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Old 08-22-2017, 05:06 PM
hurley hurley is offline
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Default Refractometer calibration solution

Does anyone know where you can pick this stuff up in Calgary?
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Old 08-22-2017, 07:18 PM
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Wai's Normally carry's the calibration fluid I got a bottle there not to long ago .
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Old 08-23-2017, 04:14 AM
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Am I missing something here? I've always calibrated to zero with RO water.
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Old 08-23-2017, 04:31 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoaelite View Post
Am I missing something here? I've always calibrated to zero with RO water.
same
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Old 08-23-2017, 05:03 AM
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Okayyyy, so after a little searching apparently zeroing with RO can miscalibrate your reading. Not sure by how much considering I've never had a problem.

That being said I will do the loop, find some of this solution and get back to you guys as to how far off the reading is from zero.
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Old 08-23-2017, 05:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoaelite View Post
Okayyyy, so after a little searching apparently zeroing with RO can miscalibrate your reading. Not sure by how much considering I've never had a problem.

That being said I will do the loop, find some of this solution and get back to you guys as to how far off the reading is from zero.
that is what I always did , until I was reading up on it . Ended up grabbing some from wais and it was out a fair bit , but like you never noticed any issues prior to using the fluid . And have also not had any issues since switching the calibration fluid lol
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Old 08-23-2017, 12:23 PM
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The reason you should use calibration fluid is because the refractometers on the market for marine aquariums are almost exclusively brine refractometers, not seawater refractometers. Brine refractometers don't "see" all the salts in seawater, they only "see" a couple salts. As long as a brine refractometer is calibrated at whichever salinity you want to use, it will be accurate at that salinity only. If you're testing, say, hyposalinity with a brine refractometer calibrated to 35 ppt (1.0264 sg), it won't be accurate at 11 ppt (1.009 sg) for hypo just like it isn't accurate at 0 ppt for RO/DI or distilled water.

Most of the confusion lies in the instructions for brine refractometers which say to use distilled water because if you're testing brine with a brine refractometer then distilled water is a perfectly fine calibration solution to use. Most marine hobby brine refractometers are rebranded, such as Vertex, and they don't bother to put proper instructions for seawater calibration in the packages.

D-D and Red Sea both sell true seawater refractometers. The best ones on the market are made by VeeGee and cost about $160. If you have a true seawater refractometer then distilled wTer can be used to calibrate. You can also calibrate with seawater solution and achieve a dual point calibration which allows you to double check the calibration solution.

Calibration solution is a whole other can of worms...I've noticed they vary by as much as 5 ppt from one brand to the next. I started making my own (Randy Holmes Farley published a recipe, Google it he also explains why brine refractometers read off when calibrated with distilled water) and bought dropper bottles off Amazon (like ones used in test kits or for eye drops) to store it in so that there is no contamination or evaporation. I've found the Two Little Fishies solution to be the most accurate, however it's in a large open top bottle that's prone to evaporation/contamination very quickly even when the lid seems closed well.
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Old 08-23-2017, 03:21 PM
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*suddenly all LFS see a huge spike in people coming in to purchase calibration fluid*

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Old 08-23-2017, 07:13 PM
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Aw man, now you guys are making me nervous.

I just wipe off the water on my shirt after I'm done LOL.
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Old 08-23-2017, 07:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Myka View Post
Calibration solution is a whole other can of worms...I've noticed they vary by as much as 5 ppt from one brand to the next. I started making my own (Randy Holmes Farley published a recipe, Google it he also explains why brine refractometers read off when calibrated with distilled water) and bought dropper bottles off Amazon (like ones used in test kits or for eye drops) to store it in so that there is no contamination or evaporation. I've found the Two Little Fishies solution to be the most accurate, however it's in a large open top bottle that's prone to evaporation/contamination very quickly even when the lid seems closed well.
No need to buy those dropper from Amazon or ebay, if you had used those little "Blue Bottles" from Zeovit as they have droppers. I have used them in making my own calibration fluid. It will last a life time
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