to get a reading.
Then you can drop it on the floor or in your tank or mixing bucket. You can do that hundreds of times. You can stick it in a drawer for years as I have two. Clean it a couple of times a decade.
It will always read the same. Mine has for more than 10 years.
I used a conductivity meter to calibrate mine. Dip it and knock it to get the bubbles off. Takes 5 seconds to get a reading.
Thalia
Active Member
What if you only have sea salt and not table salt? I tried this and my hydrometer reads 1.024 (32ppm) and refractometer 1.031...
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Ultimate Member
Excellence Award
R2R App User
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
Then get some table salt to make a proper standard. It may be your cheapest reef purchase ever.
Reef salt is not suitable unless you can somehow confirm its salinity some other way because it has variable amounts of water in the solids.
One can easily make enough to test any sort of hydrometer.
Recipes are here. Make sure to use the one appropriate for your device type.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.956/
