Testing salinity

I am just about done filling my 210. This is my first saltwater tank. What should be used to measure the salinity i.e. hydrometer or refractometer. If the answer is refractometer which brand comes recommended.
Thanks,

Kevin

 

I used a hydrometer before and it always gave me 2/3 different readings and I would kinda guess my specific gravity. But I recently bought a refractometer on eBay for like $21 and it seems to do the job very well. I would recommend using a refractometer.

 

I would use a refractormeter too for consistent results and pinpoint accuracy. I bought mine from Dr. Foster and Smith for $40 plus shipping. It was called the portable refractometer, it's blue

 

Refractometer. I am going to search eBay here today for one. Don't spend a lot of money for one. Twenty or thirty dollars will buy you a decent one.

 

I believe this is the one on eBay that some are talking about:

NEW! Salinity Refractometer 4 Aquarium Pond Hydrometer - eBay (item 220231757892 end time Aug-02-08 23:09:02 PDT)

I think I'll purchase it myself sometime this week.

 

Get a refractometer. I have a captive purtiy and it is way more accurate

 

I got mine on eBay for $19 plus about $5.99 to ship. It has ATC (automatic temp compensation). I think these things are all pretty much the same as far as quality goes, although I don't have a lot of experience with them. They give a result that's dependent on light refracting through a prism, so being such a device (unless a poor quality prism would give poor readings--which I doubt), I don't see the potential for one model being worlds better than another.

As far as the question whether to get the refractometer or the specific gravity measuring device, there's no contest. Get the refractometer.

They come in handy when comparing the tank water, to newly mixed water you're about to add. You can't really see an appreciable difference in the two samples with a swinging arm device. You can with the refractometer.

Good luck!

 

I have always used a glass hydrometer and have had no problems so far, in fact i have 2 of them and test them against each other from time to time and they always read the same. i guess this is the old school way though.

 

Refractometers are so inexpensive these days that it is the only way to go.