refractometer

just to let all u guys that are hardcore refractohead and highly against hydrometers know i got my refractometer today yay .... from champion lighting and supply , im falling in line lol and i got my ro/di and my 400w mh hqi lights will be here tomorrow yay next will be a nicer skimmer

ps 1.025 and i calibrated it with ro water

 

Congrats for joining the club.

Although RO water will not give you as precise a reading as 1.026 calibration fluid will. RO water and saltwater have different refractive indexes so the refractometer will read differently at 1.026 if you calibrate with RO vs with a calibration fluid. It's not huge but just something to be aware of.

 

Cool, you're in the big time now!

 

what about distilled water? I thought I had read somewhere you should used distilled water. Or would that have the same problem as ro for calibration?

 

Same thing as RO water. Having the salt in it makes it refract light slightly differently.

 

I don't see why people dislike hydrometers so much. Most are calibrated to work at 75 degrees fahrenheit, anything above or below will obviously give you an inaccurate reading.

 

There are lots of them that are off by the time people get their hands on them, maybe rough shipping or something who knows but there have been a lot of reports of them being inaccurate.

IMO they also require much more maintenance than a refractometer which you just have to wipe off every time and calibrate once in a while (I do mine like every month or two and it takes about 90 seconds).
With hydrometers you have to worry about bubbles getting stuck on the swing arm, you have to worry about salt deposits building up on the mechanism, you have to take temperature into account and probably a couple other things I haven't thought about. It's also not as easy to check the calibration and see if it's drifting off over time.

To each their own but I feel like refractometers are a relatively cheap investment that will last a long long time and provide the most accurate view of one of the most important water parameters there is. If a hydrometer works for you then go for it, this is just my explanation of why I don't like hydrometers, maybe that will help you see why some people might not like them.

 

thanks for the info i will get some . guess im not spot on

 

thanks im trying

 

all true soon as i opened the box i callo. it and dripped some tank water on it focused, looked at the reading at wiped it off and back in the box it went lol
i hate sticking anything in my water now just a dropper and not the whole refrac. lol