Is the salinity probe worth it?

[Moonrock]

Couple things. I tried to keep my tank nice and pretty and zip tied all the probe cables together. I found out thats a big no no. For some reason if those cables are near each other my probe goes out of wack.

Secondly, I had to turn off the temp comp because it just made things worse and threw readings off. once thats turned off i calibrate my probe. when calibrating my probe i leave the calibration fluid in the sump the night before and calibrate the next day when i get off work. When i calibrate my probe it will say 35ppt at my home screen while the probe is STILL in calibration fluid. Remember, i just finished calibrating it and went to my home screen without taking the probe out of the calibration fluid yet. If (keyword: IF) I was to take it out of the fluid and put it into my sump right away it would read 45-50ppt. I know its not right but it does. As soon as im ready to put the probe back into the sump I go into my apex and reboot it from fusion, then i swap the probe into the sump and when the apex comes back online its reading 35ppt in the sump.

I would guess that im tricking the apex into thinking it never went out of the water BUT it works everytime and like a charm when i do it this way. I bought a pack of 50 for every calibration fluid there is and tried all kinds of different ways to calibrate it and this was the best way i found.

 

[Moonrock]

Couple things. I tried to keep my tank nice and pretty and zip tied all the probe cables together. I found out thats a big no no. For some reason if those cables are near each other my probe goes out of wack.

Secondly, I had to turn off the temp comp because it just made things worse and threw readings off. once thats turned off i calibrate my probe. when calibrating my probe i leave the calibration fluid in the sump the night before and calibrate the next day when i get off work. When i calibrate my probe it will say 35ppt at my home screen while the probe is STILL in calibration fluid. Remember, i just finished calibrating it and went to my home screen without taking the probe out of the calibration fluid yet. If (keyword: IF) I was to take it out of the fluid and put it into my sump right away it would read 45-50ppt. I know its not right but it does. As soon as im ready to put the probe back into the sump I go into my apex and reboot it from fusion, then i swap the probe into the sump and when the apex comes back online its reading 35ppt in the sump.

I would guess that im tricking the apex into thinking it never went out of the water BUT it works everytime and like a charm when i do it this way. I bought a pack of 50 for every calibration fluid there is and tried all kinds of different ways to calibrate it and this was the best way i found.

I forgot to say, my apex is dead on with my refracto and i check it once a week just to make sure. I like to calibrate my probes once a month when i change out my gfo and carbon on the first.

I also have a ground probe in the same section where my probes are located. I bought the ground probe because i was having issues with my readings. Then i found out that little trick for calibrating. Im not sure if the probe helps or not but it cant hurt. Thats my 2 cents

 

[Rockdoc]

I have to disagree with that particular claim. Using a refractometer to measure changes in the speed of light traveling through the solution due to the presence of salts is no more direct than using a conductivity meter to measure the movement of salt ions in an electric field. The only direct method is drying and weighing, but that's actually not as accurate as either refractive index or conductivity.

I don't disagree that the controllers have poorly implemented conductivity measurement, and stand alone units do a far better job (IMO). I have used and very much like the Orion model 128 with a four electrode probe on it, but it is very expensive, at least when new. I have also used an like the Pinpoint, but it is slower to respond, presumably due to slower temperature equilibration.

 

[EW_Fish]

The answer is simple. NO. If you have a refactor. Why do you need to watch this 24.7 ? If you have an ATO then there is no need to monitor this all the time. Water changes or 2x a week i would check salinity just my .002

 

[Rockdoc]

sorry i thought the last post was deleted

I went ape feces trying to assume that my readings were bad. all i have read stated that the thing was a total pain.
I didn't warm the calibration fluid and it took two or three try's just to manually calibrate it.

I had no other reference. I have since acquired the old outdated record player of monitors the trusty dusty hydrometer. you remember this.... its a swing arm contraption used by pre-stellar civilizations.

I also used a RED SEA refractometer for about three times and sent it back to Marine Depot due to its limited and cluttered scale.

Anywhooo... I was able to determine after a knee jerk jerk and salty water changes... i was only lacking patience.

after about two weeks time the calibration of my APEX salinity/conductivity probe finally found its groove and is only off by about 500 0/000! I CAN LIVE WITH THAT!

I wont get into the electrical vs the optical vs the physical as my BS degree's science classes at a tech university 8 years ago told me that its all the same ****. Ions vs Ions vs Ions.. How Ionic!

Patience! I love my slow cooker tank! it takes a few months to buy 2000$ worth of equipment.

Cheers

 

[lauderdalestunner]

I haven’t found the need to test salinity regularly. Evaporation is replaced with RO, I test about every six months just to make sure I’m within parameters. Now if you are changing/adding livestock constantly then it might be useful.

 

[Sleepydoc]

For many people, continuous monitoring of salinity isn't really necessary. I have a 120 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump and a 10 gallon ATO Reservoir. In the worst case scenario where the entire 10 gallons of fresh water gets dumped into my 140 gallon system, my SG drops from 1.026 to 1.024. Not ideal, but not catastrophic, either. Now, if I have a larger reservoir and a smaller system, or do something like connect my RO/DI filter directly to the system, or if you are doing automatic water changes, then there truly is a risk of something catastrophic happening.

Honestly, I have the salinity probe because it came with my Apex. Would I buy a replacement if it broke? Nope.

 

[scott11106]

once i gently shook the bubbles out and re-calibrated mine works flawlessly and it is worth having in my opinion

 

[Sleepydoc]

I was just talking to one of the owners of my LFS about the salinity probes. They also run a maintenance business and use Apex controllers for most of their clients. He says they frequently have issues with the probes. The big issue for them is that they simply aren't reliable. The whole point is to have a probe that can give notify you when a dangerous swing in salinity occurs, but there are so many false alarms they are virtually useless. They end up having the client test the water with a refractometer instead to avoid an unnecessary service call.

 

[Mowen44]

I run two Neptune salinity probes, one in my sump and one for my mixing station. They are a little finicky to calibrate. When mine reads off I usually shake a few bubbles out of it and I am good to go again.

How often do you replace the salinity probe on apex? Do you just wait till it breaks? Thanks

 

[ZombieEngineer]

How often do you replace the salinity probe on apex? Do you just wait till it breaks? Thanks

I have one going on 10 years old. You replace them if they break completely. These aren't chemical filled like pH and ORP so the membranes don't slowly go bad like those. If and when one does go bad, contact neptune support. They often give sizeable discounts on replacements even if you are well outside warranty.