I started keeping saltwater tanks in 1996 and since then have used many different tools and instruments to measure salinity. At first it was with floating glass hydrometers, and soon thereafter it was swing arm hydrometers. These two devices use the…
The Serenity MS-31 Digital Hydrometer makes short work of measuring Specific Gravity
Salinity is THE one parameter that matters the most in a saltwater aquarium or reef tank, and we’re always coming across new tools to measure the salt in our water. The Serenity MS-31 is the newest addition to the seawater…
My Corals are Dying: Why?
Over the years I have been asked a lot of questions. Some have come and gone over time, like what is the best whatever or what fish or coral can I add to my tank. Some, however, have…
eKoral PRO aquarium controller about a month away from release
The eKoral PRO aquarium controller is about a month away from release and is likely to be priced right at $899 for the entire package. The eKoral selling point is the simplicity of setup and ease of use for the…
Get Your Salinity On Point With Brightwell Calibration Standard
For a saltwater tank, salinity is quite literally the most important measurement we can make, yet the entire hobby basically treats salinity as an afterthought. Since a proper salinity measurement can give you a basic overview of all of the elements…
Introducing A New Generation Of ‘pH Pens’ From Anura
Anura is a new company which is aiming to put the sexy back in pH pens. To be fair, pH pens in the aquarium hobby have never been that sexy to begin with, because who gets excited about pH anyway?…
Saltwater Aquarium Maintenance: Topping Off Your Tank With Freshwater
Aquarium Maintenance: Topping Off When water evaporates from your saltwater aquarium, only the fresh water evaporates, and the salt is left behind. In order to maintain a consistent salinity level, we must top off our tanks with fresh water. There are two ways…
Benefits to Using a Refractometer versus a Hydrometer
After temperature, Salinity is the most important measurement of seawater you can make for your tank. Therefore, refractometers and hydrometers are the most used tool in the hobby, or at least they should be. Both hypersaline and hypo saline environments make unsuitable…
Salty Q&A: How Do You Make Small Salinity Adjustments?
Saltwater Smarts visitor Andrew had the following question about our post titled “5 Tips for Maintaining Stable Salinity in a Saltwater Tank.” Since we get similar questions quite frequently, we thought it might be helpful to elaborate on our response…
Master Refractometer hot rod salinity measurement from Atago Japan
The Master Refractometer series by Atago is a high performance line of salinity measuring tools from Japan. We recently got some hands-on time with the Atago Master-S/MillM refractometer at the Bali Aquarium water monitoring laboratory, and it was quite refreshing to see a…
