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Thread: Incredibly frustrated - Salinity, PH, ORP and Temp are all off..please help

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    Incredibly frustrated - Salinity, PH, ORP and Temp are all off..please help

    I am beyond frustrated and spent way too much time trying to get a $700 piece of equipment working. Unit is brand new. Been hooked up to my tank for ~1 month although was purchased in July. My issues are outlined below. Would really appreciate someone helping my out or guiding me to the best way to get this thing working or replaced if it is defective.

    PH Probe: This thing is wayyyyy off. I cannot get the automatic calibration to even work. Have tried to do the "manual calibration reset" where you just click through it. Has never given me consistent readings w/ huge swings in PH over the course of a day or readings of < 7 or > 10 after going through calibration process. Only way I can even get through calibration process now is to do manual. When doing manual I am waiting for consistent # readings (these are always in the 700s regardless of solution used not sure if this matters). Yes I am floating the calibration fluid for 24+ hours prior to trying.

    Salinity: I have a Milwaukee, refractometer and hydrometer. Milwaukee calibrates in seconds and I get consistent 35ppt. Refractometer same thing. Hydro varies a bit more but within range. Closest I can get with this salinity probe is 33.5 ppt? I have tried calibrating 5+ times.

    Temp: Out of all the probes I thought this would be the one that just worked. Well I am not so sure it does. I bought a Hanna digital temp to check - accurate within .1 and is certified for use in food processing (HACCP). Reads within .1 of 77.5 degrees. Apex shows 78.2. Got a regular mercury thermometer and reads within .1 of the Hanna. So the Apex appears to be off by .5 on temp.

    ORP: No idea on how to verify this but it reads low 200s. Seems well off the ranges of high 300s to low 400s.

    What should my approach be on all this? Any help is greatly appreciated! This thing should just straight work for the price you pay and I feel like it does not. Very well could be user error but I have done a lot of reading on all of these. Thanks everyone!

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    A few things

    1. The temp probe is not always dead on out of the box. Calibrate it to match your reference thermometer.

    2. The "reset" trick only works on conductivity. For pH, you need to manually calibrate a bunch of times if you tried to "reset" it. It will probably take 10 calibrations to get it right.

    3. Conductivity is extremely picky. You need to rise in RODI and pad dry with a paper towel for the "dry" step and you need to match the packet temp to tank temp exactly for the wet step.

    4. ORP should just be used as a reference level unless you are ozone dosing or using a sulfur denitrator. Just figure out what is "normal" and react based on that. You can calibrate it, but quinhydrone is very expensive.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    A few things

    1. The temp probe is not always dead on out of the box. Calibrate it to match your reference thermometer.

    2. The "reset" trick only works on conductivity. For pH, you need to manually calibrate a bunch of times if you tried to "reset" it. It will probably take 10 calibrations to get it right.

    3. Conductivity is extremely picky. You need to rise in RODI and pad dry with a paper towel for the "dry" step and you need to match the packet temp to tank temp exactly for the wet step.

    4. ORP should just be used as a reference level unless you are ozone dosing or using a sulfur denitrator. Just figure out what is "normal" and react based on that. You can calibrate it, but quinhydrone is very expensive.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Thank you for the quick reply!

    With PH probe manual calibration I use a 10 packet and the settling # still reads same as 7 packet ~735. Assuming it should be closer to 10?

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    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nyknicks2544 View Post
    Thank you for the quick reply!

    With PH probe manual calibration I use a 10 packet and the settling # still reads same as 7 packet ~735. Assuming it should be closer to 10?
    That tends to happen when you use the "reset" procedure that's only intended for conductivity probes. The values should start to spread as you do multiple manual calibrations. You can trust it to be fixed once your 7 step is in the 700 ballpark and the 10 step is in the 1000 ballpark,

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That tends to happen when you use the "reset" procedure that's only intended for conductivity probes. The values should start to spread as you do multiple manual calibrations. You can trust it to be fixed once your 7 step is in the 700 ballpark and the 10 step is in the 1000 ballpark,

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Oh boy lol...I will keep using the same packets and se eif I can get a spread. Thanks

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    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    Unfortunately one of the first things everyone learns when they start using probes, whether with Apex or other systems, is that you're gonna need to buy a lot more pH and conductivity standards packets.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rkpetersen View Post
    Unfortunately one of the first things everyone learns when they start using probes, whether with Apex or other systems, is that you're gonna need to buy a lot more pH and conductivity standards packets.
    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That tends to happen when you use the "reset" procedure that's only intended for conductivity probes. The values should start to spread as you do multiple manual calibrations. You can trust it to be fixed once your 7 step is in the 700 ballpark and the 10 step is in the 1000 ballpark,

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Could the "reset method" I used on the PH probe have "broke" the ph probe or is there any factor reset on that port. I am not getting a spread. Number will bounce initially on the 10 packet and maybe get to 770-785 range but won't settle. When I let it settle it drops back to basically the exact same reading for 735ish on the port. I have done it probably 8x with the same results each time.

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    Frequent Visitor rkpetersen's Avatar
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    If you've used the same standard solution multiple times it's possible that it's not correct any more. I would just leave that probe in the water for now, don't have the system take any action on its readings, order more pH 7 and pH 10 standard packets, and re-attempt calibration again when they arrive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rkpetersen View Post
    If you've used the same standard solution multiple times it's possible that it's not correct any more. I would just leave that probe in the water for now, don't have the system take any action on its readings, order more pH 7 and pH 10 standard packets, and re-attempt calibration again when they arrive.
    I bought a box of them so going to just let it sit in salt water for now and wait for another set of packets to warm to tank temp and try again. Will see if I can get a spread between the two packets doing manual.

    I am thinking about this correctly right: the 7.01 buffer solution should be near 700 and the 10.01 should be near 1000 right? I have read some online suggesting the readings should be in the 1000s (7000 and 10000).

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    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nyknicks2544 View Post
    I bought a box of them so going to just let it sit in salt water for now and wait for another set of packets to warm to tank temp and try again. Will see if I can get a spread between the two packets doing manual.

    I am thinking about this correctly right: the 7.01 buffer solution should be near 700 and the 10.01 should be near 1000 right? I have read some online suggesting the readings should be in the 1000s (7000 and 10000).
    It's most definately 700 and 1000

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That tends to happen when you use the "reset" procedure that's only intended for conductivity probes.
    This is incorrect. The reset (to factory default calibration values) process works on all probe types except temperature - including pH. It also should typically be done *only* on the advice of Neptune tech support.
    Please do not send me PMs with technical questions or requesting assistance - use the forums for Apex help. PM me ONLY if the matter is of a private or personal nature. Thanks.

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    Master Control Freak RussM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nyknicks2544 View Post
    Could the "reset method" I used on the PH probe have "broke" the ph probe or is there any factor reset on that port. I am not getting a spread. Number will bounce initially on the 10 packet and maybe get to 770-785 range but won't settle. When I let it settle it drops back to basically the exact same reading for 735ish on the port.
    The reset process merely resets the internal calibration constants to the factory default values. It will not break the probe or anything like that.

    Contact Neptune tech support regarding this pH calibration issue.
    Please do not send me PMs with technical questions or requesting assistance - use the forums for Apex help. PM me ONLY if the matter is of a private or personal nature. Thanks.

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    I spended 2 days trying to calibrate that salinity probe !!
    Finally did it and the more nice into that is i did it without waiting drying the probe for 24 hour as many people says on forum.

    I finally understand that dry was like when you have a salinity pen because soon you remove it from water it read zero so i took a rodi water glasse put in sump for temperature than i put salinity probe for 5 min then i only blow into it acouples of time i then calibrate in advance mode to figure out the reading and it was better at 3 than the 600 or 747 i had for past days so i put it back in rodi water being sure the temperature was ok then restart process blow into it a couples of time then i tryed to automaticaly calibrate and it goes thru the process very easilly

  14. #14
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    I am going to assume that you removed the covers on the probes?

    Do you have 1 clock or 2 on the dashboard?

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