Unfortunately, OceanDeep, you misunderstood me. (And I can take a cuss-out! :lol: )
I said twice I wasn't singling you out, or anyone else. I promise, I wasn't. I
apologize if you took it that way in spite of my disclaimers.
I'm more ticked that you found bad advice online before you found us - so it's not directed at you, that's directed at (generalization) people who post crappy advice. We were all beginners at... the beginning... so please don't 'hear' that as a criticism of you. And yes, the definition of crappy advice is purely subjective, but based on some of the horrible outcomes we've seen, it can be crappy advice.
Believe me, in nearly 30 years in the hobby and/or trade, there aren't too many mistakes I haven't made (I've never boiled/baked rock but I've made some that were worse than that). So I'm not judging, believe me. I've been in the hobby since trial and error and error and error were the only ways to figure things out.
Friends again? I hope
(If you knew me personally it might be easier to 'hear' me as I intend - written word can be funky that way.) I'm here to help, or at least, try to. Your profile says you like hockey so we MUST get along!
I knew you were referring to a hydrometer, I just hadn't seen that particular brand before - I didn't carry much Hagen stuff. I was curious as to whether it's one that you leave in the tank, or do you remove it and rinse it in fresh (tap) water after each use. That can make a difference. There are also a couple of different kinds of hydrometer - there's the 'box' type -what you have, and there is a floating type that usually has a thermometer in it also.
What I'm driving at with my questions, is that it's possible that either you, or the tank that the newer rock came from, has or had a salinity issue. One might have been significantly higher or lower than the other, causing some die-off in the rock when it was moved from one tank to the other. That might have resulted in the spike. Also having the rock out and drying for too long in transport, may have caused some die off. That's why I asked those questions, trying to find a reason why you had the problem in the first place (and in discovering that, help you prevent it from happening again).
We will probably never know the specific gravity of the tank the rock came from unless you're still in touch with the seller and the tank is still running - but in an effort to at least come up with a theory - making sure your device is accurate can rule YOUR specific gravity in or out as a possible cause of current and future issues.
I'm pulling from experience here. Over the years I've learned not to overlook even the most obvious detail or ask the most elementary question because sometimes it's that kind of stuff we assume is OK, isn't. So it's not a shot at somebody's knowledge or smarts - sometimes it's the basic stuff that goes wrong.
