Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I bought some RO saltwater from B&B tonight to do a water change. Well after I did the change I tested the salinity and it was 1.027! Whoever mixed the saltwater at B&B is a retard! I'm not gonna be able to go get some fresh water to lower the salinity until after work tomorrow evening. Are my corals gonna be okay until then with the salinity being so high? This makes me even more anxious to buy my own RO filter.

Also what type of tester are you using ?

snoopdog wrote:Also what type of tester are you using ?

If its a hydrometer, it could be better or worse...

I'll hope that its a hydrometer and its off quite a bit.

Yes it's a hydrometer. I know I need to get a refractometer. I retested it several times with the hydrometer and it keeps saying 1.027.

retesting it with the same hydrometer could result in the same error multiple times.

Even with refractometers, you need to get them calibrated.

Hope its not as bad as it seems.

Let's hope!

I never trust a hydrometer anymore. A small bubble on the swing arm can throw them off. Even without bubble problems they are not accurate. I sat on my kitchen bar years ago with three different hydrometers all showing three different readings, scaling about .04 difference.

Damn! So if my hydrometer is correct....what could go wrong with my salinity being that high? I'm gonna look online today at refractometers and RO units.

I would check your hydrometer against a refractometer. We make the water at B&B using a refractometer but I’m not saying that whoever made it didn't mess up. I will check it first thing when I go in this morning. Usually we make it at full strength sea water (1.025-1.026) so they could have over shot it and if they did they should have corrected it. If it is our fault I apologize. Just bring up your hydrometer to the store and we will compare them.

I know mine was at 1.029 for a while. Thats when I realized I really did need the refratometer.

Did you see any ill effects with your corals or other inhabitants? Hopefully mine will be okay until tonight. My nitrates were really high the other night. I'm pretty sure it's because I added a bunch of corals all at one time. I ordered the 3 Nano Packs from LiveAquaria last week. I've never seen my nitrates that high before. My water tests perfect almost every time I test it. And since I read on here that biowheels are nitrate factories I took them off my filter....one day I'll get a sump!

GermanShepherdGirl wrote:Damn! So if my hydrometer is correct....what could go wrong with my salinity being that high? I'm gonna look online today at refractometers and RO units.

Don't forget the DI on your RO ;P

I won't! Who has the best prices on RO/DI? I've heard people say ebay. I've always been nervous to order stuff off ebay....heard horror stories about people getting scammed. Has anyone ever ordered from http://www.melevsreef.com/ro_di.html ? They have a decent price on a 5 stage unit. Says payment is through paypal....I've never used paypal before...how do I do that?

if you do ebay and pay via paypal your pretty safe

paypal will supply protection up to 500 dollars, and if you recieve something that isn't accurate to the auctions details then you can usually fight it with ebay.

One thing to do is to just search for RO/DI units and look at their feedback.. there are several people that sell them and they usually have well over 1,000 feedback which is a HUGE amount of positive feedback.

thanks!