salinity
- Thread starter tanger
- Start date
keitho
Member
well, they are closely related due to the fact that most of the dissolved solids in seawater are salts. but, other things can also attribute to salinity. specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a liquid to the density of water and is expressed as a dimensionless number, such as 1.023. this means that the sample is 1.023 times as dense as pure water, and assuming no other contributors, the difference is attributable to salt. hope this helps...
josh
Active Member
Keith, did you mean that there are other things that contribute to the gravity, you said salinity... which is strickly the measurement of dissolved salts. Depending on contamination, the water could "weigh" more thus being more dense giving you a high gravity number. The reference as you said for gavity or density is water which is 1. Hope that helps. In reef tanks you want to look at salinty and not gavity per say.
josh
Active Member
Most gavity testers have the conversion on them, however there is debate on if this is accurate, due to the fact they are clalibrated at 76 deg and most reef tanks are kept at atleast 80. There is a formula, but you really don't have to worry about that if you just want to keep fish. If infact you are keeping a reef tank with corals, you will need to get the salinity up to around 35 ppt or roughly 1.024-1.026 and for FO it can be less 1.021-1.023. As for the calibration I wrote seatest and the answer I got was 76 deg for the calibartion just a FYI