Faulty Hydrometer?
 

Hey guys,

I just purchased a brand new Coralife Deep Six Hydrometer, and the instructions told me to soak it with salty water for 24 hours to let the needle "season". I have done this, and the entire time since I have gotten the hydrometer, the needle just stays down at the very bottom and does not move at all. I have tried with water from my tank, tried with very salty water I mixed myself, etc, and the needle does not move. Please refrain from giving me the "get a refractometer speech" please.

Did you try tapping the hydrometer on the counter to get a reading??? Sometimes an air bubble causes the needle to get stuck.

When mine sticks i just tap it on the counter to free it up. Its mostly casued by me forgeting to was it out with freshwater after i use it.

Just taqp it to losen it up. When it starts reading, maybe compare it to a refractometer to see how accurate it is. If you live near Sunridge mall you can come by and borrow my refractometer to do this.

i almost killed every thing in my tank due to a bad hydrometer,had a salt level of 1.029,talked my lfs owner in to selling me a refractometer for 1/2 price,the crapy part was it took me adding a cleaner shrimp 27 bucks and a sand siffter star 20 bucks to find something was wrong when they died in like 1 hour.

I haven't used a hydrometer in years,but the word is that they are quite reliable,but not acurate.Meaning if they read a few points higher or lower than the actual salinity,they will always read higher or lower by the same amount.The trick is to compare the readings to a refracometer and adjust acordingly.

Yes I have tried shaking it many times, it is not the problem. The needle does not leave the bottom ever.

Return it to the store for an exchange then.

Get one of those glass floaty ones. Thats what I use and I have never had a problem with it and they are very precise.

Matt

I used an IO hydrometer for years, and this week I got a refractometer. I the hydrometer was out by .002

If you're saying it doesn't swing at all, wet, dry on it's side then the arm is jammed. Unless you can free the arm it's toast and even if you did, I then wouldn't have much faith in it's accuracy.

Exchange it or if you get the arm swinging, do a comparison before trusting it.

As for the swing arm types, used them for years and they always seemed consistent. Thought if they had an error, it would be fixed, read they usually compare within a couple of thou anyways so no big deal if I shoot for the mid point of the salinity range. Then last week was mixing up some change water up and thought was reading low for the amount of salt I added. Checked the tank and it was reading 1.019 which was weird considering I have auto top off, no salt-creep and system (~190g) always reads 1.023-1.024. Ended up getting a refractometer and system was 1.025.

I'd always rise the swing arm hydrometer after use and sure I didn't bang but must have as it had shifted quite a bit (to 0.006 from refractometer). This one was a Coralife Deep Six that been using for more than a year.

The arm is not jammed, it swings if I tilt the hydrometer, but always stays at the bottom when the hydrometer is level, no matter what kind of water is inside or how salty it is.

Took a look at my, it's got a white buttom about 1 cm dia that goes through the arm (says Certified Calibration with a number), is that in place on yours?

Yes, it is in place in mine

How something so simple could fail..., but looks likes yours is just plain broken.