For those who buy their sw - A cautionary tale

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Oleta

[Just wanted to post a friendly reminder after experiencing an "Oh my gosh, that would have been so bad" moment at a LFS today..

I buy my saltwater premixed.. I'm lazy, and a little paranoid, I admit it.. On the rare occasion that I make my own I grumble and worry the whole time.. One bucket of Instant Ocean has lasted me 2.5 years.. In actuality, I think I still have enough salt in the bucket to make at least another 10 gallons.. I could probably make a small snow man from the dust on the lid.. I also think I ought to chuck it because I have no idea what the shelf life (if there is one) on salt is..

Today I went to fill up my sw jugs at a different store than the one I normally go to, so first thing I ask is what the salinity is on their mix.. Fella pulls out his hydrometer, fills it and then we wait to see what the magic number will be....

and we wait....

and we tap the hydrometer....

and we stare at in shock for a few seconds....

and we try a second sample with a different hydrometer....

Then I kinda giggle and say, "Well, I'm glad we looked first. Otherwise it would have been baaa-ad."..


This was the second time that this has happened to me after I asked for the employee to check the salinity on their mix.. Both times I took a moment to consider how serious it would have been to have blindly poured that water into one of my tanks..

Vigilance, my sw buying friends..]
 
[There always is the risk of human-error. :Oo:]
 
Oleta wrote:


[Hi Oleta! If you are going to the LFS and lugging around 5 gl jugs that you don't even know for sure of the salinity....I certainly would not call that lazy.

IMO go buy yourself a refractometer that is highly accurate compared to a hydrometer. I went through several of those silly things before I finally broke down and bought a refractometer. I would get a different reading with each one of the hydrometers. I also took them all back and got my money back on it. The owner agreed that he had been having a lot of trouble with them. so if you don't want to be paranoid get a refractometer . You can get some decent ones that don't cost all that much. I think I paid $58. through premium aquatics. A refractometer and and ro/di unit are the two best purchases I have made.

Thanks for the reminder its a good idea to check the LFS water before you bought it as you did.

Cindy]
 
[When I use to buy SW I did the ole finger taste test. Stuck my finger in the water. If it tasted salty I know they didn't fill it with fresh water :lol:]
 
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