Ugg, I just bought a refractometer ($43) and measured the salinity of my reef tanks. But before I give the results, a little history,
.
For years I have been using a swing arm hydrometer ($12 purchased when I didn't even know what SPS/LPS stood for) and have religiously kept my salinity at 1.022. I keep it at this level (slightly lower than suggested) so I have some leeway in case I ever got too busy and happened to forget to add water one day (I do it manually so I have a much greater control over my tanks parameters, plus it didn't help that a float switch failed on me once and dumped water all over my living room). So I would say that my salinity fluctuations were 1.022 to 1.024/1.025, as measured by the hydrometer. These parameters were ongoing in my tank for about 8 years.
And with the drum roll going, I present the results:
Hydrometer reading 1.022 ---- Refractometer reading 1.025.
I am assuming that those times that my hydrometer was reading 1.024/1.025 I really must have been starting to mimic the dead sea (actualy salinity of 1.027/1.028).
Well needless to say I threw my old swing arm hydrometer out the window, after smashing it against many walls and stepping on it a few times,
(the short spurt of violence made me feel much better, 
).
I've spent hundreds of dollars on SPS colonies without blinking an eye, but never spent the money on a good tool to measure salinity in my tank. I could/should kick myself in retrospect. Does anyone play soccer?
For years I have been using a swing arm hydrometer ($12 purchased when I didn't even know what SPS/LPS stood for) and have religiously kept my salinity at 1.022. I keep it at this level (slightly lower than suggested) so I have some leeway in case I ever got too busy and happened to forget to add water one day (I do it manually so I have a much greater control over my tanks parameters, plus it didn't help that a float switch failed on me once and dumped water all over my living room). So I would say that my salinity fluctuations were 1.022 to 1.024/1.025, as measured by the hydrometer. These parameters were ongoing in my tank for about 8 years.
And with the drum roll going, I present the results:
Hydrometer reading 1.022 ---- Refractometer reading 1.025.
I am assuming that those times that my hydrometer was reading 1.024/1.025 I really must have been starting to mimic the dead sea (actualy salinity of 1.027/1.028).
Well needless to say I threw my old swing arm hydrometer out the window, after smashing it against many walls and stepping on it a few times,
).I've spent hundreds of dollars on SPS colonies without blinking an eye, but never spent the money on a good tool to measure salinity in my tank. I could/should kick myself in retrospect. Does anyone play soccer?
