Can someone "dumb" down ORP for me?

[am3gross]

I have read articles over the past 4 hours, Randy is a super smart dude! However, I dont understand any of it.

I have been doing saltwater for a total of about 10 years, took a little break in there. Not once did I ever think about my ORP being high or low. Today I went out and bought a Apex, and set it up. Got the ORP probe, installed it and it is at 167 currently. Now I am not ready to start dosing a bunch of chemicals to the tank just yet, as I want to understand it first. I would like it if someone could "dumb" it down for me. I wont take any offense to how dumb you can break it down as I am pretty sure we will have to go pretty far back.

I will be for ever grateful for the help!!

Mike

 

[Acrofiend]

I use the probe as a water quality monitor. Too high of a number 350+ (my own personal tank) and my corals suffer from too clean of a tank. My coral seem to look best in the 200-350 range although I’ve never been under 200.

 

[Kfactor]

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[am3gross]

I use the probe as a water quality monitor. Too high of a number 350+ (my own personal tank) and my corals suffer from too clean of a tank. My coral seem to look best in the 200-350 range although I’ve never been under 200.

Every thing I have read thus far says that between 3-400 is a good number to shoot for.

So you are saying that with a super low number such as the one that I have I have clean water?

 

[Acrofiend]

Every thing I have read thus far says that between 3-400 is a good number to shoot for.

So you are saying that with a super low number such as the one that I have I have clean water?

I’m pretty sure it differs from tank to tank.
Higher number is cleaner water.
Whenever I feed, dose aquavitro fuel or a snail dies my ORP drops. (My tank is only 20 gallons)

 

[Acrofiend]

I’d use it more as a monitor than a number to chase.

 

[am3gross]

I’d use it more as a monitor than a number to chase.

I agree with this, honestly. But is the number "168" low?

No matter what, everything in the tank looks great thus far. I wont do anything to try and raise it until I get educated on the subject. I want to see some sort of trend, either up or down before I start making big boy decisions!

Thanks for the replies!!

 

[Softhammer]

If you’ve made it 10 years successfully I recommend taking the probe and putting it back in the box.

 

[am3gross]

If you’ve made it 10 years successfully I recommend taking the probe and putting it back in the box.

There was a break in there, so I would not dare say I was successful!!! LOL!!!

 

[Zach B]

If you’ve made it 10 years successfully I recommend taking the probe and putting it back in the box.

lol

 

[taricha]

If you’ve made it 10 years successfully I recommend taking the probe and putting it back in the box.

seriously, just because a company has a nice probe doesn't mean its usefult for most of the hobby.
If you used ozone it would be essential.

Now I am not ready to start dosing a bunch of chemicals to the tank just yet, as I want to understand it first. I would like it if someone could "dumb" it down for me. I wont take any offense to how dumb you can break it down as I am pretty sure we will have to go pretty far back.

I'm going to use an analogy to pH. It's imprecise and maybe a little wrong, but it's an analogy.


pH is a number that measures a balance of competing substances, some high pH bases and low pH acid chemicals can move that balance. Whether the pH is high or low determines what chemical processes and what biological processes happen in a system. At high pH some happen a lot, and quickly and others very little, at low pH vice versa.
keeping your system in a pH range that's friendly to biological processes is important.

ORP is the same. Take the above paragraph and re-write it with "ORP" instead of "pH" and it would be equally true (and imprecise, and maybe a little wrong).
except instead of high pH bases you have oxidizers, and for low pH acids, you have reducers.
oxidation and reduction are two particular chemical processes that have a specific meaning that you can re-read randy's articles for.

Many important things in our tanks involve oxidation and reduction: Breaking down food that falls in the tank, the nitrification cycles etc etc.

But unless you're dumping in a dangerous oxidizer (ozone), you don't really need an ORP monitor.

 

[KenRexford]

As an ORP newbie (added for the first time with my new Hydros Controller), wait a while. For some reason, my ORP initially showed below 200. It then rose steadily to about 315 and has maintained there plus or minus a smidge for about a week. I suspect that the ORP probe somehow needs to break in or something like that.

 

[dwest]

I used my ORP measure for about a month, then used the port for a kalkwasser pH probe. Since then I’ve turned it into an alkatronic input. I agree that we really don’t care unless you use ozone.

 

[MnFish1]

I have read articles over the past 4 hours, Randy is a super smart dude! However, I dont understand any of it.

I have been doing saltwater for a total of about 10 years, took a little break in there. Not once did I ever think about my ORP being high or low. Today I went out and bought a Apex, and set it up. Got the ORP probe, installed it and it is at 167 currently. Now I am not ready to start dosing a bunch of chemicals to the tank just yet, as I want to understand it first. I would like it if someone could "dumb" it down for me. I wont take any offense to how dumb you can break it down as I am pretty sure we will have to go pretty far back.

I will be for ever grateful for the help!!

Mike

It takes a while for the ORP to 'settle in' - I believe that with the APEX - it will start out 'lower - and over days increase to the 'actual' level. I have not personally found it to be useful for my tank. So - I don't look at it.

PS - here is the paragraph from the Neptune site about this topic: "Note: New ORP probes need time to soak in your tank before they will report accurate data. This ‘break-in’ process on a new probe can take a number of days, and possibly up to two weeks"

 

[Spieg]

I think most people just ignore ORP... not sure why Neptune includes this with all their controllers other than it must be pretty inexpensive to produce.

 

[kenchilada]

I think most people just ignore ORP... not sure why Neptune includes this with all their controllers other than it must be pretty inexpensive to produce.

I would trade ORP for a working salinity probe that isn’t a total joke.

 

[JCOLE]

Whenever I perform a 10-20% water change my ORP falls from around 400 to under 200. It will then slowly climb back up to 400 in about 2 weeks. I usually just use it as a sign to do a water change.

Not necessary, it is just the way I use the ORP probe.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Whenever I perform a 10-20% water change my ORP falls from around 400 to under 200. It will then slowly climb back up to 400 in about 2 weeks. I usually just use it as a sign to do a water change.

Not necessary, it is just the way I use the ORP probe.

That is because new salt water is typically low ORP (due to low ORP trace element turns in it, such as ferrous iron) and that puts the lie to the myth that higher ORP means cleaner water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have read articles over the past 4 hours, Randy is a super smart dude! However, I dont understand any of it.

I have been doing saltwater for a total of about 10 years, took a little break in there. Not once did I ever think about my ORP being high or low. Today I went out and bought a Apex, and set it up. Got the ORP probe, installed it and it is at 167 currently. Now I am not ready to start dosing a bunch of chemicals to the tank just yet, as I want to understand it first. I would like it if someone could "dumb" it down for me. I wont take any offense to how dumb you can break it down as I am pretty sure we will have to go pretty far back.

I will be for ever grateful for the help!!

Mike

Any value is fine if you are not using ozone. Higher is not “better”.

 

[Acrofiend]

That is because new salt water is typically low ORP (due to low ORP trace element turns in it, such as ferrous iron) and that puts the lie to the myth that higher ORP means cleaner water.

Whenever my ORP was around 350 using ozone I’d only clean my glass once a week and I had no sign of algae. Anything above 350 and my LPS showed signs of stress. Should also note I feed heavily (5 times a day with an occasional dose of seachem fuel).