Hydrometer

[artist55]

Well, I have had my eyes opened fully today. My fish have been acting lethargic, hiding and not eating for the last few days and I couldn't understand why. This morning I decided to take a water sample to my LFS and have them test it. All the levels were fine except for the SG which topped out at 1.027. He has a refractometer so I know of course it's accurate. My piece of crap hydrometer which shall remain unnamed was giving me a reading of 1.021. I intend to e mail this company and tell them that they might want to consider having these things correctly calibrated before they sell them to unsuspecting customers. If all doesn't go well I stand to lose $150.00 worth of fish and I'm not happy. I've started to take the proper steps to get the SG down but obviously it will have to be done slowly. I really wish I had found this message board before I got back into saltwater. Last one I had was in the 80s and a lot of things have changed since then. Just a word to the wise newcomers so you don't waste a ton of money on junk. Arggggggh!! Thanks for listening, I had to vent somewhere.

 

[agent707]

Agreed. As much cash as you put into these systems, there is NO reason not to spend the extra ~$40 on a refracto over a hydro.
I did the same thing you did. Hydrometer is somewhere in the landfill by now.

 

[sinner's girl]

ditto here, same thing happened, only I didn't have fish, I saw how my brittle star was acting...I couldn't understand, everything tested great, I had three different sources test the water...finally I was talking to a guy a fish store and he asked me about sg...I thought the new hydrometer was better than the swing arm thing I was using...nope, it was deadly off....I had to slowly raise the sg. Although it seems I had kept my sg a little on the low side for years, the water change I did with the hydrometer through everything way off....

 

[irondog]

Same problem here,deep six is garbage,i tested with deep six sg was 1.024,bought a refractometer tested sg it was 1.030,i couldnt believe it was that far off

 

[artist55]

Well seeing that you mentioned it, mine is a Coralife piece of garbage. I've already found a great price on the big auction site and bought a refractometer. Too bad some of us have to go through this. Hope you didn't have any fish losses due to the high SG.

 

[irondog]

No fish or coral loss,but i would hope people same alittle money an invest in a refractometer,rather be safe then sorry

 

[lion_crazz]

It's so great to see a mjaority of the people using refractometers. They are such a valuable tool, and probably one of the least expensive pieces of equipment when you really think of it.

 

[oreo12]

1.027 is not to high. I keep my tanks at that leavel and all my corals and fish do fine.

 

[artist55]

Well it's amazing. I took out some of the saltwater this afternoon and replaced it with fresh aged water and I've got the SG down 1 point. The Coral Beauty had not eaten anything for days and tonight actually ate a lot of frozen Mysis. The others picked at it a little bit but I'm hopeful now that with some close monitoring in the coming days things will get back to where they should be too. The Coral Beauty is now back to swimming around like he was before too. Just have to be careful now that I don't try to make the changes too fast. It's only a 30 gal tank and fragile compared to a big tank. Gotta save up some bucks and get the bigger one going. I've got a 55 sitting doing nothing so I'll buy the stuff a little at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day I guess.

 

[coachklm]

Originally Posted by oreo12
1.027 is not to high. I keep my tanks at that leavel and all my corals and fish do fine.
i was thinking the same thing.........when you run over 1.030 you encounter serious problems...

 

[sinner's girl]

1.027 is not to high
The problem was I went from 1.023 to 1.027 (or something like that, might have been higher, don't really remember) during a water change....I started using a hydrometer during a water change, (the arm of my other one fell into the tank, rather than moving all the lr it was easier to get a hydrometer) thinking I was mixing my salt at 1.023, when it was 1.027....it was the shock that hurt my star.
edit, nevermind, I see that wasn't directed at me.

 

[artist55]

Just to be clear; I wasn't trying to imply that a higher SG isn't acceptable but just that my fish were really stressing at that level. They seem much better now and that was my main concern. As long as the crabs and shrimp stay good now I'm happy. My big complaint was with the crappy hydrometer. Just wanting to warn newcomers about their use as compared to a refractometer. Might as well spend the money on something reliable instead of taking 13 bucks and throwing it in the toilet.