Hello! New to site, salt and our relationship :-))

[Ericandcasey]

Quick question, I saw someone post something in a diffrent thread and cant for the life of me find it..... but we use a Instant Ocean Hydrometer... the thread I was reading and cant find said there is a better tester for the saltwater was quite a bit more money but the person whom posted it said its well well worth it........what is this item called and maybe best source to buy one.... i will keep surfing the web and forum for the mystery item in question.

[Ericandcasey]

found the thing its a - refractometer.... like how do they work or like what makes them better then the hydrometer.... we have seen some online / ebay ranging from like 20 to a grand or more - i am sure the grand or so ones are for like clinical research.

[bobby]

Your talking about a refractometer, there alot more acurate. There not that exspensive heres a link and this one is 45.00.

Portable Refractometer

Hope this helps.

[bobby]

The reason there better is there dead on accurate when caliberated to 0.
Here is a link that explains them. On the link the vid is the second row going down and the second pic to the right.
Reef Videos

[Ericandcasey]

Thanks so much!....

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, the clowns are cool to watch, especially if they have an anemone to go along with. The mushrooms are fine -- they are a type of coral. You're lucky, I had to pay for mine . They have intermediate lighting and flow needs, they don't need any special attention, if they are happy they will spread like crazy. There are a bunch of different color morphs and different types, a very easy coral to keep... I want more. I just bought some ricordia tonight, actually.

[Ericandcasey]

After looking every nook of the tank seems we have 1 larger one and 2 smaller ones next to it.... even have 2 real small ones on the bottom of our tank that just seemed to pop up over the past few days.

[bobby]

Go to the tank after the lights have been out for a few hours, then with a small light look in there and you will see all kinds of stuff.

[Ericandcasey]

I posted in the Vendor Evaluations section,... ill ask here also,

Would it be wise to buy some copepods for our tank.... also anyone know of some good online places to buy from? I found oceanpods.com but was unsure if anyone thought we should buy them. Money really isnt that much of an issue for us but just dont want to waste it.

thanks
Eric

[Bifferwine]

I haven't bought them online, but similar sized bottles run around $25 from my LFS.