Great Deal....Refractometer

This is a must have for SW tanks. One of the best investments that I have made....however I spent $100+ for mine.

I was looking on Ebay and found this....thought somebody would be interested. If I did not already have one, I would grab it

Salinity Refractometer 0-10% ATC Aquarium Salt Water - eBay (item 330256180724 end time Aug-01-08 08:26:40 PDT)

 

Here is one in the states that wouldn't take as long to get. Don't know about the difference in quality of the two but maybe it is worth checking in to.
NEW! Salinity Refractometer 4 Aquarium Pond Hydrometer - eBay (item 220231757892 end time Aug-02-08 23:09:02 PDT)

 

I'll let you know, as I just purchased one from there earlier today.

 

Thanks I am curious so do keep me posted.

 

The item location is Hong Kong. I would find one in the states and go with that. eBay is where I am going to get mine though. Definitely.

 

I climbed out onto the limb also, and bought one today. I'll report when I get it hopefully in a week or so. It looks like this seller has plenty of these and some other monitoring equipment as well.

 

That's good advice, John. That's advice I would give. However I bought this one too, as the auction listed the vendor's location as Canada. It seems the vendor used Canada as a drop ship locale, but the instrument came from Hong Kong.

Had I known this, I probably would have looked harder for one in the states, but I didn't. It came on time, and I even saved the wrapper, as it's not like anything I've seen in the USA. It's a pinstripe green/brown wrapper, kinda neat.

Turns out it was a great $25 or so bucks. I watched the auctions for this vendor, read his feedback, and bid only $19 on about 6 auctions in a row. Mine finally came. I think the total with shipping was $26.

It's a fine instrument, and works worlds better than the swing-arm type cheap hydrometer. It's especially handy for comparing salinities, such as from the bag from the LFS's, and your tank.

I call this a must have for this hobby.

 

Those are model RHS-10ATC They come in Blue as well but they are all the same thing from the same manufacturer. Leave the water on the prism for several seconds to allow the ATC (Automatic Temperature Compensating) feature to work if testing your tanks water. If you are testing water that you are making up for a waterchange and it hasn't warmed up to tank temperatures yet, leave the water on there for a good 30 seconds. Always wipe off the prism before putting it back up so salt doesn't dry on it.

 

Yeah, Canada is fine. I just don't trust anything outside North America. I have purchased some things from France and England, when there was no choice, and have not been ripped off. I love eBay. I am just as leary of it though.

 

Works Great

I ordered mine from ebay as well. It's the same one but included a digital pH tester. I would highly recommend. My swing arm read the salinity at 1.022... I was trying to raise it. Turns out after testing with the refractometer the salinity was actually 1.026. That would have sucked if I raised it only to find out to dangerous levels!

Must buy!
Ryan