Hydrometer registering less than zero - LFS is annoying!

[mrgreen]

I have a Living Sea 8-inch hydrometer. Its worked fine until lately. When I first set up my tank a month ago, it was reading 1.002. Now its been reading about a negative .002. That is 0.998 I guess. There is no ammonia in the tank and the last w/c I did I didn't add more salt. So today I just added much less than I think the whole tank should take and it is registering 1.000. I also tested my tap water yesterday and it regustered the same- less than 1.000. I took it to lfs and they chucked it in a marine tank and it read 1.005. They really kind of are annoying me. I asked about introducing a new F8 into my tank and she said yes I could and even if it was smaller, just add two to reduce agressions. That is not what I want, my big F8 chasing around two F8s half his size because hey- his friend died and now all of this 30 gallon tank is his. He does leave the dragon goby alone, though. I dunno they treat me like a fish dingbat it seems, when all I am trying to do is get more info to work with.

[Dadof4]

Ah, welcome to the life of a hydrometer.....Did they put it in a tank that was supposed to be full marine and got a reading of 1.005? One thing you could try is soaking the hydrometer in freshwater overnight to make sure there is no salt bulid up on the swing arm or along the surfaces that it touches. I highly recomend a refractometer.

[mrgreen]

This is one that is a thermometer on the bottom and the top is the hydrometer floats and you read the line that's at the water level. Yes, they put it in one of their salt-water tanks- so I'd hope it was marine. The refractometers are expensivo tho, no?

[Dadof4]

This is one that is a thermometer on the bottom and the top is the hydrometer floats and you read the line that's at the water level. Yes, they put it in one of their salt-water tanks- so I'd hope it was marine. The refractometers are expensivo tho, no?

Nah! $25-30 on ebay.

[mrgreen]

Hmm. Okay. Well on my list!

The old man is doing his rounds, right now. He was redecorating earlier. He's moved into the texas holy rock "cave" and was spitting gravel piece by piece up and out. Btw, I have a poll on what to name him going. So far, Vernon is winning, but my boyfriend says it should be Professor Moriarty.

[Pufferpunk]

The floating hydrometer will register different levels at different temps.

[Dadof4]

Hmm. Okay. Well on my list!

The old man is doing his rounds, right now. He was redecorating earlier. He's moved into the texas holy rock "cave" and was spitting gravel piece by piece up and out. Btw, I have a poll on what to name him going. So far, Vernon is winning, but my boyfriend says it should be Professor Moriarty.

Professor moriarity is awesome!!! I really never put a name on mine. Obie wan de gobie was in the running for a while but then I just decided to list them by size....

[mrgreen]

The floating hydrometer will register different levels at different temps.

That's what I thought. I try to keep my tank at 80F. Maybe I should only measure at night when its relatively cool, though we do have central air. I found a chart online that give a difference to add depending on what temperature your tank is. Says its assuming that your hydrometer is calibrated to 60F.

[mrgreen]

Hmm. Okay. Well on my list!

The old man is doing his rounds, right now. He was redecorating earlier. He's moved into the texas holy rock "cave" and was spitting gravel piece by piece up and out. Btw, I have a poll on what to name him going. So far, Vernon is winning, but my boyfriend says it should be Professor Moriarty.

Professor moriarity is awesome!!! I really never put a name on mine. Obie wan de gobie was in the running for a while but then I just decided to list them by size....

I saw that in another post of yours- funny!

I don't think he can see very well. He keeps swimming back and forth across the tank or up and down and bonks into the side/end/bottom/top. I don't think he's hurting himself, though. He and 8Ball bonked into each other a bit ago and they just went their separate ways. 8Ball is pacing the side. I think he needs some more shrimp to hunt. He loves doing that. Also, he's been eating every day, but now I see I should feed him every other day? He's about 3 inches now.