REFRACTOMETER.....Eeek
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:22 am
Hi guys, I have just recently moved my lovely Ceylon puffers from a 50 litre tank to a 180 litre tank. Now I am fairly new to puffers, started out mid July this year and they are fairing very well.
Anyway, I had been using a hydrometer which I was never particularly keen on as you have to knock off all the bubble with a cocktail stick and the original tank was currently running on 1.005.
Due to upgrading my tank size and wanting to do the best for my puffers I also bought a D&D Refractometer so that I could match the salinity levels between the 2 tanks. I bought this from my LFS and explained that I would be using it for my brackish tank which I would be looking at moving up the salinity over time to bring it up to marine level. Anyway, he said that it would be perfect as the reading goes from Zero to 1.030. The trouble is It doesn't start at zero, it starts at 1.015, and below that is a big gap before it drops to zero with no markings/ measures. Why would he say it measures from zero ? Am I being a plank and not reading things correctly ?
To my horror the salt level on my original tank read as zero on the refractometer !!!!
PS - he did calibrate it for me in RO water prior to me bringing it home.
Any suggestions would be great as I always want to do my best for my 3 Ceylon Puffers.
Phil
Anyway, I had been using a hydrometer which I was never particularly keen on as you have to knock off all the bubble with a cocktail stick and the original tank was currently running on 1.005.
Due to upgrading my tank size and wanting to do the best for my puffers I also bought a D&D Refractometer so that I could match the salinity levels between the 2 tanks. I bought this from my LFS and explained that I would be using it for my brackish tank which I would be looking at moving up the salinity over time to bring it up to marine level. Anyway, he said that it would be perfect as the reading goes from Zero to 1.030. The trouble is It doesn't start at zero, it starts at 1.015, and below that is a big gap before it drops to zero with no markings/ measures. Why would he say it measures from zero ? Am I being a plank and not reading things correctly ?
To my horror the salt level on my original tank read as zero on the refractometer !!!!
PS - he did calibrate it for me in RO water prior to me bringing it home.
Any suggestions would be great as I always want to do my best for my 3 Ceylon Puffers.
Phil