Hydrometer

[tat2life]

hey all..AGAIN.
i put some salt into my tank today then stuck the hydrometer in and left it at the bottom of the tank... it went all the way up to the highest reading and slowly dropped over the hour. i took the hydrometer out of the tank emptied the hydrometer and put it straight back in... now its even lower than what it was before... so i left it in there, added more salt and it went up to 24. so i took it out added even more salt put it back in and now its only on 20. any idea why it keeps giving me diffrent readings ?

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

Hi, maybe your hydrometer has salt on the swing arm that is making the readings inaccurate?

My advice is upgrade to a refractometer, because they are a lot more accurate and they dont get stuck with salt as you just pur water on the end.

hope this helps

 

[tat2life]

not sure mate its brand new and never used before. i could try washing it but it did say leave in salt water for 48 hours

 

[tat2life]

any other ideas guys ? i added even more salt and it dropped to 20 now. i put more than reccomended and its still saying i need loads more salt

 

[Musho3210]

yeah, probably a bad hydrometer, "like the commercial" You need to upgrade

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, get the second oppinion of another aquarist or your LFS.

 

[tat2life]

im taking it back to lfs today... it was £15 and quite a popular one not the cheapest one there so i dont think its cus its a cheap one. il let u know what they say tough

 

[AK77]

I'd go with a refractometer with the ATC feature (Automatic Temperature Compensation). The SG of water differs according to the temperature. Many Refractometers calibrated to measure the SG of water at 20c. They ATC models are usually a bit more expensive, but are well worth the investment, as once a calibrated properly, are much, much more accurate than a hydrometer.

 

[Musho3210]

im taking it back to lfs today... it was £15 and quite a popular one not the cheapest one there so i dont think its cus its a cheap one. il let u know what they say tough

hobby swing arm hydrometers are all cheap, regardless of the price.

 

[tat2life]

just to update it was working perfectly, i took it back and he used it in his own tanks and they were all accurate... it was just we did the calculations wrong on my own tank. it was 120 litres not 80. so we didnt add enough salt

 

[pengy666]

hope no minds the link but this is what I have and this is who I got it from along with many people on a UK forum I member of

Refractometer CHEAP AS CHIPS!

 

[Musho3210]

that one doesnt seem like it comes with ATC though....

 

[pengy666]

sorry no but its miles better than a swing arm, or hydrometer

But he has got them and they are STILL cheap as chips

ATC refractometer

I received mine in under two weeks

Hong Kong to UK thats quick!!!

 

[Musho3210]

just letting him know

Wheres that post on how to calibrate cheapo refractometers?

 

[SkiFletch]

Realm of knowledge, page 2, I linked a DIY calibration standard.