Salinity questions.

Walkmann · Jan 18, 2017

Hey everyone, I just recently switched to aquaforest reef salt and so I decided to check my Salinity for the first time in awhile. Haven't had any issues so I never checked up on it (bad, I know).

Well I checked my tank water with both my refractometer, which I got used and have never calibrated, and an accuprobe floating gravity checker. Both of them read at 1.016.

My questions are:
How accurate are those accuprobe?

How often does a refractometer need to be calibrated.

What is the safest way to raise the SG in my tank?

Thanks in advance.

scardall · Jan 18, 2017

A floating hygrometer is junk. I would buy the pinpoints salinity calibration solution and cal. your refractometer as asap. Now I would cal. this unit every 4-6 months. In the mean time go to a LFS to see what level your tank is at now. good luck

Caleb740 · Jan 18, 2017

Do you check the salinity of the water you are changing or just use the recommended amount?

I calibrate my refractometer before each use with this:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/aqua-craft-refractometer-calibration-fluid.html

Just raise it slowly, when I had low salinity in the past I added some salt to my ATO.

Coastie Reefer · Jan 18, 2017

I calibrate my refractometer before every use... meaning if I haven't used it in a week or even a day I will calibrate it. Then I consider it good to go for about and hour, before I'd feel I wanted to check the calibration. Calibration fluid is like 8 bucks, so I keep it on hand for peace of mind.

Walkmann · Jan 18, 2017

Ok, thanks for the info guys, hopefully I can get the salinity back up before too long!

I used to just put in the same amount of salt into every water change. Apparently it got off somewhere down the line. What's weird is that my corals and fish are all doing just fine so I never thought to check it.

Ty Hamatake · Jan 18, 2017

+1 on the regular calibration. My refractometer is of the cheap amazon variety so we may be in different boats there. Either way, I calibrated mine this morning and it was a little over 1 PPT high after only two weeks without use. However, two different methods coming up with like results means you are more than likely somewhere around the 1.016 you got as your results. I'd highly suggest getting some calibration fluid, finding out where exactly you are that, and taking the appropriate steps to fixing it. I imagine a salinity that though would result in some unhappy corals :(

Just now seeing your post, maybe your results are farther off than I thought!

Walkmann · Jan 18, 2017

Here's an example of what my palys and mushrooms look like. I've also got some acro frags that are starting to encrusted onto my rock. That's why I'm so confused as to the readings.

Ty Hamatake · Jan 18, 2017

Yeah, I'm going to guess those readings are way off. Unless I've missed something all this time about that low of salinity being ok! Tank is looking good BTW, I envy your coralline growth. Lol I can't get mine to spread/grow to save my life.

Walkmann · Jan 18, 2017

Ty Hamatake said:
Yeah, I'm going to guess those readings are way off. Unless I've missed something all this time about that low of salinity being ok! Tank is looking good BTW, I envy your coralline growth. Lol I can't get mine to spread/grow to save my life.

Haha, thanks, yeah it definitely was not on purpose. I upgraded lights awhile back and it was a side effect of that!

saltyhog · Jan 18, 2017

I bet it's not really 1.016. If mine get's low I just turn off my ATO and top off with salt water till my salinity is back to 1.026. Fortunately that's a very rare event.