ProfiLux REDOX Port Uses - A Simple Guide to

[AQD_ottawa]

So you have a REDOX port on the back of the profiLux! What do I do with that then?

Common question I must come across at least twice a week now more and more users are finding all the options available to the ProfiLux controller.

Well here is a little insight into the unknown or little talked about world better known as ORP (Oxidised Redox Potential)

So what the hell is it?

Simply put the REDOX value of your aquarium is the simple ability of your tanks water to conduct electricity, the higher the reading (in millivolts) the more pure your water is (less bio loading).

For example a swimming pool or in my case at home my hot tub is classed sterile at 650mV+ and water purity is classed at 850mV

HUH??

Ok put it another way, dirty water with high bio loading = Low reading mV, Cleaner water with low bio loading = high reading.

High reading good
Low reading bad.

So what reading should my fish tank be?

Well a fish tank can not be anywhere near the levels associated with Pools and spas, the reason for this is that as water becomes more pure the harsher it becomes and has a lesser ability to support life, this takes me back to 650mV + being classed as sterile.

So the golden nugget reading for a fish tank should be between 350mV at the minimum and 450mV at an absolute max

Ok so i have invested in a REDOX probe and my tank reads 200mV what is that telling me?

This tells you that you have a fairly high bio load in your system and should be adjusted, water changes etc etc.

On the other hand it is difficult to get a reading above 400++ without artificial sterilization such as ozone, which brings me onto the next and probably most important use of REDOX probes.

Ozone if dosed for long enough and at a high enough dose rate left unchecked will turn your tank into a sterile (dead)wasteland. It will push your systems mV way above inhabitable levels. So to control this, people use REDOX monitoring/controlling to keep tabs on ozone, setting their system to a desired 400+ and letting the probe take the worry out of over dosing ozone.

But I dont have an ozone generator what good is REDOX to me then?

Simple useage and useful for absolutely everyone - REDOX is a general measurment of your tanks health, as I said before low reading bad High reading good (to a point). So dumping a probe in your system and letting it settle and watching over a two week period (possibly graphing it) you will see how your system bio load builds up and also goes down, example of this, put your hand in the tank swill it around and watch your REDOX reading fall off the scale.

So monitoring REDOX is the most ideal way of seeing how your tanks health is, a snap shot if you like. It also can work as an alarm that things are going wrong. You go to bed at night REDOX = 350mV wake in the morning to 200mV check Nemo has not pegged it over night and become food for the natives!

So as you can see, this simple probe is probably up with the importance of pH but so very overlooked and missunderstood.

So now you know what to do with that spare BNC connection sitting at the back of your box, stick a REDOX probe on it and see what your tank is really doing health wise you will then always know how healthy your system really is biologically

 

[kidney514]

Thanks! Good info.

 

[LRS]

Michael, speaking of which...did you ever get your ozone generator certified or has this fallen by-the-way side?

Many thanks...
Les

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Hi

No

CSA do not certify ozone for domestic useage that produces more than the natural level found in air (go figure)

And the UL board require manufacturer facility inspection on a yearly basis, and as the product origin where we had it manufactured is China this proved impossible.

So I have actually spoken to matthias about looking at it i just have done nothing about it.

 

[chachijoe75]

Thanks for creating a thread about ORP/Redox. Ok, have a question about programmable logic and my Ozone generator. I currently have my generator plugged in socket 1 of my digi-bar and contolled by my Profilux via the ORP post/Probe. The generator is connected to my skimmer and it is part of the feeding pause program. I would also like to have the Ozone generator to be off if the skimmer pump is off. Can you help me with the logic for this?

Thanks!

 

[AQD_ottawa]

I cant but I know a man that can

matthias! HELP!

 

[kidney514]

is your skimmer plugged into the digital bar? and is it configured as a filter, is yes
then do
Filter
and
Conductivity decrease

 

[kidney514]

Did it work?

 

[chachijoe75]

nope

 

[chippy70]

Got the Pro II EX and yes there is a Redox port in the back. Want to use the Pro II to its full potential so I ordered a Redox probe.

Now I had know idea what Redox was so I decided to recerch before asking. WOW, bang redox into the search engine and see what comes up. I have spent 1 hr skimming through many many many threads, still with no explanation of redox

Then I see this and this answers my question perfictly.

Thanks Michael for you time and effort

Wish this was on page 1 and not on page 8 of the search list lol

 

[AQD_ottawa]

well its on page 1 now

Glad you found it of use

 

[Ken250]

I have been running my redox probe for 6 months and the values are generally between 460 and 490 through a 24-hour cycle.

I have cleaned and calibrated the probe on a semi-regular basis and it always reports the same values (somewhere between 460 and 490). When I test with the null probe connection, the result is close to 0, and when I test in the calibration solution, it is close to 220 (the sloution's value).

Michael - you note that the value should be at the most 450... is it possible that there is a problem with my probe, or are my results ok?

I run a protein skimmer, carbon and phosban... nothing else.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[kidney514]

Do you have a huge bio load?

 

[wesheltonj]

Well thanks alot Michael, I was not going to buy a ORP probe as I do not apply Ozone to my tank, but after reading your post, looks like another GHL purchase.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Ken

This is not uncommon, what you need to remember with ORP in reality it is accruate to about 100 points, yes you read right, ORP is a guide, its actual reading should be used as a pointer.

I will explain further.

Lets say you have a probe and its one month old you have claibrated it let it settle for 3 days and it reads 350mV is that really 350MV, actually probably not! But it has given you a reference.

Now you have a reference now forget the value part, so you come down in the morning and your reference has dropped by 50 points, start counting your fish! If it is climbing steadily without you doing anything - Clean you probe, too many ions have built up on the electrode.

I did not mention this before for the risk of causing confusion as the title says "a simple guide"

Ok how does this reflect on ozone users? Argh totally different ball game, with ozone you DO get accurate results its all to do with the oxidised redox potential residual Ozone puts into the tank.

So if not using ozone use you figure you have as a guide, yours being high range, so if it drops you know there is an issue

BUT, first clean the probe soaked in either vinegar or best pinpoint 400mV calibration solution but not more than 1 minute, as this stuff strips the living daylights out of probe electrodes but really does work in cleaning. I used to sell expired solution just to clean probe tips!

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Les

Too many other projects, and to make matters worse the manufacturer changed my design so he could sell it open market, this back fired big time as my counter part in the UK found out, they put a wire gauze on the electrode plate which stopped you from being able to clean it! Dumb move, so units started coming back. As I was un impressed with them going under the table to market this elsewhere i never told them their huge mistake!

I have the design here still and if I get time will talk to a few canadian manufacturers about bringing it back to the market, but thats a while down the road as i am in the middle of negotiating a whole line of filters and HQi bulbs right now.