Extremely frustrated by the salinty measuring tools available. Does anyone REALLY know what their salinity level are?

[MuscleBobBuffPants]

I have tried The Hannah salinity tester (actually I have 2 of them), the brs refractometer, my lfs refractometer. I can't find a tool that makes me feel 100% confident in my salinity. The drift that I have from my Hannah is absurd. After 3 days of use and another calibration my salinity was apparently 4 points higher than what it had originally told me was 35 ppt. I honestly would calibrate the meter every time I used it if it didn't cost $1 per packet of calibration fluid! The refractometers need to be backlit by the sun and the line value changes based on what angle you are looking through it.

Then there is that Milwaukee Instruments meter with amazing reviews, but the issue is that it only has a resolution of 1ppt and an error of +/- 2 ppt! How do you know if your salinity isn't 33 or 37 ppt? How does it have such amazing reviews when your salinity could in actuality be between a range of 33-37 ppt?

Glass hydrometers are a pain because I'd have to completely turn off all my flow every time I want to check salinity.

My desperation is making me look into industrial solutions. I found a $500 industrial salinity meter at Grainger that I might have to suck up and buy. It's so difficult to measure one of the most fundamental parts of this hobby. We have tools for flow, Par, and everything else. No one has been able to make a salinity meter that actually works and you can be completely confident in.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? How do you measure the salinity for your tank? How do public aquariums and food manufacturing facilities measure the salinity of their water? That's what I want. Confidence I can put money on. In this case, its thousands of dollars of quarantined fish and coral.

Grainger meter

 

[Pistondog]

I have tried The Hannah salinity tester (actually I have 2 of them), the brs refractometer, my lfs refractometer. I can't find a tool that makes me feel 100% confident in my salinity. The drift that I have from my Hannah is absurd. After 3 days of use and another calibration my salinity was apparently 4 points higher than what it had originally told me was 35 ppt. I honestly would calibrate the meter every time I used it if it didn't cost $1 per packet of calibration fluid! The refractometers need to be backlit by the sun and the line value changes based on what angle you are looking through it.

Then there is that Milwaukee Instruments meter with amazing reviews, but the issue is that it only has a resolution of 1ppt and an error of +/- 2 ppt! How do you know if your salinity isn't 33 or 37 ppt? How does it have such amazing reviews when your salinity could in actuality be between a range of 33-37 ppt?

Glass hydrometers are a pain because I'd have to completely turn off all my flow every time I want to check salinity.

My desperation is making me look into industrial solutions. I found a $500 industrial salinity meter at Grainger that I might have to suck up and buy. It's so difficult to measure one of the most fundamental parts of this hobby. We have tools for flow, Par, and everything else. No one has been able to make a salinity meter that actually works and you can be completely confident in.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? How do you measure the salinity for your tank? How do public aquariums and food manufacturing facilities measure the salinity of their water? That's what I want. Confidence I can put money on. In this case, its thousands of dollars of quarantined fish and coral.

Grainger meter

I like Refractometers

Amazon product

They are temperature sensitive, so Milwaukee and I assume hanna use more water than the one I linked, so you have to wait for the sample to come to temp equilibrium with the instrument. (the instrument compensates for temp at the instrument temp, not the water sample temp.)
A drop on the vee gee comes to temp immediately.
Use rodi to check zero every month.

 

[Montiman]

I use the Milwaukee meter. I think you may be stressing over a degree of accuracy that just doesn't matter. I double check the Milwaukee with a floating hydrometer from time to time. The floating hydrometer is the most precise measuring tool I have found.

The reason I like the Milwaukee over conductivity meters is that the EC meters seem to require alot of effort to avoid errors. They need to be cleaned all the time and calibrated continually.

From my time in the lab I know oceanographers use Salinometers to measure salinity. They use the principal of constant proportions and derive the salinity by titration for the Cl ion. The problem is the principal of constant proportions of seawater doesn't apply in aquariums. You can get a similar measurement with ICP reporting the CL concentration.

 

[elysics]

Glass hydrometers are a pain because I'd have to completely turn off all my flow every time I want to check salinity.

You are not supposed to put them in the tank, you are supposed to take Aquarium water, pour it into some tall vessel like a graduated cylinder, and put the hydrometer in there, take the reading, then pour the water back into the tank

 

[MuscleBobBuffPants]

So the salinity being off by 1 or 2 points doesn't matter? This is a surprising answer to be honest. I always figured to have the best chance of success you really need to have a stable/accurate salinity in the tank. When you mention that constant proportions of seawater don't apply in aquariums, why is that?

 

[NashobaTek]

My little refractometer I bought off Amazon gives me the same reading every time I check sg. I use distilled water to calibrate as per instructions.

 

[NashobaTek]

Double post

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have tried The Hannah salinity tester (actually I have 2 of them), the brs refractometer, my lfs refractometer. I can't find a tool that makes me feel 100% confident in my salinity. The drift that I have from my Hannah is absurd. After 3 days of use and another calibration my salinity was apparently 4 points higher than what it had originally told me was 35 ppt. I honestly would calibrate the meter every time I used it if it didn't cost $1 per packet of calibration fluid! The refractometers need to be backlit by the sun and the line value changes based on what angle you are looking through it.

Then there is that Milwaukee Instruments meter with amazing reviews, but the issue is that it only has a resolution of 1ppt and an error of +/- 2 ppt! How do you know if your salinity isn't 33 or 37 ppt? How does it have such amazing reviews when your salinity could in actuality be between a range of 33-37 ppt?

Glass hydrometers are a pain because I'd have to completely turn off all my flow every time I want to check salinity.

My desperation is making me look into industrial solutions. I found a $500 industrial salinity meter at Grainger that I might have to suck up and buy. It's so difficult to measure one of the most fundamental parts of this hobby. We have tools for flow, Par, and everything else. No one has been able to make a salinity meter that actually works and you can be completely confident in.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? How do you measure the salinity for your tank? How do public aquariums and food manufacturing facilities measure the salinity of their water? That's what I want. Confidence I can put money on. In this case, its thousands of dollars of quarantined fish and coral.

Grainger meter

'old skool' go back to basics, refractometer, salinity testers Vs weight, , forget the digital age and go back to weight, gravity

 

[Hydrored]

I use a Misco and nothing but happy with it but it’s expensive

I threw away 3 Hannah checkers when my ICP test came back with high salinity, never looked back

 

[MuscleBobBuffPants]

'old skool' go back to basics, refractometer, salinity testers Vs weight, , forget the digital age and go back to weight, gravity

Funny how this is trying to make a joke about "purists" or something but in actuality I'm talking about how I'm trying to find an accurate tool in the digital age. I'm not an old man trying to saying that we need to go back to the carburetor. I'm saying that the quality leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

A ten dollar hydrometer by coralife has always worked well for me and I’ve tested it against more expensive refractometers and it’s accurate.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I use a Misco and nothing but happy with it but it’s expensive

I threw away 3 Hannah checkers when my ICP test came back with high salinity, never looked back

Stick to what makes you happy, I have 3 test for all to find a great middle, I have A standard gravity test, thermometer based and an eye looking refractometer, great to have the Hannah but I think people rely on this too much as it's 'digital,'.

 

[Hydrored]

Stick to what makes you happy, I have 3 test for all to find a great middle, I have A standard gravity test, thermometer based and an eye looking refractometer, great to have the Hannah but I think people rely on this too much as it's 'digital,'.

Oh I agree, I still keep a regular refractometer around also

 

[WVNed]

I think my Deep Six was only about $6 in 2007
The funny think is it only tells me my salinity is right. It doesn't give me a number to 3 decimal places

 

[MuscleBobBuffPants]

Oh I agree, I still keep a regular refractometer around also

any way you can help me with the link for your misco?

 

[Hydrored]

any way you can help me with the link for your misco?

I bought mine from the manufacturer but it’s on Amazon


Scale 1 Fluid: Sea Water; Unit of Measure: Specific Gravity (D20/20); Range: 1.0000 to 1.1180 ; Resolution: 0.0001; Precision:+/-0.0005

Scale 2 Fluid: Sea Water; Unit of Measure: Practical Salinity Units (PSU); Range:0 to 155; Resolution: 1; Precision: +/-1

MISCO AQUAR-H2O Palm Abbe Digital Handheld Refractometer, Seawater Scales, Salinity, Specific Gravity: Science Lab Refractometers: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

MISCO AQUAR-H2O Palm Abbe Digital Handheld Refractometer, Seawater Scales, Salinity, Specific Gravity: Science Lab Refractometers: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[stephj03]

"Globally, corals occur in a salinity range between 32 and 40 PSU (practical salinity units), although coral reefs also thrive in exceptionally high and low salinity conditions"

This corresponds to an SG range between about 1.024-1.030 as the typical range with reefs also thriving at extreme highs and lows vs this range.

Idk if I believe the source about extremes but there is a range in nature dye to rain, heat, runoff and current.

 

[BiggestE222]

I bought a refractometor. Could not figure it out. Went back to the cheapest easiest option. Not sure why exact numbers are needed. Keep it steady between .23-.26

 

[Tamberav]

VeeGee STX-3 refractometer is high quality and won't drift frequently like others as the calibration ring is designed different. You get what you pay for.

 

[G Santana]

My Milwaukee never lies to me!