VCA Salinity Probe Stability Kit Review

[Mhart032]

Well, so I pulled the trigger on the VCA Salinity Probe Stability Kit.. Mind you I never had an issue with my prob, it always worked well and accurately, But innovation in this hobby is king and one of the factors that I really enjoy about the hobby. So that being said.


First, the packaging is nice and neat and minimal for the product which I really liked, the installation was easy and straightforward for me at least. I already had a Sicce silent 1.5 pump in the sump for utility reasons, so I decided to use this pump to feed the probe. I installed a needle valve on the RO tubing to cut the flow down to get to the rate suggested of 60-100gph. Everything installed I went through the troubleshooting steps it worked great.. for roughly 3 mins, received an alarm via email from my apex, Salt was at 0, did the troubleshooting steps again. worked great, for roughly 10 mins. again did the steps. another email "Salt 0" I have done this off and on since Friday. Still; no joy.. I have adjusted the flow, moved the prob, cleaned the pump. still no luck.

Is the innovation great, I think so. Stability is key for our tanks.

Does it work? I'm thinking yes, but not great. I could be doing something wrong, this is a big possibility. but I don't think so.

Has anyone had better luck? Please post.

 

[Peace River]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I was impressed with this device when I saw it at RAP Orlando. Maybe Antonio with @Vivid Creative Aquatics can offer some suggestions for improved performance.

 

[Mhart032]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I was impressed with this device when I saw it at RAP Orlando. Maybe Antonio with @Vivid Creative Aquatics can offer some suggestions for improved performance.

Yeah absolutely, I’ve read a little more. I am impressed with it and want it to work well. If there is any advice from them that would be great. I would love to get it stable and feed it with the manifold vs the pump for less maintenance. I think it can be a really useful tool for us in terms of stability.

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

Well, so I pulled the trigger on the VCA Salinity Probe Stability Kit.. Mind you I never had an issue with my prob, it always worked well and accurately, But innovation in this hobby is king and one of the factors that I really enjoy about the hobby. So that being said.


First, the packaging is nice and neat and minimal for the product which I really liked, the installation was easy and straightforward for me at least. I already had a Sicce silent 1.5 pump in the sump for utility reasons, so I decided to use this pump to feed the probe. I installed a needle valve on the RO tubing to cut the flow down to get to the rate suggested of 60-100gph. Everything installed I went through the troubleshooting steps it worked great.. for roughly 3 mins, received an alarm via email from my apex, Salt was at 0, did the troubleshooting steps again. worked great, for roughly 10 mins. again did the steps. another email "Salt 0" I have done this off and on since Friday. Still; no joy.. I have adjusted the flow, moved the prob, cleaned the pump. still no luck.

Is the innovation great, I think so. Stability is key for our tanks.

Does it work? I'm thinking yes, but not great. I could be doing something wrong, this is a big possibility. but I don't think so.

Has anyone had better luck? Please post.

Thanks for posting this and your experience with the SPS it so far. Your result are definitely not what we are seeing here in our own testing and development or with our beta group, so lets see if we can figure this out.

Can you post a few pics of how it is installed and where the feed pump is located?

A "0" reading is usually indicative of the probe being fully engulfed in air bubbles, which of course the SPS is designed to prevent. However, if there is air trapped inside the SPS housing , this can have this same effect.

Also - can you try a little experiment for me? What happens to the reading when its at 0, but then you cut flow to the SPS but leave it on the probe. Does the reading:

A) come back to something close to normal
B) jump really high?
C) Stay the same

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

Also - where on this graph was the SPS first installed?

 

[Mhart032]

Thanks for posting this and your experience with the SPS it so far. Your result are definitely not what we are seeing here in our own testing and development or with our beta group, so lets see if we can figure this out.

Can you post a few pics of how it is installed and where the feed pump is located?

A "0" reading is usually indicative of the probe being fully engulfed in air bubbles, which of course the SPS is designed to prevent. However, if there is air trapped inside the SPS housing , this can have this same effect.

Also - can you try a little experiment for me? What happens to the reading when its at 0, but then you cut flow to the SPS but leave it on the probe. Does the reading:

A) come back to something close to normal
B) jump really high?
C) Stay the same

So last night i figured out what the issue was i believe, i have the probe to low in the SPS and wasn't reading properly it's been fixed and works like a champ, feeding it through my manifold now.

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

So last night i figured out what the issue was i believe, i have the probe to low in the SPS and wasn't reading properly it's been fixed and works like a champ, feeding it through my manifold now.

Nice - glad you where able to figure that out. The probe position inside the SPS housing is importation.

if you need any more help or have questions, please do not hesitate to call or email anytime, or just post your questions here.

 

[Danny McElroy]

Had the very same issue, and when I pressed the probe all the way down to seat it at the very bottom of the kit, I got the desired result of no longer having constantly fluctuating readings!!! Works like as advertised!!!

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

Had the very same issue, and when I pressed the probe all the way down to seat it at the very bottom of the kit, I got the desired result of no longer having constantly fluctuating readings!!! Works like as advertised!!!

you are absolutely correct - The probe does need to be fully seated against the pressure screen

But I will add, that one shod take care not to jam it in too hard - both the probe and the screen are delicate.