Buying used

Huff747 · Aug 19, 2017

As I've been trying to build my tank I've been picking up some used items here and there. I picked up an Apex system and I had a question about the probes. He said to keep them wet in salt water (temp and pH) but can I clean them? If so what's the best method? His tank had some bubble algae and I haven't gotten my tank setup yet so wanted to try and clean them up to prevent anything from coming in when I set it up.

Thanks.

Chris

TMB · Aug 19, 2017

The first thing you will want to do is to go here: https://www.neptunesystems.com/support/docs/ and download the comprehensive user guide. This book is great and will answer almost any question you could have.

To answer the question though, yes you can clean them. The temp probe is not necessary to keep wet like the PH probe. But even the PH probe can come out of water to clean. You just don't want to let it dry out.
You can clean the probes in vinegar, and brush with a soft brush. Just soak them both for like an hour or so in a cup of it to soften/dissolve most of the buildup. You need to be careful with the glass tip of the PH probe, if you damage it/ scratch it, it will become inaccurate.
The book says to use a toothbrush and rotate the probe tip in the bristles, rather than scrub. The outside of the probes you can scrub and wipe to your heart's content.
They are electronic probes though, so don't go crazy.

Huff747 · Aug 19, 2017

TMB said:
The first thing you will want to do is to go here: https://www.neptunesystems.com/support/docs/ and download the comprehensive user guide. This book is great and will answer almost any question you could have.

To answer the question though, yes you can clean them. The temp probe is not necessary to keep wet like the PH probe. But even the PH probe can come out of water to clean. You just don't want to let it dry out.
You can clean the probes in vinegar, and brush with a soft brush. Just soak them both for like an hour or so in a cup of it to soften/dissolve most of the buildup. You need to be careful with the glass tip of the PH probe, if you damage it/ scratch it, it will become inaccurate.
The book says to use a toothbrush and rotate the probe tip in the bristles, rather than scrub. The outside of the probes you can scrub and wipe to your heart's content.
They are electronic probes though, so don't go crazy.

Thanks. Will download that as soon as I'm back on my computer. Ended up with a lot of stuff to clean. Went for the lights, Apex, and ATO and came home with the whole setup and the tank had built up a bit of algae. Got a good price but at the expense of having do do most of the disassembly and now need to clean.

Chris