probe going crazy

[jswo]

I'm having trouble with my salinity probe the last week , its about 9 months old and has been really stable up until now. Its going anywhere from 32 to 35 throughout the day I've tried moving it and made sure nothing is interfering with it any suggestions would help. Its the lab grade probe and it was calibrated when installed.

 

[Tahoe61]

You simply need to recalibrate it. I am actually surprised it lasted that long.

 

[reefbeard]

Recalibrate and/or move the cable leading to the probe away from any electrical interference such as an AC plug running to an outlet.

 

[jswo]

Was wondering if its broke and if recalibrating would even do any good.

 

[jswo]

Also do I need to clean it and if so how before I recalibrate?

 

[Tahoe61]

Here you go

http://www.marinedepot.com/Two_Litt...ent-Two_Little_Fishies-TL50700-FITECL-vi.html

Or you can carefully and accurately mix your salt to the specific gravity value.

 

[djbetterly]

What kind of a controller?

 

[jswo]

Neptune apex gold

 

[djbetterly]

I had the exact same problem..troubleshooted everything under the sun. In fact, neptunes forum is filled with complaints about this exact issue. I still think there might be something weird with one of the recent firmwares, but they won't acknowledge it. As for my troubleshooting steps, I completely isolated the cable, recalibrated my temp prob (which happened to be off, you should check that if you have a good hand held temp gauge), cleaned and recalibrated the salinity probe, checked for stray voltage...you name it, I did it. Yes, you should recalibrate your probe, second, make sure its in a high flow area. I found mine to be the most consistent when I dropped it in my overflow tube. Sounds stupid I know, but it works, and it varies A LOT Less than it ever has. Neptune told me that unless you crack the probe inside, or never clean it, the probe should last a long time.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I am not intimately knowledgeable with salinity probes, but believe they are similar to pH probes with porous glass frit ends. With pH probes, they might need to be cleaned every so often. This is easily accomplished by soaking in vinegar for a day. I'd try this with the salinity probe as well. After soaking in vinegar, rinse and recalibrate and see what you get.

 

[reefbeard]

You can use Muriatic Acid from Lowes or Home Depot for cleaning PH and Salinity probes. I use 1 part acid to 5 parts water and let it soak for 5 minutes outdoors then rinse in RO/DI and recalibrate. Like it better than vinegar.