Reef crystal

[xxxAngeloxxx]

For people that use Reef Crytal how many cups of Reef crystal salt per gallon?

A few hours ago I did a 5G water change on my tank and my salinity stood the same is that possible? I did use ro water and mixed with 2 in a half cups of salt.

 

[duke62]

2 1/2 cups should give you a reading of 1.025.did u check it with a refractometer

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

2 1/2 cups should give you a reading of 1.025.did u check it with a refractometer

No I used a hydormeter to check my water salinity

 

[howze01]

A few hours ago I did a 5G water change on my tank and my salinity stood the same is that possible? I did use ro water and mixed with 2 in a half cups of salt.

Not sure why the salinity staying the same is a problem. You should always have your tank at a constant salinity. Your water change water should be the same salinity. Not too sure what you're asking.

 

[duke62]

howz it all depends if you want to keep your salinity the same everytime.your skmmer pulls salt out of the tank and some people use a little bit of there tank water to defrost foods.i ALWAYS calibrate with my REFRACTOMETER with distilled water first then check my main tanks salinity then i make my salt water as needed.if im down a point or 2 i will raise my water change to 27 or 28.lif you are serious about the hobby and are going to be getting into sps and fragile sps its the best investment to get a refractometer.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

I have a feeling that my skimmer is playing a part of my salinity my skimmer at the moment is watery on the collection cup. I always am getting mixed up with this but does the skimmer take a lot of salinity when the collection cup is watery or dry?

 

[howze01]

Good point Duke.

Angelo, the wetter you skim, the lower your salinity goes... most of the time. If you have an ATO (or if you're the ATO) replacing evaporated water with RO water it will add fresh water as the skimmer is pulling out saltwater. So taking out salt and adding fresh will drop your salinity. Duke is 100% right too, you should get yourself a refractometer.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Is there a way from preventing my skimmer to stop getting wetter?

 

[howze01]

Just make it skim drier. You have the BMNAC7 right? The white tube that you can turn is to adjust how wet or dry it skims.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Just make it skim drier. You have the BMNAC7 right? The white tube that you can turn is to adjust how wet or dry it skims.

nope the BMNAC5

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Im back on board with the salinity its back to normal 1.024 thank you guys for the advice and thanks to Richie for giving advice thanks buddy =)

 

[motortrendz]

using a hydrometer is gonna be your biggest problem.. it can be off from the get go and if its not rinsed out every time and if its banged around it can causie you to read wrong.. go on ebay spend a few bucks and get a refactometer..

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

using a hydrometer is gonna be your biggest problem.. it can be off from the get go and if its not rinsed out every time and if its banged around it can causie you to read wrong.. go on ebay spend a few bucks and get a refactometer..

i guess a new year present wont hurt any one :lol_large lol

 

[Boomer]

Duke & others

ALWAYS calibrate with my REFRACTOMETER with distilled water first then check my main tanks salinity


That is a no-no, as said refract can be just as for off as a swing-arm hydrometer. Cheap Chinese refracts have been shown to be off from 0 -5 ppt when calibrated in R/DI water. To many in this hobby are being fooled that a refract is accurate. It is only accurate if it is a real seawater refract when calibrated in RO/DI water. Any refract should be calibrated using PinPoint 53 mS calibration solution or similar. You just put a drop or so on the refract and cal to read 1.0264, or 35 ppt or 3.5 % depending on what scale it has. A real lab grade refract at tune of $250 will be off in seawater @ about - 1.5 ppt. Almost all refract are for salt water, as in table salt water and NOT seawater. All of those ions in seawater, like Ca++, Mg++ SO4, K+ etc. change the RI (Refractive Index) of the water being tested. There are lost of places to buy this PinPoint from, here is on example.

The Filter Guys
http://thefilterguys.biz/refractometers.htm

As pointed out Swing-Arms can be off too and usually it is from poor care. They need to be rinsed after each use in RO/DI water and placed in a zip lock bag. If left wet, after use in seawater, the salt will precip onto the plastic needle weighing it down giving false low reading when in actuality the salinity is high.

 

[duke62]

can you show me something that will back up what you just wrote.every refratometer ive ever seen NEVER says for use in table salt only.and every one says to calibrate with distilled water

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Duke & others

ALWAYS calibrate with my REFRACTOMETER with distilled water first then check my main tanks salinity


That is a no-no, as said refract can be just as for off as a swing-arm hydrometer. Cheap Chinese refracts have been shown to be off from 0 -5 ppt when calibrated in R/DI water. To many in this hobby are being fooled that a refract is accurate. It is only accurate if it is a real seawater refract when calibrated in RO/DI water. Any refract should be calibrated using PinPoint 53 mS calibration solution or similar. You just put a drop or so on the refract and cal to read 1.0264, or 35 ppt or 3.5 % depending on what scale it has. A real lab grade refract at tune of $250 will be off in seawater @ about - 1.5 ppt. Almost all refract are for salt water, as in table salt water and
NOT seawater. All of those ions in seawater, like Ca++, Mg++ SO4, K+ etc. change the RI (Refractive Index) of the water being
tested. There are lost of places to buy this PinPoint from, here is on example.

The Filter Guys
http://thefilterguys.biz/refractometers.htm

As pointed out Swing-Arms can be off too and usually it is from poor care. They need to be rinsed after each use in RO/DI water and placed in a zip lock bag. If left wet, after use in seawater, the salt will precip onto the plastic
needle weighing it down giving false low reading when in actuality the salinity is high.

So boomer should I just stay with the hydrometer or go with a refractometer instead? I was to make this a clear answer for me that's all.

 

[mbg75]

I use refractometer calibration solution. Contains Cl, Na, So4, and Mg. Calibrate to 35ppt.
That way your calibration us in the range your testing...

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[marrone]

At a frag Swap, a number of year ago, we made and gave out calibration solution. I use a Refractormeter and when I calibrate my refractormeter I find that the I get the same results using either calibration solution or RO/DI water.

I think there is a thread on how to make the calibration solution somewhere on the board.

 

[Boomer]

Duke

can you show me something that will back up what you just wrote.every refratometer ive ever seen NEVER says for use in table salt only.and every one says to calibrate with distilled water


What you think I'm do not know what I'm talking about ?? Internet reef forums and even refract manufacturing sites will show that in their data sheets or you can call them on the phone or e-mail them and ask. It is std practice for std refract, like most used in this hobby, where it is calibrated from the factory using NaCl. A refract based on pure water, NaCl water, KCl water, sugar, etc., DO NOT refract the light the same. Therefore, a refract has to bet set to the solution you are testing. Most refracts are used for saline or Brix solutions, which seawater is not. You obviously have done little research on refracts. Here is a list of them

Digital Hand-held "Pocket" Refractometers Scales
http://www.atago.net/english/images/catalog/hand-held.pdf

Refractive index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractive_index




I spent allot of time for Randy Holmes-Farley to help him on this article. Feel free to go ask him, he is on RC.

Refractometers and Salinity Measurement

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/index.php



one says to calibrate with distilled water

But the scale on the refracts are NOT the same. The scale for NaCl is not the same for seawater any more than the scale is the same for sugar. RO/DI is just used more or less to zero it out and put it back on track if its off.



mgb75

That will work better than RO/DI but is still not seawater but close enough. It is best to cal them with "mock" seawater, which PinPoint is.



marrone

I use a Refractormeter and when I calibrate my refractormeter I find that the I get the same results using either calibration solution or RO/DI water.

Did you read this part ?

Chinese refracts have been shown to be off from 0 -5 ppt when calibrated in R/DI water.

Allot of these cheap refract have very poor quality control and two that are exactly the same, where one can be right on in RO/DI water vs seawater and the other can be off 5 ppt.


xxx

So boomer should I just stay with the hydrometer or go with a refractometer instead?

It is safer to go with a refract and calibrate it properly.

 

[Boomer]

I think there is a thread on how to make the calibration solution somewhere on the board.

We have been posting these for years

Reef Aquarium Salinity: Homemade Calibration Standards
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.htm

In short you weigh out 3.65 grams of table salt and add it to 96.35 ml of RO/DI water, as 100 -3.65 = 96.35 or 36.5 grams added to 963.5 ml of RO/DI