For those of you that add salt to their ponds, what salt test kit(s) do you use to check your salt level?

I found this thingy:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=12831
:)

Tlc, I think that's a thingamabob. I've never seen a hydrometer for freshwater before! I think it would be faster than the salt test kit. It looks like they stopped carrying that. I might have to get one and add a link to it on my salt page. Thanks for telling us!

Oh you are so right Robyn. That is a thingamabob. How foolish of me! :lol:

Tia, that Pond Hydrometer looks very easy to use ... I like that.
That plus the $8.00 price tag! I might have to get one of those gizmos. :)

The add says that the pond hydrometer measures specific gravity and salinity.
What is specific gravity? :blink: (something else to look up!) :mellow:

The salinity test kit I have is a Pond Care product made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
They also make the Freshwater Master Test Kit for the pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate.
Fairly easy to use ... fill a 5ml tube with water and add the amount of drops in the directions, then compare on the colors charts.
Takes a little bit of time, but not as bad as the tablet test kits. Those require the tabs to dissolve (or be mashed with the plastic crushing tool provided) therefore taking longer.

I'm sure there are more parameters to test for ... but you have to draw a line somewhere! :huh:

PG

By the way, I've found it much quicker & easier to fill the test tubes using a syringe.
Gets it right to the fill line every time.

PG

PG, I was going to order one but wasn't sure about it. Now I am mad at myself for hesitating. <_<
I wondered to about the gravity measurement. :huh: I am not enough of a geek to figure that one out so if you do please enlighten me. :)
Would it be measuring weight??

And thanks for the tip.

I saw the salt tester at Dr fosters and have it circled in my catalog just need to find more pond goodies that I "just have to have" to make ordering worthwhile. When I saw it also tested specific gravity had me scratching my head too! All I came up with is splinters. Is that the simplest tester out on the market?

Fm3

:lol: :lol: :lol: ROF :lol: :lol:

Water has a density of 1gram per milliliter at 4 degrees Celsius. When you add salt to water, the density increases; in other words, the water with the salt in it weighs more per milliliter than pure water does per milliliter. The ratio of the water plus salt to the pure water is called specific gravity. In technical writing, specific gravity is considered an undesirable term and has been replaced with relative density. The reason for this is that science likes measurements to have units of measure attached to measures and specific gravity, being a ratio, has no units, but relative density does, since density is a measure of the mass (e.g. "grams") divided by volume (e.g. milliliters).

When you measure specific gravity, you usually use a device called a hydrometer. The simplest of these is a long glass tube with a glass bulb that causes it to float. The greater the difference in the densities of the water and the hydrometer, the higher in the water the hydrometer floats. The tube part of the hydrometer has a scale on it the shows the specific gravity (relative density of the water and the hydrometer). It's like when you go to Utah and try swimming in the Great Salt Lake; you float right on top of the water, because the specific gravity of the salty water is much greater that the specific gravity of your body.

So, in the end, specific gravity is an indirect measure of the amount of salt dissolved in the water. Pure water has a specific gravity of ONE at 4 degrees C. (Slightly less that one as the water warms and expands). Salty water has a specific gravity greater than one.

Don

Thanks for the explanation Don. Thinking back to my high school science days that sounds very familiar.

I was worried for a minute I was going to have to fit all my fish with moon boots to keep them from floating out of the pond! ;)

Derrick

Derrick you can get the fishy moon boots at Dr Foster's. Your probably the only one on this forum that doesn't have them. Their cheap, but hell getting them to fit.
Now that we have had our science class courtesy of Don. Thank God somebody got past the fifth grade. ;) I have a question for you Don isn't this tester in essence the same as a battery tester where you draw the water/acid to check the cells for specific gravity? I looked at one of these testers at the local fish store and said what the heck, specific gravity i'm not putting any acid in my pond , no sir. :lol:

Fm3

Don, thanks for the good explanation which saved me having to try to explain it!

When I first saw the tester thingamabob it reminded me of the tester we use to test the anti-freeze in the radiators of our cars and trucks.
I guess I can't use that one in the pond. :rolleyes: ;)
Tia

The testers for batteries and antifreeze are just that--kinds of simple hydrometer. You could possibly use one of those if you calibrate it first by using it in a known series of salt solutions that you make up in the kitchen. I don't know if these devices for batteries and antifreeze are sensitive enough, though, to be used for the dilute salt solutions in ponds or even in saltwater aquaria. It might be fun to try it out.

Don

Thank you for the lessons Teach!