Seeing some odd readings, a bit confused.

[gray808]

WaterBox Marine 70.3; 44g DT, 20 sump, up since early July 2020.

So, I got a SenEye and it's been running about a month, after some initial set up issues that SenEye helped me with.
I've been watching it regularly, and all params have been "OK" for the whole time, with the exception of pH, which has been reading low (7.1-7.5) for the month. I got a CO2 scrubber and hooked it up, saw a small bump up, but still under 8.0. Since I was due to switch cards today, I started a new one soaking 2 days ago, and yesterday did a full suite of all the manual tests I could do (mostly, didn't check Mag, Iron, etc).

Last night before bed, the SenEye alerted for ammonia, reading 0.4+.

This morning, I swapped in the new card, and decided to do a water change. I usually do 2 5gal buckets worth, filled a little under, so probably 9 gallons. This time I doubled it, and did 2 out of the DT and all the water in the sump, call it 18 gal. I then re-ran most of my tests.

Test Yesterday Today
pH (Hanna): 8.1 8.3
pH (SenEye): 7.21 7.45
NO2 (RedSea): 0 0
NO2 (Hanna ULR): 18ppb 21ppb
NH3/NH4 (RedSea): 0 0
NH3 (SenEye): 0.021 0.499
NO3 (RedSea): 2 5
NO3 (Nyos): 1ppm 4ppm
Salinity (Hanna): 1.025 1.025
Phosphate (Hanna ULR): 0.06ppm 0.17ppm
Copper (Hanna HR): 0.01ppm NA
Phosphorus (Hanna ULR): 50ppb NA
Calcium (RedSea): 473ppm NA

Which do I trust?

For pH do I assume my SenEye is just reading low, and adjust it so it reads closer to the Hanna checker?
Is the NH3 a dire worry, or just let my rock do it's thing?

Nothing I know of has died off. Always possible a snail or crab is somewhere I can't see it and kicked the bucket.

I'm getting a thin film every 2-3 days on the glass of a brownish algae, easily taken care of by glass cleaner or razor. The back of the tank i've been letting go, but is getting covered with this same algae. When cleaning this, heavier film, it has a definite red tint.

Several zoa colonies are doing well, spreading and looking good. GSP on back wall growing and looks good. Torch was *fully* pulled inside last night, I though it was dead, but this morning is back in all it's glory, full extended. Frogspawn looking good, though a couple of it's tentacles on the bottom look to be over-loved by my clowns. Kenya tree growing like a weed. Xenia looking good. All fish seem healthy. Finally starting to see coralline algae starting to show up, more every day.

Looking to add an algae scrubber in the next month.

Thoughts?

--Gray

 

[shwareefer]

I've experienced exactly what you are describing with my seneye in a mature tank. Low PH values and random spikes of ammonia that I could never measure with Salifert or API tests. I say trust your test kits and adjust the seneye trim to match. The ammonia may or may not be real depending where you are measuring. I had mine in my sump with lots of live rock and potential dead zones so who knows what could burp up that it might measure. Interestingly the latest slide is giving me perfect PH values with no trim needed. I've seen other posts with inconsistency from slide to slide as well.

 

[gray808]

I rebooted the little computer running the Seneye, and it reconnected to the cloud, and my Ammonia dropped precipitously, down to 0.001. pH is back up to 7.75, which is still lower than my Hanna is reading, so I think you are right, and I am gonna trim it.

Thanks!

--Gray

 

[gray808]

I also suspect the spike after water change was cause I disturbed the sand bed, and dead spots, and scraped a good amount of crud from the back wall, which released a bunch into the water column. An hour of running the cannister, and the normal running thru new floss to the sump cleared everything up.

--Gray

 

[arking_mark]

So I have found Seneye to be a very good reef tool, but with specific limitations. I treat it more like an alert badge. Typically, their pH and Temp need to be adjusted to provide accurate readings. For NO3, it's super accurate, but susceptible to misreadings due to the eye seeing particles and such. So typically, you can either wait to see if it clears or clean it...never take it for face value unless you have cleaned it. The biggest benefit of the SenEye is its good PAR meter.

 

[ingchr1]

On my Seneye I have both the temperature and pH trimmed to match my controller. I applied the trim several slides ago and the readings have remained consistent with my controller. I have not had to readjust the trims since.

Also make sure you have the box checked in the settings that the device is monitoring a marine tank, I think that can affect the pH reading.

I'm not sure you had an actual ammonia spike during the maintenance you were performing. It could be possible that the water clarity affected the reading. I've dusted up my tank quite severely on a few occasions during some deep cleaning and never saw my Seneye appreciably move. I never really checked the readings during those times, but I have the alarm set for 0.020 and it did not alarm.

One thing to try when you get suspect readings is to take the slide out and make sure the sensor eyes are clean, wipe them down with something soft. Be careful not to touch the pads on the slide itself.

For the ammonia reading I've been detailing my experience over in this thread:

A thread tracking the incidence of seneye nh3 misreads

 

[gray808]

On my Seneye I have both the temperature and pH trimmed to match my controller.

I'm going to trim pH. I mostly ignore it's temp, I have a Hanna temp probe I trust, and usually go by it.

Also make sure you have the box checked in the settings that the device is monitoring a marine tank, I think that can affect the pH reading.

Yup, got that checked

I'm not sure you had an actual ammonia spike during the maintenance you were performing. It could be possible that the water clarity affected the reading. I've dusted up my tank quite severely on a few occasions during some deep cleaning and never saw my Seneye appreciably move. I never really checked the readings during those times, but I have the alarm set for 0.020 and it did not alarm.

One thing to try when you get suspect readings is to take the slide out and make sure the sensor eyes are clean, wipe them down with something soft. Be careful not to touch the pads on the slide itself.

For the ammonia reading I've been detailing my experience over in this thread:

A thread tracking the incidence of seneye nh3 misreads

Interesting. That's kinda how I plan to go, treat it as an early warning system, then verify with manual tests.

--Gray

 

[ingchr1]

I'm going to trim pH. I mostly ignore it's temp, I have a Hanna temp probe I trust, and usually go by it.

I would trim the temp to match your Hanna as well, as the Seneye can send you a notification if it gets out of your set alarm points (too hot or too cold). A backup to any other temperature alarm you may have. It also has an out of water alarm, which is is a nice feature. Depending upon where you place the unit it can tell you if your water level is getting too low for whatever reason. I have mine up high in the return chamber of my AIO, for just that reason.