ESH
Valuable Member
A little while ago I noticed that the pH reading on my CA reactor shot up to 12. Seeing as everything appeared normal in the tank, I did some readings with the test kits. Calcium, Magnesium, alkalinity, pH, etc all checked out in my normal ranges. My first thought was to recalibrate the probe. Its a Neptune Apex pH probe plugged into the neptune system. I placed an order for calibration solutions, and started to re calibrate
While attempting to recalibrate, I kept getting communication errors. The probe is only 10 months old, and I hadn't recalibrated since setting it up. Nothing has been unplugged for a while, so I started un plugging, checking out the connections, all seemed fine and nothing visible as to any sort of corrosion.
Next I did what any tech support would suggest, I reset my computer, checked for updates, and did the same for my apex gear. Maybe some 1's and 0's were not connecting. So I verified all the software was up to date. All good here.
Next, I tried to re calibrate again, same issue as before. Communication error. The apex was recognizing that the probe was there, it simply wouldn't re calibrate. The solutions were floated to match the temp of the tank, so I knew this wasn't a contributing factor, and while it was calibrating it simply wouldn't land in an acceptable range, and then would time out, then stating there was a communication error.
After an hour of this, I finally got a light out on the probe to inspect it and see if there was anything odd going with it. While looking at it, it appears that something got through to it internally, and looks what appears to have been some sort of internal implosion, or almost like a tiny little lighting strike. Now, I don't actually think something exploded, it simply looks like it did.
Anyone ever seen this before and know what may have been the cause? My first guess is maybe while I was putting the pressure fitting ring to secure it to the calcium reactor (10 months ago) that it caused an internal seal to get pinched, and over time the pressure in the calcium reactor got to it?
I will be ordering a new probe, and hopefully I can avoid this in the future.
-Eric
While attempting to recalibrate, I kept getting communication errors. The probe is only 10 months old, and I hadn't recalibrated since setting it up. Nothing has been unplugged for a while, so I started un plugging, checking out the connections, all seemed fine and nothing visible as to any sort of corrosion.
Next I did what any tech support would suggest, I reset my computer, checked for updates, and did the same for my apex gear. Maybe some 1's and 0's were not connecting. So I verified all the software was up to date. All good here.
Next, I tried to re calibrate again, same issue as before. Communication error. The apex was recognizing that the probe was there, it simply wouldn't re calibrate. The solutions were floated to match the temp of the tank, so I knew this wasn't a contributing factor, and while it was calibrating it simply wouldn't land in an acceptable range, and then would time out, then stating there was a communication error.
After an hour of this, I finally got a light out on the probe to inspect it and see if there was anything odd going with it. While looking at it, it appears that something got through to it internally, and looks what appears to have been some sort of internal implosion, or almost like a tiny little lighting strike. Now, I don't actually think something exploded, it simply looks like it did.
Anyone ever seen this before and know what may have been the cause? My first guess is maybe while I was putting the pressure fitting ring to secure it to the calcium reactor (10 months ago) that it caused an internal seal to get pinched, and over time the pressure in the calcium reactor got to it?
I will be ordering a new probe, and hopefully I can avoid this in the future.
-Eric
