Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Another salt/conductivity probe question

  1. #1
    Frequent Visitor
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    seattle
    Posts
    60

    Another salt/conductivity probe question

    Setting up my first reef tank and setup the APEX the other night. I have a 120 tank and about a 40 gallon capacity sump, sump has about 20 gallons in use so about 140 gallons of saltwater in the system. I ran the calibration for the conductivity probe and calibration kept failing. Finally went through on the 4th or 5th try.

    I started adding rodi water to the tank and mixed the salt in the empty tank and did not yet circulate with the sump rodi water. I didn't go for the full amount of salt needed, I didn't want to over mix/add too much salt. I got it top where I figured I would be close to 30 ppt once I mixed the sump rodi water with the tank water.

    Started circulating water and the probe read 6. I let that go 24 hours and it stayed there at 6. I figured there was probably a bubble in the probe, so shook the probe, bubbles came out and now it is reading 50 and has stayed there for 16 hours. I took a reading on the refractometer and it is at about 28. The refractometer was a relatively cheap $24 item on Amazon, I am assuming it is not a great piece of hardware but should be fairly accurate out of the box ....but I could be wrong. I figure I need to re-calibrate the conductivity probe. Yes?

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    The conductivity probe is very touchy. Start with a clean slate by doing a probe reset (unplug probe, do manual calibration and just hit next until its done).

    The most important things to remember when calibrating are

    1. In the dry step give it a quick rinse in RODI and pat dry with a paper towel.

    2. The conductivity packet must exactly match tank temp.

    3. There must be no bubbles during the wet step.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Namibia
    Posts
    16
    Hi Zombie,

    I keep getting an error when trying to Calibrate my Salinity Probe. I keep getting

    Error - Calibration Failed. Probe was not able to be calibrated

    Acceptable range Triangle / Reading has settled tick

    I even got the calibration fluid again and did the steps again, again and again. Same results.

    I did all the steps as mentioned.

    Please can you assist me.

  4. #4
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    Quote Originally Posted by FvdB View Post
    Hi Zombie,

    I keep getting an error when trying to Calibrate my Salinity Probe. I keep getting

    Error - Calibration Failed. Probe was not able to be calibrated

    Acceptable range Triangle / Reading has settled tick

    I even got the calibration fluid again and did the steps again, again and again. Same results.

    I did all the steps as mentioned.

    Please can you assist me.
    Run a manual calibration with it unplugged and just scroll through next to reset it in case a bad calibration skewed it too far to be in range.

    Then follow the procedure but do a manual calibration instead of automatic. Give it plenty of time to settle and make sure the value is near zero for the dry step, the wet step is somewhere in the vicinity of 550, and that you give 5 minutes to settle on the wet step.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Namibia
    Posts
    16
    Hi thanx will try it out.

    Tell me, I have my Apex EB6EU connecter to the UPS and would like to program it to notify me when there is a power failure. I checked all the other comments out on the forum and tested the codes that were given and none work, I keep getting email alarms from fusion. The last code I tried was:

    If Power Apex Off 000 then ON

    Do you maybe have a code I can try?

    By the way, I am in Africa, using the EU modes.

    Thanx for your help again.

  6. #6
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    You need to enable power monitoring and plug the 12V aux power supply between the wall that feeds the UPS and the head unit.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Namibia
    Posts
    16
    Ok. Can you send me a picture of what a 12v aux power adapter looks like. The people here have no idea what it is.

  8. #8
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    Quote Originally Posted by FvdB View Post
    Ok. Can you send me a picture of what a 12v aux power adapter looks like. The people here have no idea what it is.
    It's a wallwart style power supply (mine looks different because of US plug style). You dont need to get the Neptune branded one. You just need any 12V power supply that meets the following specifications.

    12VDC, 500mA, 2.1mm tip, center positive


    Any electronics store, online, some LFS should carry something that fits the bill.



    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  9. #9
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Namibia
    Posts
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    You need to enable power monitoring and plug the 12V aux power supply between the wall that feeds the UPS and the head unit.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Ok, I think I can get one. So when you say head - that is the Apex unit right? and once that is done, do I need to put in some sort of code?

  10. #10
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    Quote Originally Posted by FvdB View Post
    Ok, I think I can get one. So when you say head - that is the Apex unit right? and once that is done, do I need to put in some sort of code?
    Yes. The main brain is referred to as the head unit.

    You want

    If Power Apex Off 001 Then ON
    If Power Apex Off 000 Then ON

    In your email. If you see 001 that means it rebooted. If you see 000 it means power is currently out.


    Add

    If Power Apex Off 001 Then OFF

    To your skimmer


    Add

    If Power Apex Off 000 Then OFF

    To anything else you want off during a power outage.


    Add

    If Power Apex Off 000 Then profilename

    To anything you want to reduce power with a slower profile during an outage.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  11. #11
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Namibia
    Posts
    16
    Thanx Zombie - you are the bomb. will test it out and let you know how it went.

    Regards from Namibia

  12. #12
    Frequent Visitor
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    seattle
    Posts
    60
    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    The conductivity probe is very touchy. Start with a clean slate by doing a probe reset (unplug probe, do manual calibration and just hit next until its done).

    The most important things to remember when calibrating are

    1. In the dry step give it a quick rinse in RODI and pat dry with a paper towel.

    2. The conductivity packet must exactly match tank temp.

    3. There must be no bubbles during the wet step.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    So I finally re-calibrated the probe. I couldn't find calibration solution locally except for 35 ppt refractometer solution. I bought that to verify my refractometer was OK. Using the solution, my refractometer was reading about 34.5 (a smidge under 35, at least to my eyes). I figured that was close enough.

    I ended up making a small glass of 53 and 7 ppt solution, checked with the refractometer. I rinsed the probe in rodi water, dried with paper towel, and used a can of compressed air to force any remaining water. Let it sit 5+ minutes. Started the manual calibration and let each probe stabilize for 3+ minutes in each solution.

    I topped of fmy tank and sump to try and get my salinity to 35 so I can finally start cycling the tank this week and ended up adding a little to much rodi water. According to my refractometer readings last night and this morning I am at about 33.5 in the tank. The conductivity probe was bouncing between 33.5-33.9 over the same time period. I will take the last re-calibration as a win.

    Since I overfilled with rodi water, I figure I will let a little evaporation take place and see where the salt level sits before setting up the ATK ato to maintain the volume with the correct salinity.

    Thanks for all the input.

Similar Threads

  1. Question: Conductivity Probe Question
    By watkinsmd in forum A2 Apex/ApexEL and A3 Apex Pro/Apex/Apex Jr
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 09-04-2018, 17:09
  2. Question: Conductivity Probe display as Specific Gravity instead of Salt?
    By Weber in forum A2 Apex/ApexEL and A3 Apex Pro/Apex/Apex Jr
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-12-2018, 09:34
  3. Conductivity Probe calibration question
    By animan in forum AquaBus Modules, Probes, and Breakout Boxes
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 02-10-2016, 18:04
  4. Question: Conductivity probe question(s)
    By morleyz in forum AquaBus Modules, Probes, and Breakout Boxes
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 12-19-2014, 07:53
  5. Quick question about my conductivity probe
    By phcjpp in forum AquaBus Modules, Probes, and Breakout Boxes
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-27-2013, 08:52

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •