Best Deal on Apex Probes - most important?

[Jud]

Hey all -

Just got (what seems to be) a great deal from a local reefer. Picking up a slightly used 2016 Apex (brain + EB832) for $250.

I was going to go with an ApexEL, but it’s my first Apex and it seemed like a better deal to have extra expand-ability.

It does not, however, come with probes. I’m now seeing that they are a little pricier than I realized.

Anyone have any preferred spots for picking up some probes - buy used as a set or online cheap? Or any definitely necessary whereas some (ORP?) not as much so?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

 

[MnFish1]

Hey all -

Just got (what seems to be) a great deal from a local reefer. Picking up a slightly used 2016 Apex (brain + EB832) for $250.

I was going to go with an ApexEL, but it’s my first Apex and it seemed like a better deal to have extra expand-ability.

It does not, however, come with probes. I’m now seeing that they are a little pricier than I realized.

Anyone have any preferred spots for picking up some probes - buy used as a set or online cheap? Or any definitely necessary whereas some (ORP?) not as much so?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

BRS sells all of them - Not sure you need the ORP.

 

[lapin]

BRS sells all of them - Not sure you need the ORP.

Yep they are prob the cheapest for a good probe.
ORP could be useful in certain application like a sulfur reactor or ozone. Other than that you just see it go up and down when you have more oxidizers or reducers at work.

 

[Jud]

How do you guys feel about the salinity/conductivity probe? A useful tool? I can see some merit to monitoring salinity fluctuations give I’m running a 40 gallon AIO tank, but am also not above staying on the ol’ refractometer.

 

[rkpetersen]

How do you guys feel about the salinity/conductivity probe? A useful tool? I can see some merit to monitoring salinity fluctuations give I’m running a 40 gallon AIO tank, but am also not above staying on the ol’ refractometer.

People complain a lot about the Neptune conductivity probes, but mine have always worked great.
Accurate and quite steady, calibrate fine.
I think the biggest issue is that you must avoid microbubbles entering the probe.
Microbubbles result in decreased conductivity which the Apex will interpret as decreased salinity.

 

[lapin]

I think if you want to monitor a small tank with a salinity probe it could be useful if you keep the probe maintained. Small tanks can move one way or another pretty fast. I would not rely on it for your final salinity measurement. Use it as a warning something might be wrong. I dont need it in my tank as 600 gallons dont move 1 way or another very fast. My 15 gallon ato could dump everything in the tank and salinity would not hardly move.

 

[powdertang05]

I’ve owned lfs and never used a single probe. Currently I use the 2016 on all my systems and I find the salinity and orp to be useless. Constantly calibrating the salinity and seeing random swings make it worthless to me. I think ph is the only one that is useful to me. If you plan to use the probe in the sump a single joint will work. If you want to use it to control a carx double jointed will work great but I’ve used single for years just replace them every 9-12 months. That’s my two cents.