Apex becomes inaccurate after a few days

[sunil6784]

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to aquarium controllers- this is my first one. I bought a used package from a local reefer and have had nothing but problems; pretty frustrating.

Most recently, about 10 days ago, my temperature spiked. Though the Apex is set to turn off my heaters at 79 degrees, the temp spiked to 82.4 with the heaters still on. Luckily I caught the spike, and manually unplugged the heaters. The "fix" for this was restarting my Apex. Once I did that, I noticed that my ORP, pH, and salinity also reset to their "normal" values. In the days leading up to the temp issue, I noticed the ORP jump up, the pH jump to 8.2 (from 7.8/7.9) and salinity drop. I didn't think much of these at the time, as I know my conductivity probe is inaccurate despite recalibration. ORP and pH I thought may be settling as the tank is roughly a month old now.

Fast foward to yesterday, approximately 10 days later, I noticed the ph spike again, ORP spike up, and salinity drop. All three of these things happened at the same time. Once I noticed it, I immediately restarted my apex and all three are reporting their "normal" levels again.

To note, I have two optical sensors hooked up to an FMM, and those have been flaky as well. Not sure if that is related or not, but sometimes they report open/closed and are inaccurate (i.e., not reading/reporting the water level correctly).

Needless to say, I'm extremely frustrated with the Apex. Granted this is all used equipment, but in one month:

- I've had to replace two EB832s (tune of $350)
- Heater has spiked with the three heater outlets stuck on
- FMM/optical sensors are inaccurate

Tank monitoring is completely useless if this keeps happening.

Any suggestions on rectifying the newest issue of the probes becoming inaccurate ? AOS is 5.11 1D23 (the latest I believe).

 

[Mark Goode]

I initially had problems with salinity and the conductivity probe, but I just kept trying different locations arond the sump until I found one where it settled. It's recently gone nuts again, probably a pineapple sponge growing on it.

Daft question, but is your PH spike (with a corresponding ORP drop) just diurnal fluctuation?

Is the area around your optical probes clear? Mine wouldn't work, I discovered I'd just stuffed all the loose wire next to the ATO sensors and that caused issues (dunno why).

I've fitted an Inkbird downstream of my Apex, just in case.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Thats strange, but it sounds like some sort of interference to me. I had my ph spiking for a few days at the exact same time and realized the probe was close to a scheduled refugium light that was interfering with the probe. Try moving probes around.

 

[doubleshot00]

Where are your probes located. Also your programming. Lots of variables can effect everything with an apex.

Also the previous owner could have had some crazy thing programed in virtual outlets. Check everything.

 

[sunil6784]

Probes are all in a basement sump... Temp, ph, and orp are all in one sump. Conductivity is in a separate live rock bin. No lighted fuge (yet).

I will check the programming of the outlets. Just seems odd that it isn't happening every day. The first time it happened was about 2.5 weeks after setting up the Apex, and now 10 days later.

Here is a graph too... You can see when it is spikes, falsely. If any metrics did actually spike, I would think they would continue to read high/low after the restart of the Apex.

When you say "interference", are you talking about electrical interference ?

 

[doubleshot00]

Yeah it’s weird but could be something your doing without knowing.

I have a used apex el and just bought a second used el as a back up and the previous owners had some weird programming. I only have the temp and ph probs to. I don’t see an advantage to have the orp or salinity. Just another thing to look at and worry about it.

 

[iamacat]

Neptune asked me if my probe wires were bundled and twisted up together when I was having probe issues. Apparently that will cause interference. My probe issues stopped when I cleaned and re ran the the wires. It’s wasn’t like I had a rats nest. Just ran through a cord organizer into a cabinet, but they ran like a Twizzler.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Probes are all in a basement sump... Temp, ph, and orp are all in one sump. Conductivity is in a separate live rock bin. No lighted fuge (yet).

I will check the programming of the outlets. Just seems odd that it isn't happening every day. The first time it happened was about 2.5 weeks after setting up the Apex, and now 10 days later.

Here is a graph too... You can see when it is spikes, falsely. If any metrics did actually spike, I would think they would continue to read high/low after the restart of the Apex.

When you say "interference", are you talking about electrical interference ?

Yes, electrical interference. Sharp spikes on the graph indicate that, IMO.

What else is in the sump? Anything plugged in next to it that turns on at those times? Check your schedules for outlets, I bet one of them turns on and off the same time you see the spikes.

 

[All_talk]

I had a lot of sensor weirdness and discovered stray voltage in my tank. I sorted out the voltage issue and the probes settled down. Might be worth a check.