Refractometer calibration solution

[Wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Zoaelite

HOKKAYYYYYY.

So I went and dropped $25 at Picies to get the Two Little Fishies calibration fluid. Who would of thought a 250mL bottle of saltwater... the most plentiful liquid on the planet... would cost $100.00/L...



Talk about profit margin...



Whining about price aside, my salinity which I thought sat at 1.026 has been more around the 1.022 point... for however long.



Now I have had really good success with most everything in my tank, so take this info with a grain of salt (). I will certainly be slowly raising my salinity but I think this is a strong testament to the power of keeping things stable in the tank.

But is the new calibration fluid correct ? Lol

This is the thing that's so frustrating with these calibration fluids. They all seem to give slightly different readings , and sometimes way off. I bought a bottle of the sybon calibration fluid several months ago , and found my tank water was at 1.030!! Damn I thought , but before making any changes , I had a friend come over with his refractometer and his own fluid. His refractometer said my tank water was 1.022 , so I returned the bottle to my LFS and had them check it. Turns out this bottle was off by .004 , they checked the other 4 bottles of sybon fluid on the shelf , and they were all bang on at 1.026 like they were supposed to be.

Anyhow , just something to think about before you adjust your salinity.

[Zoaelite]

I feel like I'm currently opening the Pandora's box of calibration fluid .

Thanks for the heads up, if I paid $25 for overpriced saltwater to nuke my tank I'm going to be rather frustrated...

Anyway to calibrate my calibration fluid without buying more calibration fluid?!

[calo247]

Originally Posted by Zoaelite

I feel like I'm currently opening the Pandora's box of calibration fluid .

Thanks for the heads up, if I paid $25 for overpriced saltwater to nuke my tank I'm going to be rather frustrated...

Anyway to calibrate my calibration fluid without buying more calibration fluid?!

you can make your own using rodi water and table salt. Randy Homes-Farley has a good article with a recipe.

i am going to make a batch and buy some of the pinpoint fluid, which from my research seems to be the most reliable fluid.