Milwaukee Salinity Digital Refractometer for Saltwater Aquariums - MA887

The Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity Refractometer is excellent! It's fast, accurate, and very easy to use. The automatic temperature compensation is a great feature, and the digital readout is clear and reliable. Perfect for keeping my aquarium salinity exactly where it needs to be. Highly recommend for anyone who wants precise and hassle-free readings.

I struggled with small cheap plastic hydrometers for many years and I've always doubted their accuracy, mainly because of air bubbles and degradation of the plastic as it ages. I've seen people use the optical ones but they are always pointing them at the room light to try to get a reading. It's nice to have something really accurate for a change that you can read in any light, I especially like that it takes into account the temperature! I'm amazed at the low price, this could easliy sell for $300 or more. It's really fast and easy to use. If there was one thing I could change it would be that I wish it had one more decimal place so you can tell if it's between for instance 1.023 and 1.024. If it read 1.0235 that would be awesome, but realistically the small changes in salinity between numbers won't have an effect on your aquarium. For those new at changing water I can share my method. I have a 14 gallon nano cube and I change 2 gallons twice a week. I measure out my water in gallon water jugs, similar to milk jugs only they had distilled water in them. I fill them with RODI water for my salt mix. Then I weight out 293 grams of Kent Marine Reef Salt Mix using a gram scale. That brings the salinity to 1.024 (263 grams will bring it to 1.021). Then I pour one gallon of water in a five gallon plastic jug, pour in the salt, cap and invert to mix several times. Then I pour in the last gallon rinsing out my salt container in the process, cap and invert to mix again. This initial mixing puts most of the salt into solution. Then I add a small powerhead and aquarium heater for a few hours and everything goes into solution without any further mixing. Then using two other gallon jugs I empty out exactly two gallons and pour in the fresh saltwater. Works like a charm!

This refractometer is really easy to use, easy to read, easy to calibrate, and accurate. All you need is RO/DI or distilled water to calibrate it and it's simple and easy to do and quick. First thing I found with it is that my salinity was at 1.028 instead of 1.026 as it was supposed to be. So yes, I'm very happy with it and my corals and fish are happy with it. Only thing that would make it nicer is for it to have come with a case and a plastic pipette to sample the water with. But then the case would make it more expensive. Fortunately I had a Pelican 1150 case laying around that I could use. The 1150 fits it nicely and keeps it protected. Worth the extra $$ if you want a nice case to protect it. You can find the cases here on Amazon. As for the pipette you don't have to have it, but it sure makes it easier to grab the water and put it in the refractometer. The ones I use are 1ml plastic pipettes and can be found here on Amazon.

This is the most accurate tester I have used. Great product.

This one is hard to do a good review . first of all for the price the ma800 case should of come with it . Now it get tricky . the celebration is simple and easy . I had no problems zeroing it out . The problem is the verification . I see so may reviews in utub saying the same thing . The verification solution is marked 1.025 every reading I take I get 1.027 one out 10 1.026. Now if I take that same solution 1.025 and us it with my refractometer . I get a 1.025 reading . if I use my refractometer verification solution at 1.025 with the Milwaukee ma887 I get 1.025 . so to me Milwaukee is using a 3rd party verification solution that is not correct . I have yet to write to Milwaukee to see what they say . It Does state plus or minus .2 . It is very precise get the same number over and over . So the way my unit reads I always mines .01 if it reads 1.026 I will record the reading at 1.025 . then I will verify that reading in the next day using my refractometer. Also the MA877 doesn't read in halves if the reading is 1.025.6 it will read 1.026

This thing is so awesome makes checking my salt water tank so easy and fast. Very easy to calibrate and results are always accurate. If your tired of looking through a little hole and trying to get your salinity right get this well worth the money

This thing is freaking awesome. Gift your other manual salinity instruments (refractometer, hydrometer)... you won't need those anymore. My video shows a typical measurement. Calibration is EXACTLY THE SAME, but with steam distilled water!! Who can't get distilled water? No tiny screw drivers or fiddling with light sources. I've spent the last 4 months chasing salinity issues in a reef tank... at one point I had 4 different +/- 3% readings simultaneously on two instruments. Calibration fluids weren't reading the same values on the same instrument - which one is "right"?? This instrument solved all my problems - it verified that I had bad reference fluids. The only critical inputs I have are the instructions say to "fill the well completely", but there's no figure showing "full". Does not seem to matter as long as the glass is covered, but expect to experiment a little at first. It doesn't lose calibration after power off, so you'll only need to calibrate when there's a problem; but it's so easy you can do it before every reading if that's your thing. Comes with distilled water for cleaning and calibration AND a verification saline solution AND two pipettes AND a 9V battery! The instructions even show you how to make your own verification solutions! You're going to look and act a little crazy after you get this - I measured the tank water, the top off water, the saltwater I have ready for a water change, and the calibration fluids and reference fluids, laughing like an evil scientist from a B-movie. It'll wear off... I hope.

First unit tested the calibration solution that came with it (1.025 SG) at 1.023SG I have a bottle of a different calibration solution, the most popular one on here, (1.026 SG) and it tested 1.028 on the Milwaukee. I calibrated several times using the distilled water, making sure the lens was clean each time, also waited 1 minute before testing and got the above results every single time. My reef tank tested at 1.028 SG as well. On my $20 lens refractomter, the calibration solutions all tested accurately and my tank tested at 1.026. Those of you who have reef tanks can probably understand I almost had a heart attack when it tested 1.028 SG I opted to have a replacement sent and this one also did not test properly. The 1.025 Calibration solution did test at 1.025 SG but my 1.026 SG calibration tested at 1.028 SG along with my tank. The $20 refractometer tested properly again with all three tests. Forgot to mention that I also used a hydrometer just to triple check everything and the tank tested at 1.026 SG Sending back the replacement for a refund. Reefers beware, this is not an accurate tester.