would this refractometer work for salt?

[manlyfish]

hello and my dad has a brix refractometer for measureing the sugar content in plants and i was wondering if it would work for salt water
thanks

 

[Heathd]

I dont think the scale would be correct

 

[manlyfish]

it goes from 1-30

 

[Heathd]

it goes from 1-30

Yea but if it is calibrated for sugar, I dont think it would work for salt. It works off of scattering light based off of the type of substance and concentration of it.

 

[manlyfish]

but don't they both measure the same unit specfic gravity?

 

[BIG_ONE]

Buy 1 that is made for saltwater aquarium just to be on the safe side. Not worth risking a tank from crashing.

 

[Z Rex]

Get a calibration solution for a tank, the solution should be 53 mS/cm (which equals 35ppt, or a sg of 1.0264), and set that at some arbitrary point on the scale, say 15. Then just aim to get your saltwater to that point.

 

[CichofitAll]

but don't they both measure the same unit specfic gravity?

No. Taken from Wiki.
Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is a unit representative of the sugar content of an aqueous solution. One degree Brix corresponds to 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and thus represents the strength of the solution as a percentage by weight (% w/w) (strictly speaking, by mass).

Relative density, or specific gravity,[1][2] is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity usually means relative density with respect to water.