pH Monitor ?

[NewSchool04]

I was lucky enough to win a Reef Fanatic pH Monitor at the last October frag swap and I had some questions I hope to get answered!

This unit has a 110V AC outlet which is pretty cool, no batteries needed! The directions say that I need to plug it in to calibrate. Does that mean that if I decide to move the probe in the tank and unplug it, I have to calibrate the unit again?

It comes with two packets of calibration fluid, Calibration 7 and 10. Is this re-usable or it's one shot and done? The directions also say to re-calibrate every 1 - 2 months. How often do you re-calibrate and where do you get the calibration fluid?

How much of the probe do I put in the water? The bottom of the probe is a large white part and then a blue thin tube with what looks to be water in it.

It also says to make sure to not allow the probe to dry out, but it comes dry? Is this right?

Where is the best spot for the probe, sump, main tank? Where do you keep yours?

Thanks for the help!

 

[jski711]

the plug in part would be the probe itself.

calibration fluid is one shot deal. i would say calibrate every 3 months and replace every 6 months. you can get calibration fluid from LFS or premium aquatics has it.

don't put the end where the wire is connected to the probe in the water i would say about 2/3 of the probe should be in the water.

the large white part should come off and the probe is actually a round piece of glass on the end. the white part is wet inside. i have mine in the sump where its not getting too much flow. hope the helps.

jake

 

[Sullyman]

No, you don't have to recalibrate it every time you turn it off.
I'd keep it in your display tank. Do you run a calcium reactor?

 

[NewSchool04]

Thanks for the great answers guys!

I would have calibrated the probe with the white part on, I'm glad I asked!

OK, one says in the sump, the other in the display tank. Any reasons behind the placements?

 

[jski711]

i have mine in the sump because its easier that way. as far as accuracy i can't see it being much different but Bob might know something i don't.

 

[NewSchool04]

well that was a nightmare. I took the cap off, rinsed in RO water and placed in the 7 calibration fluid. The readings changed a bit and then settled down. From there I was told to use a flat head and bring the reading up to 7.0. Nothing happened. Turned it both ways, nothing. On the right hand side of the monitor there is a switch that says pH and Set. I'm pretty sure that I changed it from pH to Set and that allowed me to turn the flat head and set it to 7.00.
I did the same with the 10.00 calibration fluid and set that to 10.00.

The monitor was beeping at me throughout right after I set the 7.00 mark and I have no idea why. I know that I can set alarms for high and low but I didn't even mess with that.

I'm getting an 8.21 reading from the tank but I have no idea if it's correct!! :lol:

 

[NewSchool04]

It's been set up now for about 45 minutes and I'm still at 8.21. That seems odd that it doesn't adjust a bit here and there.

 

[jski711]

that does sound weird, mine jumps constantly but i have a pinpoint monitor. maybe get some more fluid and try recalibrating it. hth.

jake

 

[NewSchool04]

I put a paper clip on the calibration fluid, do you think it's still good to use or am I done? Thanks for the help tonight on this Jake.

 

[Sullyman]

Ph swings are not good, usually the sign that somethings wrong.
I'd test your water Jake.
It shouldn't jump, should gradually rise during the day, and be at it's peak when the lights go out. then it should gradually fall to it's lowest level during the night.
Being at 8.2 at this time of day sounds right, see what it reads in the morning before the lights go on. Your corals will release co2 to help bring the ph down at night too.
You don't want a fast or big swing in your Ph. About the only time you can expect to see it is when you open up windows after they've been closed up for a while, then the Ph should rise quickly and may raise to levels that border alarm, but level off.
My Ph range is usually 7.9 to 8.3 but sometimes the Ph is up to 8.4 or 8.5 with fresh air.
I'm not sure about the calibration fluid.

 

[jski711]

im not testing anything my water is fine. by jumping i was referring to always changing like 8.12 to 8.14 to 8.13 to8.11 jumps like that not from 7.9-8.4. thank you for your concern i should have worded that better.

 

[NewSchool04]

My pH this morning, lights out was 7.99 so it does seem to be working.
I understood what you were talking about jski711 and I'm still confused on why the last number isn't jumping around more. You would think that that would never be constant. Maybe the meter takes that into account and doesn't bother with such small ups and downs.

What monitor are you using Sullyman?

 

[ppurcell]

One of the nice things about using a controller like the RK2, AC or similar is the software which you can use to graph temp, pH, ORP and other parameters over time. The graphs can give you a good idea of how your tank behaves over the course of a "typical" day. As you can see from these two graphs, pH is almost constantly changing in a tank, rising or falling depending on envirnmental factors. For my tank, pH would never get much above 8.05 if it weren't for my metal halide lamps. When I run my T5's the pH stays between 7.8 and 8.0 for the most part and I use kalk for my topoff water...

My tank pH takes a dive any time I am working on the tank. If I put my hands in the tank, feed, turn off the return or turn off the closed loop the pH takes a hit and then usually bounces back up shortly after.

As far as reusing the calibration fluid, I am testing that now. I used my two packets of fluid a few weeks ago and put the left overs into small glass jars for storage. When I need to recalibrate the next time I am going to use two new packets and recalibrate then test the pH of the solution which is in the jars. I think they will be fine as long as:

1. The solution is not contaminated (by mixing 7 & 10 moving the probe back and forth (rinse between))
2. The solution is not exposed to air
3. The solutino is not exposed to light

Calibration fluid is inexpensive, but I don't see any reason to not reuse it if it is still accurate.

 

[NewSchool04]

That is very cool

 

[Sullyman]

Jake, sorry, I thought you were talking swings.
I've got Pinpoint and Milwaukee monitors.
Phil, I'd be curious how your trial works with the calibration fluid, I'd think the air would cause it problems but if it's resealed like you did maybe it will be alright for a time, let us know, please.

 

[pk1]

FWIW, Randy Holmes-Farley says it's fine to reuse the fluid also. Just store it in a glass container out of the light, like ppurcell says. Nice score BTW Pat!

 

[ppurcell]

BTW, I found that you can get the jars that you use to store custom mixed model paint from the hobby shop and they are just the right size to hold just about the full volume of a pinpoint calibration solution packet.

 

[Jeff]

Pat, if you need calibration solution quickly and dont want to order it, Living Sea in Park Ridge stocks it.

 

[NewSchool04]

I think I'm good Jeff, the monitor seems to be running fine.

 

[NewSchool04]

pH got up to 83.9 today. I'm really surprised that it's fluctuating so much from light to dark in the tank. At night I'm getting about an 8.0 reading and full light about a 8.4 reading, do you think I should try to only drip my kalk at night to keep the pH balanced around 8.2? (by adding double the amount during the night to make up for evaporation, I'll be adding more pH raising the normal lower pH reading)

It's not really worrying me b/c this has always been how I've run my tanks. I just never realized there was a .4 swing in pH between night and day.