Hello everyone,
I am not necessarily new to the saltwater hobby....but it has been roughly 12 years since I last had a saltwater tank. I used to have a BioCube 14 gallon and never once had issues with an Instant Ocean hydrometer and getting good readings from the tank. Fast-forward 12ish years and I now have a Fluval Evo 13.5 and the readings are just all over the place.
I can measure in the center and it's pegging out at the high end. Front left corner, reading almost perfect. Back right corner just above the live rock, reading way too low. It's been a long time, so maybe I'm forgetting a step somewhere....or this hydrometer is just a plastic piece of crap? I ordered a refractometer that should be here tomorrow, but in the meantime...anyone know what's going on? I'm just trying to get this one started with the cycling for a few weeks before I add the CUC and then eventually some damsels to make sure everything is good to go.
Some things worth noting -
I am not necessarily new to the saltwater hobby....but it has been roughly 12 years since I last had a saltwater tank. I used to have a BioCube 14 gallon and never once had issues with an Instant Ocean hydrometer and getting good readings from the tank. Fast-forward 12ish years and I now have a Fluval Evo 13.5 and the readings are just all over the place.
I can measure in the center and it's pegging out at the high end. Front left corner, reading almost perfect. Back right corner just above the live rock, reading way too low. It's been a long time, so maybe I'm forgetting a step somewhere....or this hydrometer is just a plastic piece of crap? I ordered a refractometer that should be here tomorrow, but in the meantime...anyone know what's going on? I'm just trying to get this one started with the cycling for a few weeks before I add the CUC and then eventually some damsels to make sure everything is good to go.
Some things worth noting -
- I do not have the heater in yet, but it's been ordered (so the water is "cold" - low 70s)
- I do not pre-mix water in a bucket (though I probably should have) as I never did before when I had my other tank that did fine for years.
- I added the salt directly to the tank with water in it, slowly, right in front of the nozzles so it pushes it around the tank in hopes of helping it dissolve better.
- I am using Fritz RPM
- Tank has been running for 2 days now
- Yes, I realize I have a bunch of air bubbles in my sand I need to go sort out lol
Last edited: