Where to put Neptune probes at in my sump?

[ajremington68]

Have a 20-gal long sump and the pictures that follow, show how it is set up. About every section has some detritus and I have a new to me full Neptune system I’m getting with ph, temp, salinty, and orp probes that I need to put into my sump as well as a trident lines. Question is where would you put each of them and why? Thank you in advance!

 

[Naekuh]

You want it as far away from the skimmer as possible to avoid the micro bubbles.

Or a compartment where the bubbles will get filtered out, and you also do not want it in a refuge where you can get stuff growing on them.

Going by your pictures i would put it in the return section, but probes do not like to be covered with detritus or be in water with lots of micro bubbles.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Skimmer or drain chamber is my vote.

I try to avoid the turbulence from the return chamber, I only dose to there IMHO. I'm not home @ the moment but that's a shot from my 25g sump (same dimensions as a 20L just taller). You can see the probe holder to the right of the skimmer.

 

[homer1475]

Return chamber if I read your sump correctly. If that is an over/under baffle before the return, you'll have the least amount of turbulence in there.

Also note of cation with the heaters in the return section......

If something happens and your drain gets blocked, you'll drain that section with the return causing your heaters to be in air.

Best place for the heaters would be in the skimmer section where it can never run dry.

 

[ajremington68]

Skimmer or drain chamber is my vote.

I try to avoid the turbulence from the return chamber, I only dose to there IMHO. I'm not home @ the moment but that's a shot from my 25g sump (same dimensions as a 20L just taller). You can see the probe holder to the right of the skimmer.

Did the skimmer ever mess with it? My skimmer bubbles stays inside of the skimmer. Thinking of doing your method due to me dosing in my return section and I would think that could mess with my test.

 

[ajremington68]

Return chamber if I read your sump correctly. If that is an over/under baffle before the return, you'll have the least amount of turbulence in there.

Also note of cation with the heaters in the return section......

If something happens and your drain gets blocked, you'll drain that section with the return causing your heaters to be in air.

Best place for the heaters would be in the skimmer section where it can never run dry.

Great point I will move those in there, now would it be better to dose my afr solution into the skimmer section then so that way the test don’t get boosted by dosing

 

[homer1475]

Great point I will move those in there, now would it be better to dose my afr solution into the skimmer section then so that way the test don’t get boosted by dosing

Had to go back and read OP. I would not put the trident lines in the skimmer section for fear of microbubbles messing with the tests. I would instead put the trident lines in the drain section(first section) that way your testing fresh water from the display.

 

[ajremington68]

Had to go back and read OP. I would not put the trident lines in the skimmer section for fear of microbubbles messing with the tests. I would instead put the trident lines in the drain section(first section) that way your testing fresh water from the display.

Okay this sounds good I’ll give this a whirl, if you see I have rocks in the first section would I have to move them around to get the hose 2-3 inches off the bottom? Or is the 2-3 inches just for the probes?

 

[homer1475]

Not sure where 2 to 3 inches comes from(I do not own a trident, but have set a couple up), but as long as the tips of the probes are under water, and not completely submerged, you are fine.

As far the trident goes, just hang the hose low enough to suck up water.

Never been an issue this way with any I have setup.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Did the skimmer ever mess with it? My skimmer bubbles stays inside of the skimmer. Thinking of doing your method due to me dosing in my return section and I would think that could mess with my test.

Nope, never had skimmer bubbles with the current setup. Frankly haven't had a skimmer bubble issue in years....

 

[ajremington68]

Not sure where 2 to 3 inches comes from(I do not own a trident, but have set a couple up), but as long as the tips of the probes are under water, and not completely submerged, you are fine.

As far the trident goes, just hang the hose low enough to suck up water.

Never been an issue this way with any I have setup.

Oh okay, I might of heard it from a video and it stuck. Thanks for the info!

 

[ajremington68]

Nope, never had skimmer bubbles with the current setup. Frankly haven't had a skimmer bubble issue in years....

Alrighty, thank you!

 

[ajremington68]

for those that have mentioned hopefully you see this check out I moved my heater by my skimmer and moved my dosing line into the baffle from skimmer and return (with it being a high flow little zone) and then I plan to put the probes in the return like mentioned. Once you look I tried to clean it but there is still detritus there will this affect the probes? Also I have my auto top off in my return will this mess with the salinty probe? Or not enough to worry about moving it all? Lastly in my first chamber with rock I plan on moving the rocks to create a little hole in the top right corner and putting the intake for the trident there. Is there anything I should worry about with it being there? Detritus? Could I get some kind of little filter?

 

[homer1475]

I don't see any issue at all with that setup. I dose into my baffle between the middle section(Fuge), and return, I also have my ATO fill in that location with the sensor in the return section(only section that should fluctuate in a correctly functioning sump). .

The apex salinity probe is flaky at best, don't expect to get a very consistent reading. So having your ATO in there shouldn't be an issue.

The trident comes with a filter for the line, but seems you cannot buy more? Since I do not own one, and have only setup new(I know they come with one new), I cannot say where to buy more, but my quick search came up with nothing. Only way to know if it will get clogged, is try it out. Just put it so it is just below the water level, so it's not sucking off the surface, or the bottom.

 

[ajremington68]

Got another question for y'all. I just picked up the setup and the probes did not come with a holder and I don't have one in my sump. Would it hurt to just tape the end of the cord on the rim of the tank and have them dangling until I can get a cheap probe holder?

Other than that the setup looks rock solid minus needing some cleaning after two years. just need to order a reagent and get it up and running. Does anybody ever use ABC reagent instead of Neptune brand? others told me about it in a local facebook post.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Look up cheap apex probe holders on Etsy, they are like 20 bucks with shipping. I don't use the overpriced probe holder from Neptune.

Lots of folks use the ABC reagents with success, search is your friend.

 

[ajremington68]

Look up cheap apex probe holders on Etsy, they are like 20 bucks with shipping. I don't use the overpriced probe holder from Neptune.

Lots of folks use the ABC reagents with success, search is your friend.

Gotcha, only thing I'm finding is you need old reagent bottles to fill with the ABC reagent and I do not have old ones sadly.

 

[ajremington68]

Look up cheap apex probe holders on Etsy, they are like 20 bucks with shipping. I don't use the overpriced probe holder from Neptune.

Lots of folks use the ABC reagents with success, search is your friend.

Also would it be okay to hang the probes in my sump or should I just wait till I get holders?

 

[Chuck_e]

Have a 20-gal long sump and the pictures that follow, show how it is set up. About every section has some detritus and I have a new to me full Neptune system I’m getting with ph, temp, salinty, and orp probes that I need to put into my sump as well as a trident lines. Question is where would you put each of them and why? Thank you in advance!

Different approach here - I'm only running pH & Temperature probes. In my case the sump is in a separate room from the display tank, and the room where the sump is located can be significantly colder than the room where the display tank is. I'm more interested in the temperature in the tank than in the sump, and I do expect some temperature loss between the sump and display so my temperature probe is in my display tank. And, because I don't want to buy two probe racks the pH probe is in there, too. I have 2 heaters, both are in the sump, controlled by the Temp probe.

Lots of ways to skin the cat, but if anyone can think of a good reason why this is a bad idea I'd be interested...