Swing Arms ARE HORRID.

[erikharrison]

I will never EVER own another swing arm hydrometer again. A few months back, my floating hydro broke since I was genius enough to step on it. Before it broke I double checked it against my trusty ol' swingarm. Both were the same. Yesterday, my order came in from zoafrag, and just for kicks, I checked the salinity to find it was off, bigtime. I checked my water, 1.024 and I acclimated. This already had me scared that either my swing arm was off badly, or that John from zoafrag's stuff was off. Since the latter of the two seemed impossible, I rushed some water over to Jeremy who was in the midst of leaving to go pick up his order from the airport. He called me VERY concerned. He stated that my salinity was at a whopping 1.033.... Initially we both considered the fact that it may be off due to temperature, since he had the water for awhile. Tony came by to pick up his superman, and I bagged it up and he went to B&B. After that, he went home only to find VERY similar results. 1.032

Here is the part where I could smell detrirtus building in my shorts.
I checked again with my swingarm and it showed 1.026.

Needless to say I drained about 10 gallons of water and put in some fresh. I did this immeadiately. I am goingto run home during lunch and hope to be able to run by B&B again to retest my water.
I did notice that my corals were turning brown, but this was after a complete re-aquascape of my tank, so I had attributed it to the changing. WRONG.

For the love of your tank, ditch the swingarm, and get a refractometer.
I still cannot understand how my fish/inverts/corals are still alive, and I can give God another high-five for saving my tank.

Lesson Learned? Buy right the first time. :)

[txstateunivreefer]

all testing methods have their faults...us
when it comes to making it fool proof i dont think there is a way to do it.

bubbles on the swing arm
not taking temp into affect when using a lab hydro
not keeping up with adjusting your refractometer

[hobogato]

be careful there also - make sure to calibrate often. mine was reading 1.025 but my sg was actually 1.020 for at least two months. you know how i found out - you guessed it, swing arm :lauging:

no single method is foolproof, so use more than one. i now use the refractometer (often checking calibration) and a floating hydrometer.


For the love of your tank, ditch the swingarm, and get a refractometer.

[MissT]

yeah, after lots of use, if the swing arms aren't rinsed and if they get nasty, they aren't accurate. it never hurts to have a "backup plan" like keeping a swing arm on hand when using a refractometer or there's always taking a sample to the LFS to get it double checked.

[cpreefguy]

A refractometer is the best $60 you will ever spend in this hobby

[ismvel]

Yesterday, my order came in from zoafrag, and just for kicks, I checked the salinity to find it was off, bigtime....
....Tony came by to pick up his superman, and I bagged it up and he went to B&B....

Well good to know everything is okay...hopefully you get that thing squared away..on another note....

I was going to place my order next week...how'd that superman coral look?

And what all did you get?

Wondering if his stuff is any good basically....sorry to change the subject....

Thanks,
Ismael

[erikharrison]

Ismael, I had a terrible experience with John and it is still going on. Tony and I got what was supposed to be 2x1" frags of the superman. He gave us one frag, which I had to split and it came out in three pieces. He overcharged us and his merchant has yet to release the funds back to us, which in turn caused some overdraft charges since he failed to tell us that 230 was being held instead of the 115 that should have been held. I wrote him a pointed email stating that "I was not pleased" with the situation, and that since he flat out lied by saying "only 35 extra dollars will be charged" I told him that he was a liar. I then told him that I would pursue this matter until we were properly charged and all extraneous fees associated with this transaction were liberated. He took this as a threat. I asked him to call me, but I was out in the living room when he called. He left a message and the first words out of his mouth were "Erik I just got your ANNOYING email, and it's not my fault that you don't understand why you are being charged the way you are." He then went on to state that my order was nothing, and he asked for a paypal addy to send my money back to me. At this point I decided to be very polite since he was irate, and had already taken out every penny in my girlfriend's account. We have yet to recoup any of the money from this. I would also like to point out that I believe that reefingood is him. After several emails etc, you can tell by the manner in which he writes that it is entirely too similar to reefingood's. Even though this was mainly just a big mixup, I feel that he as the vendor should have told me EVERYTHING regarding MY money, and he did not which is causing us more pain than good. If you order from him, make sure that you have your entire order together BEFORE you order. If you call to add something else, it will get completely jacked up.

Back on topic, I just tested my water again, and it is at 1.028, so I will be adjusting again once I get off work.

[apedroza]

I have 3 types of hydrometers. Swing Arm, refract, and a good old floating one. The floating stays in my salt water reserve and I use the refract to read my tank water. Teh swing arm is a back up incase I can't find the other 2!!!

[blueboy]

i've actually come back around to a good old fashioned floating hydrometer. you just can't beat them for simplicity, ease of use, and reliability. though i do still keep an old swing arm around for occasinal confirmations.

[Bill S]

I've been keeping SW fish for over 35 years. I own ONLY floating hydrometers. Chris, as long as there is no big variation in your water temp, they are ALWAYS accurate, as long as they are clean. I've been tempted by a refractometer, but I have a problem trusting it...

[erikharrison]

I ordered a Milwaukee. :) I will buy another floating for backup. I LOVED my floating hydro and used it all the time. My Superman is open, thank God!

[Texreefer]

Eric, be careful how fast you adjust that salinity... it can have a very nasty effect on all of your critters, especially your fish, affecting their ability to osmoregulate.

[erikharrison]

I finished that already.... Everything seems fine, but I will keep a close eye out.

[aquariumd]

Over the years we have had very good luck with old school floating hydrometers. We also like to use refractometers. Whatever you use, you should test them on a regular basis.
FYI: We have the old school floating hydrometers in stock for $9.99. They are only $8.00 for Maast members !

We also have the Red Sea 34 gal Max for $450.00. These come in black or silver. We also have the matching stands for $100.00. In the future, I will try to find time to post notice of more great prices.

H. Taylor
Aquarium Designs
15223 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX 78232
(210) 495-7333

[brewercm]

Only thing I even use my swing arm for any longer is when I mix up saltwater for water changes until it gets close enough to start using my refractometer, I have an old floater laying around also somewhere. I really should throw it back into one of my overflows to keep a constant eye on it.

[beerguy]

I still cannot understand how my fish/inverts/corals are still alive, and I can give God another high-five for saving my tank.

Ive seen salinity at 1.040 and everything appeared to be doing fine. Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt recommend that high of a salinity to anyone, but it happens. so long as the shock of busting your salinity down so low so fast dosnt kill anything, Id say your good.
and the thought of god high fiveing you back over your fish tank is classic. many giggles.

[jroescher]

Anybody use one of these?
http://www.aquariumsupplystore.com/Pictures/Salinity%20meter/sys_digilab_tss1.jpg

[crossxfire2]

I must be WAYYYY behind, because I have ONLY used 1 swing arm for the past 2 years EVER! I've had good luck. I keep my swing arm clean, and free of bubbles when i test the water. Whatever the ACUTAL salinity is, I just make sure that it is exactly at "1.023", and make sure that it NEVER changes.

[Bill S]

And that's EXACTLY how you end up in Erik's situation... They will change calibration slowly over time.

[mathias]

you got a link to that digital meter?

[jroescher]

you got a link to that digital meter?

Here's an FAQ:
http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_digilab_faqs.html#1

I don't see them listed on JBJ's site anymore. Maybe not made anymore?

Here's one for sale:
AquaOverstock (http://www.aquaoverstock.com/store/product.php?productid=16159&cat=255&page=1)