Idiot Lesson Learned, Taste Your Water

N

nmcafee

Just had our first $60 toilet flush as our beautiful yellow tang was found dead. After a quick ceremony and notification of next of kin we took a water sample in and found our salinity level was far too high. We haven't done any water changes so there was no real explanation of why salt was high. Only thing we have added is fresh water to replace evaporation. Turns out the last batch we added was salt water, even though we ask for fresh at the store. Lesson learned, taste your water when you get it to make sure the store didn't screw up.
 
I keep a floating thermometer/salinity checker in my water just for this purpose. It makes it really clear if it is salt or fresh, lets me know if anything is creeping, and tells me the temp.
 
The whatever they had at the fish store in Indiana brand. Here's a picture from Petco's page. They're less than $5 at the big box stores, and shouldn't be more than a couple bucks more than that a mom/pop sort of LFS.

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It's worth figuring out what temperature you're likely to use it at, and checking it against a recently calibrated refractometer so you know if it has an offset. Much like swing arm hydrometers these things aren't always spot on. The good news is that while a swing arm type needs an occasional RO or vinegar soaking, these can be simply wiped off.
 
I saw this and had to chuckle. Explanation

I'm from California originally. I used to be at the beach all day at least 2-3 times a week. Surfing, picking rocks / shells. Playing in the tidal pools... Hence the love of the hobby. It's like having a piece of home here with me. So, when i got this started and set up, i didn't have all the equipment i needed. Namely, i didn't have a Hydrometer / refractor...

The first batch of salt i mixed was just to cure my live rock in... I made the RO/DI water and started adding salt and even after living in Tx 15 or so years i went by taste and what i remember the ocean tasting like... 3 weeks later i get my refractometer in the mail and immediately check the tub of water my rock is curing in... 1.025... Seems i still have an accurate "taste" of the ocean *lol*
 
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