xxkenny90xx Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) i was just going through some old boxes of fish tank equipment and throwing away lots of little odds and ends and i came across this floating hydrometer. Are these any good? I can remember using it a few times but its been a loooooong time. Maybe i can put it in the sump permanently? Or the trash can works too, either way. Edited July 19, 2020 by xxkenny90xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbed Feet Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 If you have an accurate other way to test salinity .. why don't you just compare and see if it is still accurate? If so, give it a try in your sump and see if you like it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 These are the absolute bomb! Tropic Marin nailed it. This is essentially the only way a chemist measures density of a fluid. If you keep it clean and don't break it, you won't find a more reliable way to measure. Don't leave it in the water (it'll build up a film and junk that will make it float wrong...that's why you need to keep it clean). Just wipe it with your hands under running water when you're done, dry it off, and put it away. There's no moving part to get out of alignment (refractometer) or stuck (swing hydrometer), no lens to get bumped (like a refractometer), no pins to get oriented wrong (salinity probe/pen). The only thing that can really mess with it (and ever form of density/salinity measurement) is temperature. But if it's 1.0260 at 79'F, it'll show 1.0270 at 72.5F, so it shouldn't really change your numbers much unless the temperature ranges wildly. Most refractometers and salinity pens post a 0.002 inaccuracy (plus temperature variation), so when it says 1.026, it could be 1.024 or 1.028, you can't be sure. But this thing has an accuracy of 0.001, so you know it's between 1.025 and 1.027, plus the resolution has an extra decimal place than most other devices. USE IT! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuttleFishandCoral Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Those are really nice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxkenny90xx Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Ok ok im convinced. I tried it on both of my tanks and it seems spot on. I'll start using this instead of my refractometers, at least until I break it (is there anything inside of it that'll nuke my tank when I break it?). I wonder what other old equipment I've tossed that is actually better than my new school stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxkenny90xx Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 And thanks for the tip on not leaving it in the tank burningbaal, makes perfect sense that algae and stuff would weigh it down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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