struggling with refractometer

MatthewJ

MatthewJ

Member
I'm new to reefing. I'm in Iowa and my tank/equipment is in the basement. It probably gets down to 65F, maybe slightly lower. I just realized that my refractomer w/atc shows drastically different results depending on the temp of the device. When its cold, it's higher. When hot it's lower. I have the base $40 model with the blue grip. RHS-10ATC.

How do I go about testing and getting consistent results?

Thanks,
Matt
 
MatthewJ

MatthewJ

Member
I had skimmed that before actually. When I read it I was thinking the temperature of the water. What suprised me (maybe it shouldn't have) was that the temperature of the refractometer would totally screw up the results. The metal part really gets really cold. I saw the same water swing from 1.028 to 1.020 just by warming up the metal.

I don't get how I'm going to stay accurate with this thing. How do I make sure it's always the same temperature? In the summer, I might leave the air off and the ambient temperature will be 80. Won't the results then swing in the opposite direction?
 
J

jhnrb

Active Member
Keep some r/o water handy and calibrate the refractometer prior to testing the system water. this should resolve your problem.
 
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