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Thread: Conductivity Conversions

  1. #26
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by deputydog95 View Post
    Does this look like the appropriate solution to validate how close my Milwaukee is to being accurate?

    https://www.amazon.com/FTCo-Refracto.../dp/B00OHYRB02

    I can't find the Apex calibration solution for the cond. probe on amazon, but most of the larger reef sites have plenty in stock.
    Yes. That is the correct solution.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  2. #27
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    Do you guys use the temp correction of 2.2 as recommended by BRS?

  3. #28
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    Ok, so this is weird...

    The probe has been in my tank for a few days.

    I took it out, rinsed with DI water, and patted it dry. I let it sit for 30 mins or so.

    In the meantime, I took a plastic cup, put tank water in it, and floated the calibration packet in the cup while the cup was clipped inside the tank. The water in the cup matches that of the tank.

    Prior to starting the calibration, I set the temp compensation to 2.2

    However, once I started the automatic probe calibration process, I'm stuck on Step 2. It settles on a reading immediately, but fails to hit an "acceptable range" and times out.

    Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

  4. #29
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  5. #30
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    Just do a manual calibration but make sure the settling number is not crazy off. You should see something in the vicinity of 0 for dry and like 500-700 for wet.

    You also dont need or want to let it sit for 30 minutes out of the tank. A prince and pad dry is all the drying it needs.

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  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    Just do a manual calibration but make sure the settling number is not crazy off. You should see something in the vicinity of 0 for dry and like 500-700 for wet.

    You also dont need or want to let it sit for 30 minutes out of the tank. A prince and pad dry is all the drying it needs.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    I'm an idiot...

    Right after I gave up and dumped the calibration solution, my last packet, I discovered that the probe cable had come undone form the CPU. It's got one of those goofy old school PS2 connections and it must have wiggled out.

    I have a rat's nest of cables under their right now since doing the conversion from the classic, so it must have got tugged out. Grrrrr....

    I still don't know how I'm going to sort this cable situation I have going on. When I say it's a mess, total understatement!

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    Since you calibrated with distilled water and not 35 ppt calibration fluid, it's still possible the apex is right and the Milwaukee is off. Until you check the Milwaukee against a 35ppt refractive calibration solution (you can make this at home with table salt if you have an accurate scale) I would not make any assumptions about which is the right value.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Update:

    Since you can't calibrate the Milwaukee with 35ppt calibration fluid (as far as I know), I went ahead and bought some 35ppt fluid to see where my unit stood. Surprisingly, it was coming in at 37 against the reference fluid. I didn't think it would be that far off since it had been recently "zero'd out" with distilled water. I went ahead and had the unit read the distilled water again, and it was reading 2ppt of salinity. So I zero'd it out again with the same distilled water and checked it against the 35ppt calibration fluid. Right on point at 35 ppt. I think I need to start zero'ing this unit out and checking against the reference fluid more frequently. I checked my tank and it came in at 34ppt, which seems like an acceptable range based on this calculator which converts it to 1.0256. Close enough. I typically mix my water change salt a tick lower as the A/B dosing tends to slowly raise the salinity over time. Now that I'm using PPT, I'll probably shoot for 34ppt for my water change batches. Does that sound like it makes sense?

    https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/...Conversion.php

    Anyway, great info. Appreciate the insight and will add checking this unit to my routine on a monthly basis.

  8. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by deputydog95 View Post
    Update:

    Since you can't calibrate the Milwaukee with 35ppt calibration fluid (as far as I know), I went ahead and bought some 35ppt fluid to see where my unit stood. Surprisingly, it was coming in at 37 against the reference fluid. I didn't think it would be that far off since it had been recently "zero'd out" with distilled water. I went ahead and had the unit read the distilled water again, and it was reading 2ppt of salinity. So I zero'd it out again with the same distilled water and checked it against the 35ppt calibration fluid. Right on point at 35 ppt. I think I need to start zero'ing this unit out and checking against the reference fluid more frequently. I checked my tank and it came in at 34ppt, which seems like an acceptable range based on this calculator which converts it to 1.0256. Close enough. I typically mix my water change salt a tick lower as the A/B dosing tends to slowly raise the salinity over time. Now that I'm using PPT, I'll probably shoot for 34ppt for my water change batches. Does that sound like it makes sense?

    https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/...Conversion.php

    Anyway, great info. Appreciate the insight and will add checking this unit to my routine on a monthly basis.
    Sounds like a good plan to me.

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  9. #34
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    So I finally got around to setting up my conductivity probe. I recently zero'd my milwaukee tool and confirmed the reading with a 35ppt calibration solution. All good there.

    I then filled a solo cup with tank water and used a plastic clamp tool (I use them to hold the hose when doing water changes) to hold the cup in place on the surface of the display tank. I placed the packet of Apex calibration fluid in the cup so that it would be calibrated at the tank temperate which was approximately 79 degrees.

    I let that sit for 15 mins while the the probe was removed from the tank and allowed to dry some more after I wiped it down.

    I set the temperate correction to 2.2 and did the automatic calibration process. I was quite pleased with the results as my tank was 35ppt and the probe was reading 34.9ppt. Close enough!

    However, over the past two days the ppt reading has been steadily creeping up despite the tank water not changing and confirming with my milwaukee unit. It's now almost 39ppt.

    Did I do something wrong? This clearly isn't working correctly. Thoughts?

  10. #35
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    Probably bubbles during the calibration that knocked loose in the tank.

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  11. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    Probably bubbles during the calibration that knocked loose in the tank.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Possibly. I did rotate while shaking the probe in the calibration solution to evacuate any trapped air. Maybe I missed some? Anyway, I redid the calibration process. I used the automatic calibration, but continued to use the temp correction factor of 2.2.

    Came in at 34.6ppt. My tank water, as tested on the Milwaukee after calibration, was 35ppt.

    Close enough, I'm happy

    I'm still not really sure monitoring conductivity is that important. The apex can do monitor it, so I guess I will. The only benefit I could potentially see is if the ATO goes sideways and starts continuously dumping fresh water, which should set off an alarm if the ppt falls below the recommended range. Then again the float switch on the ATO should have cut that off long before it got to that point.

    Either way, it seems to be working and I really appreciate your help! Thanks again!

  12. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by deputydog95 View Post
    I'm still not really sure monitoring conductivity is that important. The apex can do monitor it, so I guess I will. The only benefit I could potentially see is if the ATO goes sideways and starts continuously dumping fresh water, which should set off an alarm if the ppt falls below the recommended range. Then again the float switch on the ATO should have cut that off long before it got to that point.
    That's what I use mine for. To alert me and stop AWC and ATO if cond values go sideways cause something failed. I have had float switches stick and have had algae chunks clog the remove head on my DOS before and both instances cond stops and alerts prevented a tank crash.

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  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombie View Post
    That's what I use mine for. To alert me and stop AWC and ATO if cond values go sideways cause something failed. I have had float switches stick and have had algae chunks clog the remove head on my DOS before and both instances cond stops and alerts prevented a tank crash.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    I had a friend who's tank recently just crashed as a result of using the Apex and a DOS to do auto water changes. He's still not sure how it happened, but it dumped enough fresh water in there to bring his SG down to 1.011. Everything but the fish died. Apparently he has major wifi issues with apex. It disconnects daily and won't reconnect unless he does it manually, so he got no alarms whatsoever. Although I'm not certain he had it setup correctly to begin with. Shame about his connectivity issues, as the alarm would have alerted him to the problem well before it got to the point of being catastrophic.

    Redundancy is never a bad thing with an expensive reef setup. My conductivity reading has been holding steady as 34.6 so it seems to be working correctly now.

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