I hate my tank!

[Myka]

You already have some great advice here. Did your LFS test your water for calcium? Did they get the same results? What brand of salt are you using? Are you using any additives at all? You aren't using Purple Up are you? I would also suggest upping your flow to 15-20x turnover. What types of corals are you wanting to keep? Both softies and LPS corals will do well with that type of turnover. Your low turnover combined with using tap water (+1 for getting an RO/DI and a TDS meter) are likely your biggest issues, not the high salinity. The high salinity would be contributing to the high calcium reading. Oh, and for the record, you can continue to use your hydrometer, just remember that your particular hydrometer is out by 0.007, so aim for 1.019 on your hydrometer, and that should put your sg at 1.026. you can always double check by taking some water to your LFS again.

Check out the guides in my signature, I think you would find a lot of the information in them very helpful.