Refractometer; New ref.std.

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
There has been some correspondence going with Lou Dell of American Marine, Randy and a reefer. Lou has told us that his ref. std. of 53 mS for conductivity/Salinity will work with refractometers. I'm looking to see if it will or maybe work for Hydrometers as well.

http://www.americanmarineusa.com/

Accessories
http://www.americanmarineusa.com/
PINPOINT™ Salinity Calibration Fluid
53.0 mS standardized fluid for calibrating the PINPOINT Salinity Monitor™
 

swissgaurd

Member
Boomer
just got the 53.omS calibration fluid.
im gonna wait a couple hours so the fluid goes to room temp.

do you have any other tips.
i have the milwauki brand refract.

thanks

vic
 

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
:lol: Yah, good Idea I'm sure it is really cold


No other tips for now, other than it does not make any difference who's refract it is. No matter what it says, with the 53mS on it , re-cal to read 35 ppt, 3.5 % or 1.0265 SG. Once it is warmed up enough put a drop on it and let it sit for 1 min then take the reading.

Final note; This will only be good for reef tanks or FOT. It will be off for lower salinity as the scale on the refract is not a seawater scale but a table salt scale. Pretend the scaling is like.... in. vs cm. And 1 cm does not = 1 in. This means that the higher you go above 35 ppt or the lower you go below 35 ppt the more off it will be. There will be an article out on this soon. I'm looking at it right now :D It will show these off-sets graphically. We are good, close enough, from about 33 ppt to 38 ppt or 1.024 to 1.028.
 

swissgaurd

Member
well Boomer no calibration needed.does this mean i have a proper salinity chart

35 ppt bang on

so i gather i will be able to read lower salinity meters

how often do you figure you should check to see if its in the proper range.


thanks so much

vic
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
I just ordered the salinity calibration fluid also.

Swissgaurd, could you take a pic of your refractometer for us?
 

swissgaurd

Member
i can still take some photos of it maybe i can get the scale my camera is in the truck at the moment.and its raining
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
That pic works great. Thanks! I tend to remember photos better than just a name. ;) It is nice to know which refractometers are calibrated from the factory for our tanks. I have the blue one that Boomer suggested a while back which is supposed to be correctly calibrated. I ordered the calibration solution to double check it.
 

swissgaurd

Member
i saw a refract for sale that came with calibration fluid i think it was a sybon
kinda nice or are they trying to tell you somefin
 

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
swissguard

We continue to be puzzled as how they can do that.i.e., be on for RO/DI and at the same be on for seawter at 35 ppt, when it is not a seawater refract. When you put the drop on the refract it should have read 36.5 and turning then screw to read 35 it should be below the zero with RO/DI. That is what you will get with any std lab refract. I guess the cheapness of these refract and the material some how off-set things from normal but that is good I guess for some that luck out. It would be interesting to see what it would read if some one tried a 35 gram solution on it vs a 36.5
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
My RHS-10ATC blue refractometer tests perfect. Thanks Boomer for suggesting it a while back) It is right on the 35ppt using the 53.0mS calibration fluid from Pinpoint. I then tested it using ro/di and it was right at zero.

RHS-10ATCRefractometer.jpg
 

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
We are still puzzled as how it can do this Doni. Randy and I are assuming it is due to poor quality optics of the refract but that is good for us :) We have also decided if that is the cast the refract should be right ton for hypo treatment also. The refract article will be out any day now. Randy added a bunch more pic and diagrams at my request and some bold fact typing due to confusion on some posts. i.e.., blue handled vs. black vs. green vs. white with pink polka-dots, and whether it was made in the USA, China, Peru, Germany, Mars or Pluto.
 

prow

Well-Known Member
woodstock, i have that same refract, the RHS-10ATC. mine tests perfect as well. its made in china, a cheap one. but i have been using it for a while now by just using RO/DI water to calibrate. after all the talk about refracts being off i needed to konw for sure if mine was accurate.

so i tested it with various concentrations. i used a 10% saline solution, its used to induce sputum in ventilated patients. easy to mix small batches up, they come in 15ml sizes. you can get them at any medical supply store. pretty cheap too. mixed it with sterile water. first test was 3.5ml of the 10% solution and 6.5ml of sterile water. it tested right on 35ppt. repeated this at various concentrations 10 tests in all, including hyposalinity, and all were right on. RO/DI was right at 0. mixing the 10% solution with RO/DI water had the same results in the two tests i did with it.
 
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