I have an Apex salinity probe that drops over time (in the course of one month with new saltwater it dropped from 35 to 31, while salinity of the tank did not change). Not sure why that is (it is not related to temperature TC value) and also not interference since it's running straight to the apex not passing any other cables. But this is not my main question.
I was wondering, why should I bother with buying 35ppm calibration fluid all the time if my tank is on 35ppm anyway (or at least my waterchanges are) and I would actually prefer to calibrate on my saltwater instead of bothering with calibration fluids. I always check it using refractometer so I know it should be stable/close to 35ppm.
So I have 2 questions.
1) Is it technically possible to just calibrate my probe to a baseline (of +-35ppm) using my tank water inside my tank? If I'm correct, the calibration fluids are 35ppm anyway (I know, its 53mS conductivity but I'm not searching for the conductivity of my tank but rather 35ppm or at least the deviation of it compared to my waterchange water, not compared to a calibration fluid). But the calibration fluid is 35 during calibration so technically I could calibrate it using my tankwater right considering that tank water has a salinity of 35? (which is only a few weeks old btw and an empty tank). So if I put it in my tank during the calibration process, it should calibrate my water as being 35ppm correct?
2) Since I'm not interested if my tank is really 35ppm but more about the deviation of my standard 35ppm salinity baseline/tank water, it would make more sense to set the baseline to my tank water instead (after making sure the salinity is close to 35ppm or at least close to my baseline).
Conclusion: I'm not interested how my water is compared to a calibration fluid of 53mS but instead, I want to know if it's higher or lower compared to my normal saltwater (which is 35ppm anyway).
I was wondering, why should I bother with buying 35ppm calibration fluid all the time if my tank is on 35ppm anyway (or at least my waterchanges are) and I would actually prefer to calibrate on my saltwater instead of bothering with calibration fluids. I always check it using refractometer so I know it should be stable/close to 35ppm.
So I have 2 questions.
1) Is it technically possible to just calibrate my probe to a baseline (of +-35ppm) using my tank water inside my tank? If I'm correct, the calibration fluids are 35ppm anyway (I know, its 53mS conductivity but I'm not searching for the conductivity of my tank but rather 35ppm or at least the deviation of it compared to my waterchange water, not compared to a calibration fluid). But the calibration fluid is 35 during calibration so technically I could calibrate it using my tankwater right considering that tank water has a salinity of 35? (which is only a few weeks old btw and an empty tank). So if I put it in my tank during the calibration process, it should calibrate my water as being 35ppm correct?
2) Since I'm not interested if my tank is really 35ppm but more about the deviation of my standard 35ppm salinity baseline/tank water, it would make more sense to set the baseline to my tank water instead (after making sure the salinity is close to 35ppm or at least close to my baseline).
Conclusion: I'm not interested how my water is compared to a calibration fluid of 53mS but instead, I want to know if it's higher or lower compared to my normal saltwater (which is 35ppm anyway).