Switching to store bought

[b-rad_c]

Im done mixng salt water and failing and broken hydrometers and going to the LFS to have my refractor to be calibrated anyway. so can i switch from making my own salt water to just buying it from my LFS safely? And if so how would i go about safely adding the new salt water?

[franklypre]

To add it I would suggest taking some out and pouring the new SW in. Seriously though if you cant mix saltwater you might be in trouble. Order you in some calibration fluid or a pinpoint salinity meter( if you are tired of messing with blue lines, bubbles on needles, and of course broken glass in your tank). I personally wouldn't want anyone mixing my water because who knows what the salinity is or TDS was. LFS are not always as professional as we would like to believe.

[disaster999]

if you cant even mix your water without it being an epic failure, then i think you should hire someone to look after your tank, or just find another hobby.

[EliPhant]

yep. I recently stopped buying water from a "trusted" lfs. they claimed the water was at 1.025. my corals started looking bad. They say they calibrate with a refractometer. Just in case, after a few weeks I bought my own refractometer, calibrated it with calibration solution. Their water measured 1.020-1.021. I went to them to ask them whats going on and I brought my jugs of water I bought from them. They calibrated their refractometer with tap water... and the jug water read 1.024ish.

They hassled me saying its showing close to 1.025 blah blah.

Not buying from there anymore lol.

[AZDesertRat]

Whats your problem with refractometers? I don't trust swingarm hydrometers but I have used the same refractometer for 7 years and its still like new. Its been dropped a few times but the soft rubberized case cushions it. I check calibration occasionally but have only had to calibrate it one time in 7 years. Must be some cheap refractometers out there? Keep it clean and put it back in its case after each use and they work great.

[lakshwadeep]

You don't need to go to an LFS to recalibrate a refractometer. You can even buy calibration solutions, like the 35 mS solution from pinpoint.

[under the sea]

i have an instant ocean hydrometer and tested it against 2 refactometers and its accurate. i keep mine very clean and rinse it with ro water after each use. works for me. it cost $8.

 

oh, about your water issue. how big is your tank. lugging water can get old real quick.

[JMAdams]

You can get store bought if you want but I wouldn't recommend it. Its much easier to control the salinity if you mix it yourself.

 

How hard is it to stick a couple cups of salt in a bucket with a powerhead and then test the salinity of the water?

[cruiZe]

store bought or mix your own it doesn't matter, you still need to check your tanks sg and know what it is.

[spleenman]

I bought a very cheap refractometer on ebay, and I must admit I'm slightly annoyed with it overall. It is supposed to have automatic temperature compensation (that's what ATC means, right?), but I find that it reads compeltely differently from first thing in the morning to later in the day, which I'd guess is based on temperature as there's a fair amount of variation in my house from morning to evening.

 

It calibrates perfectly. I usually just calibrate it with distilled water, but every so often do a second check with the 35ppt calibration fluid, and if zeroed with the distilled, it's always right on at the 35ppt. So I'd say it's very accurate, but it drives me crazy to have to zero it every time I use it. Other than having to check SG twice every time I want to check my tank or water change water, it seems to work very well.

 

Hauling water from the LFS is a pain, but unless you're running your own RO/DI unit, you're going out to get the water anyway, so it's not really that different unless the LFS is particularly far away.

 

I mix my own because I don't trust anyone else to do it right. 50% of the people in the world are too lazy to do their jobs properly in the first place, and 99% of the remainder are incompetent at it anyway.

 

I can't see why anyone would need to go to the LFS to have their refractometer calibrated. Do they happen to charge for this "service", or are they just happy to get you back in to the store regularly?

[cruiZe]

my refracto is a PITA also. it needs to be calibrated all the time. Wish I was rich enough to buy a pinpoint. ( I COULD, but I can't justify that $)