septicdeath
New member
So, I really wanted to monitor my salinity remotely, even more importantly, I wanted to be able to get the precise measurements that I was told the lab grade probe from neptune could provide.
I opened up the pm2 and installed it all, and mounted the probe into the area of my sump where the water level just never fluctuates (by design) and started mapping my salinity in ppm. I've been told that the probes are very accurate and dont drift, so even without calibration, its going to be consistant, so I let it run a day or so and watched it bounce exactly when the temperature bounced, temp went up, cond went up, temp went down, cond went down, eventually I learned that when measuring at ppm, that 1 point isn't too much re; specific gravity, and now I am measuring at much more accurate levels.
So I calibrated the probe and watched it graph for a week or so, and everything was VERY stable, I got my auto top off online and programmed the apex to monitor ph (since my top off has kalkwasser) and my salinity as emergency controls and let it fire off some top off. I sent the top off into the same area of the sump as the probe on purpose, but I was suprised that the 10 second tunze osmolator dump did nothing for salinity, as everyone that owns one, knows when you give it power, it pumps for 10 seconds everytime, although I dont expect this to do anything to a larger tank, since I was dumping it right next to the probe in a 13 gallon sump, I expected something?.
I grabbed 2 cups of pro reef, and tossed it into the overflow of the tank (no animals in the tank at this time) and the salinty driffted from 35.1 to 35.3 (this is a 50 gallon tank), so I added 3 more cups of salt, and it went up .1 or .2 again, total reading 35.5. I pulled out the refract and read 42 in the sump and 38 in the tank. but the apex still said 36. I pulled the probe from the holder and swirled it around, and bam, the device said 42 like it should.
All that, long winded, I know, but details, details, details.
Im counting on keeping my animals alive based on this device, I expect it to be a little better than this, I understand that if 6 months had gone by, or a year, and algea or something were all over the probe, but were talking 2 days old, in a tank that has no life in it, and just getting everything all tested (at the time of this discovery at least).
Shouldnt one expect more accuracy from these probes? How often should you pull them and shake them in the water? I've tried to think of the best area to place them, and right now, I have moved them to the skimmer area where all the bubbles are, figuring they may clean the tips and keep them less obstructed? I only put them there, because after the first shake and change, 3 days later, I did it again, to go from 35.4 to 36.8 - 37.0 in a few hours, I didnt compare to the refractmeter this time, it was too late at night, but I moved the probe holder (ph, temp, conductivity) from the pump area of the sump to the skimmer area of the sump. any comments?
thanks
I opened up the pm2 and installed it all, and mounted the probe into the area of my sump where the water level just never fluctuates (by design) and started mapping my salinity in ppm. I've been told that the probes are very accurate and dont drift, so even without calibration, its going to be consistant, so I let it run a day or so and watched it bounce exactly when the temperature bounced, temp went up, cond went up, temp went down, cond went down, eventually I learned that when measuring at ppm, that 1 point isn't too much re; specific gravity, and now I am measuring at much more accurate levels.
So I calibrated the probe and watched it graph for a week or so, and everything was VERY stable, I got my auto top off online and programmed the apex to monitor ph (since my top off has kalkwasser) and my salinity as emergency controls and let it fire off some top off. I sent the top off into the same area of the sump as the probe on purpose, but I was suprised that the 10 second tunze osmolator dump did nothing for salinity, as everyone that owns one, knows when you give it power, it pumps for 10 seconds everytime, although I dont expect this to do anything to a larger tank, since I was dumping it right next to the probe in a 13 gallon sump, I expected something?.
I grabbed 2 cups of pro reef, and tossed it into the overflow of the tank (no animals in the tank at this time) and the salinty driffted from 35.1 to 35.3 (this is a 50 gallon tank), so I added 3 more cups of salt, and it went up .1 or .2 again, total reading 35.5. I pulled out the refract and read 42 in the sump and 38 in the tank. but the apex still said 36. I pulled the probe from the holder and swirled it around, and bam, the device said 42 like it should.
All that, long winded, I know, but details, details, details.
Im counting on keeping my animals alive based on this device, I expect it to be a little better than this, I understand that if 6 months had gone by, or a year, and algea or something were all over the probe, but were talking 2 days old, in a tank that has no life in it, and just getting everything all tested (at the time of this discovery at least).
Shouldnt one expect more accuracy from these probes? How often should you pull them and shake them in the water? I've tried to think of the best area to place them, and right now, I have moved them to the skimmer area where all the bubbles are, figuring they may clean the tips and keep them less obstructed? I only put them there, because after the first shake and change, 3 days later, I did it again, to go from 35.4 to 36.8 - 37.0 in a few hours, I didnt compare to the refractmeter this time, it was too late at night, but I moved the probe holder (ph, temp, conductivity) from the pump area of the sump to the skimmer area of the sump. any comments?
thanks
