Jestersix

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

I’ve always heard the German made Orion 128, or A322 salinity meters or equivalent combined with a four electrode probe are the gold standard on salinity meters which hold their calibration for years and automatic built in temp calibrations. Very common in laboratory and field studies..New units are a bit outa my league but Ebay seems the most common place where reefers grab them! Good place to start if you want one of the most accurate meters out there!
 
PjFish said:
I’ve always heard the German made Orion 128, or A322 salinity meters or equivalent combined with a four electrode probe are the gold standard on salinity meters which hold their calibration for years and automatic built in temp calibrations. Very common in laboratory and field studies..New units are a bit outa my league but Ebay seems the most common place where reefers grab them! Good place to start if you want one of the most accurate meters out there!
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Yes, those 4 electrode probes / conductivity meters are the ones tested against. I did feel the club should have one, but it was declined as not needed at the time. It could be eye opening how many of us potentially run a different salinity than we think.
 
L/B Block said:
Useful! Thanks.
I think my point was that I was wondering if people in general are even aware of needing to calculate that if their water temp is not at 77 at time of measurement
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I do think many people know. And the deviation from the temp is not typically impacting the results too much as a large part runs their tanks around that temp anyway.
 
I bought this Zeolite reactor while I was in Germany last week. I was hoping to get this or something similar somewhere here but was not successful. United did not seem to mind the excess weight :). At least, I am able to get the Zeolite media from here (Aquaforest).

It runs a Sicce Syncra 3.0 - for daily 1 min flushing -, and a Syncra 1.0 for 24 hours use.

The reactor is meant to keep nitrates (only) mid-to long term at a low level.

Two downsides right now are that the two pumps with their proprietory connectors make this reactor quite wide - my sump can handle it though - and keep in mind this is the small version, there is a larger version available. The other issue I have, is that my nitrates are currently only around 12 mg/L, so this might be overkill. I stopped carbon dosing about two weeks ago and while nitrate creeped up from around 7 to 12 after a week, it seemed to have settled at 12 mg/L.

The additional change I will make is to reduce weekly water change volumes, which should 'help' increasing nitrates.

I will update once this is running for a while.

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Alexander1312 said:
I bought this Zeolite reactor while I was in Germany last week. I was hoping to get this or something similar somewhere here but was not successful. United did not seem to mind the excess weight :). At least, I am able to get the Zeolite media from here (Aquaforest).

It runs a Sicce Syncra 3.0 - for daily 1 min flushing -, and a Syncra 1.0 for 24 hours use.

The reactor is meant to keep nitrates (only) mid-to long term at a low level.

Two downsides right now are that the two pumps with their proprietory connectors make this reactor quite wide - my sump can handle it though - and keep in mind this is the small version, there is a larger version available. The other issue I have, is that my nitrates are currently only around 12 mg/L, so this might be overkill. I stopped carbon dosing about two weeks ago and while nitrate creeped up from around 7 to 12 after a week, it seemed to have settled at 12 mg/L.

The additional change I will make is to reduce weekly water change volumes, which should 'help' increasing nitrates.

I will update once this is running for a while.

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Hmm let us know how it goes-maybe some BAR members will pack an extra suitcase to go with you next time
 
L/B Block said:
Hmm let us know how it goes-maybe some BAR members will pack an extra suitcase to go with you next time
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Good idea. I bought a spare used DELTEC 1000i which I had to leave behind since my suitcase was already full with the Zeolite reactor, some Fauna stuff I do not get here, a small ozone reactor, and lots of Ritter chocolate (factory sale in my home town).

The good news is that I am going again in July for a second round.
 
Speaking of ozone reactors,

Running ozone is very popular in Germany, specifically for more higher-end tanks. So there are a lot more options to choose from.

I am currently running the well-known Ozotech Poseidon 200, which I learned is not appropriate for most normal-sized larger tanks (200 mg/h) since it is too powerful. Yes, you could run it less frequently, but still get these strong inputs of ozone even at lower settings, impacting skimmer performance negatively for hours.

Recommendation right now is to not exceed 10-20mg/h ozone per 1,000 L (264 g).

Over there, they have this a bit more ‘upscale’ brand which offers these reactors with far more appropriate lower output, easier to dial in, US-ready voltage, and plugs. A 50mg/h without an air dryer can output approx 25 mg/h of ozone. The little dial then allows to further reduce the output to about 20-30% of this for my volume of 150 g/550 L.

They even have a smaller model which could be considered for nano tanks as it goes as low as 2 mg/h, which would be 1 mg/h if no air dryer is used, suitable for a 20 g tank.

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That's cool, I've heard the same about units here being oversized but no manufacturers here having anything smaller. No smell off this unit? Injecting into your skimmer body?
 
Darkxerox said:
That's cool, I've heard the same about units here being oversized but no manufacturers here having anything smaller. No smell off this unit? Injecting into your skimmer body?
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Well, no smell even with the larger unit. But I do have a bag of carbon on top of the skimmer cup, and an ozone sensor to detect excessive ambient air amounts.

IMG_2969.jpeg
 
Alexander1312 said:
I have high hopes for this device.

Will send out the first Fauna Marin ICP on Friday, since I bought it, to determine how closely it matches my salinity readings. The moment of truth. MTC.

It feels very premium, and despite my poor eyesight, I can easily read the readings.

www.veegee.com

Handheld Salinity Refractometer

Order your Handheld Salinity Refractometer online today with VEE GEE Scientific and receive free shipping and fast delivery.
www.veegee.com www.veegee.com

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PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST AS IT WAS USER ERROR

Another device that sucks in reading salinity - at least out of the box.

ICP is 36.8 PSU vs slightly above 35 PSU I have seen, the worst deviation so far from any device I have ever owned.

However, I have not calibrated it - which I should have - and I have no calibration solution. So this will go into storage for now.
 
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Alexander1312 said:
Another device that sucks in reading salinity - at least out of the box.

ICP is 36.8 PSU vs slightly above 35 PSU I have seen, the worst deviation so far from any device I have ever owned.

However, I have not calibrated it - which I should have - and I have no calibration solution. So this will go into storage for now.
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You didn't calibrate it? It just took a journey in the mail and likely banged around for days. Check the manual, it says to calibrate with distilled prior to use, especially if ambient temperature is different than usual (I'm sure RODI is fine). https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0050/6907/8621/files/VEE_GEE_Model_SX-2_Manual.pdf?v=1583443961
 
Darkxerox said:
You didn't calibrate it? It just took a journey in the mail and likely banged around for days. Check the manual, it says to calibrate with distilled prior to use, especially if ambient temperature is different than usual (I'm sure RODI is fine). https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0050/6907/8621/files/VEE_GEE_Model_SX-2_Manual.pdf?v=1583443961
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You are right, complaining and not following the manual is not right. To my defense :), I did not expect it to match the ICP out of the box, but the delta seemed far greater than I expected. As you say, this could have been through transport.

Calibrated it now, and it showed less than 0 with distilled water (I still had some), which means that this would probably correct the understatement of salinity I have seen before sending it to ICP. I just need to wait another 4-5 weeks before knowing how close I am, and the next ICP will probably be with Oceamo, so there might be some differences too.
 
Alexander1312 said:
PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST AS IT WAS USER ERROR

Another device that sucks in reading salinity - at least out of the box.

ICP is 36.8 PSU vs slightly above 35 PSU I have seen, the worst deviation so far from any device I have ever owned.

However, I have not calibrated it - which I should have - and I have no calibration solution. So this will go into storage for now.
Click to expand...

You gotta calibrate!! Use a solution very close to target salinity (or, if you’re feeling chemisty enough and have a good scale, make your own solution at 35PSU)
 
tribbitt said:
You gotta calibrate!! Use a solution very close to target salinity (or, if you’re feeling chemisty enough and have a good scale, make your own solution at 35PSU)
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Mea culpa - It looks like it will need to be calibrated with distilled water though, but I did buy 35 PSU solution too.
 
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Latest update [29 March 2026]

Yellow tang is gaining quite a bit more weight (visually), which was one of my biggest concerns for a while. He/she voraciously eats the dandelions (and seaweed), and seaweed pellets were ultimately the reason for her positive turnaround. He/she does not seem to like frozen food at all anymore (LRS), not even (PE) mysis.

 
Maaaaaannnn because of all the hype around here with the Tropic Marin hydrometer last year, I bought one, thinking maybe my Milwaukee digital refractometer was off and the cause of my recent woes. Now I gotta get a veegee?? :p
 
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