HELP HELP HELP SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!!!

[daniella3d]

Why not get a refractometer and toss the guess work?

It's around 20$ at ebay with automatic temperature compensation (ATC).

This is by far the most important piece of equipement to have when you start in saltwater. Hydrometer can be off too much and they can swing in that margin too much. Even when you think you know, it can still be off. Take out the guess work, buy a refractometer.

Originally Posted by nanomano

seeing as though I know my hydrometer is off by .003 cause it was just compared to a refractometer on wednesday, I made a mistake saying it was 1.023, I checked it 5 times and it reads 1.0215(so + .003=1.0245) so my actual salinity is 1.0245 so its just slightly low, but tomorrow I am going to have my hydrometer checked again as well as take a water sample for testing, and replace the bad alk test kit.
other then that my params
PARAMS
Salinity 1.0235---actually is 1.0245
CA 320-----accurate but bringing it up slowly
ph 8.1 accurate
Ammonia 0 ppm accurate
Alk/Kh 27???? WTF?--broken test kit
Phosphate less then .25---is this ok?
Nitrites 0 ppm---accurate
Nitrates 0 ppm---accurate

so all this being said, should I still hold off on my fish purchase if this is my actual parameters? or are they in fact ok?

[Nano]

k so my alkalinity is still reading high on the new batch at 24dkh which I'm guessing this means I got a rotten test kit. everything else is accurate from what I can tell.. so if my calcium is reading 420 now in the new batch compared to 320 the alk should realistically be ok right?