hydrometer dilemma

I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for the
past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty simple,
I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a box? And
my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
but which one do I believe?

Cindy

Cindy wrote:
I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for
the past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty
simple, I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a
box? And my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
but which one do I believe?

Cindy
To be honest. If you want to know the exact salinity, don't believe
either one. Swing arm hydrometers are not known for being accurate, but
they are pretty repeatable. The most important thing is that you keep
the salinity stable, not that it is exactly 1.025. The best thing is to
invest in a refractometer. They are much more accurate and actually
easy to use also.

Kim

Yep, what Kim said. I used to put faith in my hydrometer and swing
arms.....but when stuff went south I used a refractometer and what a
big difference in what I actually had and whata those other two
instruments were telling me I had. You can get a good decent
temperature comnpensating refractometer for about $40 or so. I know yu
can get them for that or less on Ebay, but I owu dbe leary of the ebay
ones, even if they are the same, as there have been lots of folks on
the web based forums complaining of ebay refract. whose glass sight
plate fell out or leaked and allowed water to infiltrate inside.
Just make sure if yu order one online from anay place its for SALT and
not a BRIX type which is for sugar......... A few folks that bought so
called refract. on ebay were sent BRIX type. MOst sold at places like
Drs. Foster & Smith and Premium Aquatics n Indianapolis, IN, have a
two year warranty and cost about $40. Yu cna get a fanceier model for
about $20 more but the results are the same and its not rworth that
price difference. Calibration is dead easy, and once set its good to
go practically forever, but I do verify mine every now and then, and
in over 3 years its yet to be off.




On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:00:12 GMT, Cindy wrote:
I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for the
past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty simple,
I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a box? And
my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
but which one do I believe?

Cindy

Thanks, Kim and Roy!

Cindy

Or better yet get a salinity monitor, since conductivity
is the new scientific standard for measuring salinity.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



~Roy wrote on 6/6/2006 11:53 AM:

Yep, what Kim said. I used to put faith in my hydrometer and swing
arms.....but when stuff went south I used a refractometer and what a
big difference in what I actually had and whata those other two
instruments were telling me I had. You can get a good decent
temperature comnpensating refractometer for about $40 or so. I know yu
can get them for that or less on Ebay, but I owu dbe leary of the ebay
ones, even if they are the same, as there have been lots of folks on
the web based forums complaining of ebay refract. whose glass sight
plate fell out or leaked and allowed water to infiltrate inside.
Just make sure if yu order one online from anay place its for SALT and
not a BRIX type which is for sugar......... A few folks that bought so
called refract. on ebay were sent BRIX type. MOst sold at places like
Drs. Foster & Smith and Premium Aquatics n Indianapolis, IN, have a
two year warranty and cost about $40. Yu cna get a fanceier model for
about $20 more but the results are the same and its not rworth that
price difference. Calibration is dead easy, and once set its good to
go practically forever, but I do verify mine every now and then, and
in over 3 years its yet to be off.




On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:00:12 GMT, Cindy wrote:
I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for the
past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty simple,
I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a box? And
my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
but which one do I believe?

Cindy

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Or better yet get a salinity monitor, since conductivity is the new
scientific standard for measuring salinity.

Thanks. Never heard of one before.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

"since conductivity
is the new scientific standard for measuring salinity"


Old Wayne, very old, as far back as the 60s :-)

--
Boomer

If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up

Former US Army Bomb Technician (EOD)
Member; IABTI, NATEODA, WEODF, ISEE & IPS

Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php

Want to See More ! The Coral Realm
http://www.coralrealm.com



"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
: Or better yet get a salinity monitor, since conductivity
: is the new scientific standard for measuring salinity.
:
: Wayne Sallee
: Wayne's Pets
:
:
:
: ~Roy wrote on 6/6/2006 11:53 AM:
:
: Yep, what Kim said. I used to put faith in my hydrometer and swing
: arms.....but when stuff went south I used a refractometer and what a
: big difference in what I actually had and whata those other two
: instruments were telling me I had. You can get a good decent
: temperature comnpensating refractometer for about $40 or so. I know yu
: can get them for that or less on Ebay, but I owu dbe leary of the ebay
: ones, even if they are the same, as there have been lots of folks on
: the web based forums complaining of ebay refract. whose glass sight
: plate fell out or leaked and allowed water to infiltrate inside.
: Just make sure if yu order one online from anay place its for SALT and
: not a BRIX type which is for sugar......... A few folks that bought so
: called refract. on ebay were sent BRIX type. MOst sold at places like
: Drs. Foster & Smith and Premium Aquatics n Indianapolis, IN, have a
: two year warranty and cost about $40. Yu cna get a fanceier model for
: about $20 more but the results are the same and its not rworth that
: price difference. Calibration is dead easy, and once set its good to
: go practically forever, but I do verify mine every now and then, and
: in over 3 years its yet to be off.
:
:
:
:
: On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:00:12 GMT, Cindy wrote:
: I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for the
: past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
: full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
: hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
: The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
: The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty simple,
: I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a box? And
: my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
: I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
: but which one do I believe?
:
: Cindy
:

Wow I though it had been made the new standard in like the
last 5 years or so :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Boomer wrote on 6/6/2006 9:36 PM:
"since conductivity
is the new scientific standard for measuring salinity"


Old Wayne, very old, as far back as the 60s :-)

I think Wayne that is mostly are fault as we may make it sound that way :-) And you will
see thing like "the new salinity std" all over the place. It was really not official until
1978......and.......about 65 years before that was when it was first proposed. Yah know,
all the cat and dog fighting took some time LOL. It use to be Chlorinity, where you
measured the chloride ion content. Hydrometers and refracts have never been the std..but
are often used. Std Sea Water Hydrometer is calibrated to 15 C . The old Std was often
called Copenhagen Sea Water, samples of real water that sat in a fault.. It is now often
called Practical Salinity Units (PSU) based on EC ( Electric Conductivity). This
conductivity std of a sea water is a sample set to a standard KCl solution of 32.43565
g/Kg @ 15 C and 1 atm.

You can buy REAL Sea Water Std here.....got money LOL

http://www.oceanscientific.co.uk/

--
Boomer

If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up

Former US Army Bomb Technician (EOD)
Member; IABTI, NATEODA, WEODF, ISEE & IPS

Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php

Want to See More ! The Coral Realm
http://www.coralrealm.com



"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
: Wow I though it had been made the new standard in like the
: last 5 years or so :-)
:
: Wayne Sallee
: Wayne's Pets
:
:

Y
:
: Boomer wrote on 6/6/2006 9:36 PM:
: "since conductivity
: is the new scientific standard for measuring salinity"
:
:
: Old Wayne, very old, as far back as the 60s :-)
:

Two problems

First, the Deep Sea is about the worst I have seen or we have tested. Second SeaTest's
are fairly accurate based on all tests. The issue is proper care and maintenance, which
few do or understand. Being that it is 20 yeas old put it back in the trash and trash that
Deep Sea with it. Many like refracts, which I think work best for most but there are some
issues with these also. 100 % of those in this hobby are calibrated to NaCl , Table Salt
and Tabel salt _ IS NOT_Seawater. Saying that, they are no more accurate than a properly
maintained SeaTest but refracts are more user friendly, much less frustrating, easier to
maintain but still both read about .0015 SG or 1.5 ppt salinity to low. However, tests
have shown that those that buy the "blue" China hydrometer, that is by far the most common
in this hobby, really lucked out. There are NOT properly calibrated to their std. NaCl and
by absolute fluke are right on for NSW. They are sold on various web sites as RHS-10ATC
model number and look like the one half-way down this webpage

http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/aca..._PRODUCTS.html

This is the only one that has been tested against NSW stds so far. If it is not this
"blue" model and is one of "black" cheap models we do not know where it is but _assume _it
reads .0015 SG or 1.5 ppt to low.

Roy mentioned Foster & Smith and they have it.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

Roy also mentioned Premium Aquatics and they have it also.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ode=Hydrometer

--
Boomer

If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up

Former US Army Bomb Technician (EOD)
Member; IABTI, NATEODA, WEODF, ISEE & IPS

Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php

Want to See More ! The Coral Realm
http://www.coralrealm.com



"Cindy" wrote in message
. com...
: I have a new Coralife Deep Six hydrometer that I've been using for the
: past year or so. But over the weekend I sorted through my trash can
: full of aquarium supplies, and found my old "The Original" Seatest
: hydrometer that I've had for probably 20 years.
: The Coralife reads 1.022, and the tank has been doing fine.
: The Seatest reads off the scale, well above 1.027! It's pretty simple,
: I don't see how it could have gotten screwed up sitting in a box? And
: my tanks did fine 20 years ago too.
: I'm going to take them both to the fish store and see what they say,
: but which one do I believe?
:
: Cindy