1 my calibration fluid calibrated refractometer [not done w/rodi water] reads 1.029, my old floating $20 hydrometer, reads 1.026+ at 75 deg, but my tank is at 79±, my cheap float arm hydro used to read exactly like the floating one. nothing in the tank seems in the least upset. brain, open brain, zoas, mushrooms, hammer, gorgonian, shrimp, fish, pods, in tank now all fine. huh?
2 my rodi tests at 2 ppm just outta the filter. put the water in a bucket for a week w/air stones and covered w/a lid. now it’s 45 ppm. huh?
3 why do we keep lights on such a short time if most of what we keep lives in a 12/12 hr or close to it environment?
4 and related to that, what’s gonna happen in the summer when the house lights and outside will wake up the tank earlier or go to bed later?
5 can i put a maroon clown [at some time in the future] in a 65 that has 5 small clowns in it at present?
Woohoo - I love lotsa questions - makes me exercise the brain trying to remember the last one when I’m done answering the first one.
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Trust the calibrated refractometer - throw the swing arm hydrometers away to prevent ever getting the urge to compare the two again >LOL< When did you last calibrate the refractometer? You may want to double check to make sure it’s still providing accurate readings. If it is then you may also want to consider lowering your salinity just a little bit.
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When the water sits in a bucket it starts to grow bacteria and algae - run your finger down the inside of the bucket after emptying the water out, yu;ll noticed it’s a litle slimy, this is algae. The algae and bacteria add to your TDS.
3.&4. I keep my lights on for about 12 total hours a day. Additional lighting coming in through the windows will not have that great of effect on the animals in the tank. The fish will just not get as much sleep.
- Depends on the size of the current clowns as well as the maroon when you add the maroon. Many advise against keeping multiple types of clowns in the same tank. personally I keep 3 different clowns without issue. It all comes down to size, territory, and agressivness towards other fish.
#1 THANK YOU!
will recalibrate if necessary. already threw away the swing arm? what about the actual floating long necked hydro. i thought they were accurate?
thanks for info on rodi and lights
all my 5 percs now are under an inch and 3 are less than 1/2 inch. one unhosted rbta. i want a maroon really bad, but certainly don’t want agression issues.
Not sure about the long neck floating hydro - I have always trusted my refractometer.
As long as the maroon is larger then the percs you SHOULD be Ok. Generally small fish will not pick on newer bigger fish, unless of course they happen to be mean, nasty, territorial ballsy damsels that are currently waiting to be something’s food at DPA. key word here is SHOULD - anytime you add new fish to an established system you run the chance of having problems.
Damn I can’t argue any of the points. He got them right 
The maroon clown is more aggressive then your standard percs. I would keep an eye on them if you do add an additional.
[quote=“a1amap, post:5, topic:1076”]
Damn I can’t argue any of the points. He got them right :([/quote]
Don’t you hate that?!?!?!?! Good thing it only happens once a year.
i have fully recalibrated the refractometer with cal fluid, then to zero with rodi. tank reads1.026, the same as the long neck. thanks for the advice on maroons. maybe by spring.
That’s better. Thus the importance of always double checking your test to ensure that a problem actually exists before taking any measures to resolve an assumed issue.
Good lesson to teach the newbies - thanks.
Didn’t ready any other answers, but I figure mine will probably be the same.
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Ignore the rest use the refractometer. If this means changing things do it very slowly over the length of a week or more if you want. People are often shocked when they hear some of my tanks stay at 1.028 or above all the time, but trust me when I say everything is growing rapidly. Currently I am going to be shooting for 1.026-1.028
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I wouldn’t worry over it.
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This can be tricky. I do not get to see my tanks lit up when I leave for work, but get to enjoy them when I come home from work. My lights are programmed to come on around 2pm and off at 11pm Though often I will push them to stay on longer so I can work on fragging some things or algae scrapping.
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You can slowly adjust your tanks to match the seasons. Some lights come with timers that can be programmed for seasons. If your worried about it I would pick up one of those, they are only about $4000+shipping.
(I personally don’t worry about it) -
Probably not, but it is possible. Depends on size and personality.
and thanks john, you’re another who knows much more than i do