hedgedrew
08/28/2013, 07:15 PM
Sharing a story for all those who might make same mistake.
We recently changed salts to esv really cause i coulnt stand the sludge of brown who knows what in my 400 gall wter change vats that ddh2o salt left.
Ok. Sobas we measured esv we were getting crazy readings on ca mg etc. as if my salinity was way high. After several water changes my main display had these readings also. Ca plus 550 mg 1600
So i rechecked our calibration of refractometers. And low and behold as we warmed them up. From 70 dg fh temp of outside room temperatures to 77 , we realized that the calibration was reading too low which meant my tank and the esv was being prepped at 37 ppt not at 35. This must have been going on quite a while. I do not test ca and mg that often. Just alk.
For all those that use refractometers either digital or eye ones , take this matter seriously. Make sure you dont take 68 deg pinpoint calib solution on a very cold metal refractometer. I have atc and it didnt work. Needless to mention the fish look better already at new salinity. More active. I probably stressed the corals diluting salinity 10 percent but i suspect things will get better soon. I couldnt understand all the rages of how accurate all the levels of esv salt was when i was getting nutty ones. But it was me that was wrong. !!!
We recently changed salts to esv really cause i coulnt stand the sludge of brown who knows what in my 400 gall wter change vats that ddh2o salt left.
Ok. Sobas we measured esv we were getting crazy readings on ca mg etc. as if my salinity was way high. After several water changes my main display had these readings also. Ca plus 550 mg 1600
So i rechecked our calibration of refractometers. And low and behold as we warmed them up. From 70 dg fh temp of outside room temperatures to 77 , we realized that the calibration was reading too low which meant my tank and the esv was being prepped at 37 ppt not at 35. This must have been going on quite a while. I do not test ca and mg that often. Just alk.
For all those that use refractometers either digital or eye ones , take this matter seriously. Make sure you dont take 68 deg pinpoint calib solution on a very cold metal refractometer. I have atc and it didnt work. Needless to mention the fish look better already at new salinity. More active. I probably stressed the corals diluting salinity 10 percent but i suspect things will get better soon. I couldnt understand all the rages of how accurate all the levels of esv salt was when i was getting nutty ones. But it was me that was wrong. !!!