Refractometer

I piced up a Refractometer at the SWE sale. I get home test my water asap and WoW its 1.022 my Hydrometer was at 1.026 off by .004 now i know why my sun coral was not looking so sunny

did you caibrate it before you tested your water with it?

you have to calibrate them or at least test to someone elses water that is pretty sure. You would have a hard time keeping your levels up at 1.022 if that is really the case.

Home_Depot wrote:did you caibrate it before you tested your water with it?

yes SWE caibrate it from me

Mn. reef crzy wrote:you have to calibrate them or at least test to someone elses water that is pretty sure. You would have a hard time keeping your levels up at 1.022 if that is really the case.

I think this is why i was having a hard time keeping my Calcium over 360.

You might want to get some pinpoint salinity solution so that you can recalibrate at a later date. I calibrated mine first using distilled water. It should read at the 0 line. If it doesnt, then use the adjustment screw and move it to 0. I then used the calibration solution and did the same thing. With the solution it should read at 35ppt. It was recommended to let both dist. H20 and calib. soln, sit on the glass for 30 seconds to adjust the temperature. When I did mine, i did have a slight discrepancy between the water and salinity solution. I went with the salinity solution reading.
Reef Central has a good article written by Randy H. farley. "Refractometers and Salinity Measurement" issue 2006.

Randy has written tons of articles that are all worth reading, he is a heck of a chemist. Yes you wont be able to get calcium levels higher than that at 1.022.