Familiar with apex systems ?!? Read please !:)

[Ryan Rioux]

Hellllo, so I recently purchased and setup my first apex system . I’ve had it setup around 3 weeks now and in the beginning the probes were off even after calibration. . Now , 3 weeks later the salinity probe is SKYHIGH . It’s reading 38.5 PPT . I’m wondering if it’s the placement of the probe. It’s in the sump located next to filter media . The only reason I’m questioning the probe reading is because I have 2 redsea refractometers and BOTH are reading that the water is at 1.025. So I’m just wondering how the probe reading can be so off . Also the alerts on my phone constantly because level is above 37 ppt is annoying !!!! Any help is appreciatedd

 

[WWIII]

Did you match the temperature of the calibration fluid with your tank? I don't have an apex, but do have a couple other controllers. Matching temperature so that you can enter in the correct value is important.

Other than that, not sure? Seems like there's issues often with these conductivity probes and accuracy. Some guys just correct it manually, or just make sure it remains constant regardless. With the money sprnt on the apex, I would hope you could get it halfway accurate.

 

[Scott.h]

Don't worry about it, it will come around. Make sure the probe and wire are completely away from pumps, heaters and power cords. Very important. It takes a bit for a coating to build on the probe tip and it will work better. For now don't waste the calibration solution and just calibrate it to the tank water. Also make sure the temp probe and solution are the same temp. Also very important.
I have 3 apex units. One I just set up last week. The tank water is 35. It started at 31. I won't bother recalibrating it or looking at the reading for about a month. 6 months from now it will be stable an accurate. It's just the way it is.

 

[Ryan Rioux]

Did you match the temperature of the calibration fluid with your tank? I don't have an apex, but do have a couple other controllers. Matching temperature so that you can enter in the correct value is important.

Other than that, not sure? Seems like there's issues often with these conductivity probes and accuracy. Some guys just correct it manually, or just make sure it remains constant regardless. With the money sprnt on the apex, I would hope you could get it halfway accurate.

The calibration fluid was at room temp. And the tank at 78. I’m not sure if I can manually enter a number . It automatically picks up a number once in the fluid. I just don’t see how 2 refractometers could be reading wrong . I just actually recalibrated the probe with new fluid and still seems to be reading high

 

[Ryan Rioux]

Don't worry about it, it will come around. Make sure the probe and wire are completely away from pumps, heaters and power cords. Very important. It takes a bit for a coating to build on the probe tip and it will work better. For now don't waste the calibration solution and just calibrate it to the tank water. Also make sure the temp probe and solution are the same temp. Also very important.
I have 3 apex units. One I just set up last week. The tank water is 35. It started at 31. I won't bother recalibrating it or looking at the reading for about a month. 6 months from now it will be stable an accurate. It's just the way it is.

So it’s normal to be working whacky ! I just don’t want water with a salinity level of 1.027-28 . That’s the equivalent of what the probe is reading . The refractometers are reading 1.025 . I recalibrate the refrCtometers every use with distilled wAter .

 

[Scott.h]

So it’s normal to be working whacky ! I just don’t want water with a salinity level of 1.027-28 . That’s the equivalent of what the probe is reading . The refractometers are reading 1.025 . I recalibrate the refrCtometers every use with distilled wAter .

Yes it will be wacky for a bit. I calibrated mine two days in a row and both days drifted considerably. Also make sure there are no air bubbles trapped. I went through the same thing with my other tank and it's been spot on for months now. Just leave it alone for a few weeks. Then recalibrate as mentioned above.

Btw using distilled water for the refractometer won't be as accurate as the proper calibration solution either.

 

[Ryan Rioux]

Yes it will be wacky for a bit. I calibrated mine two days in a row and both days drifted considerably. Also make sure there are no air bubbles trapped. I went through the same thing with my other tank and it's been spot on for months now. Just leave it alone for a few weeks. Then recalibrate as mentioned above.

Btw using distilled water for the refractometer won't be as accurate as the proper calibration solution either.

The only reason I use distilled water is because the directions for them state to use it so I’ve always used it . Maybe I’ll get some solution for it . The solution I used to calibrate probe says not to use it to calibrate refractometers .

 

[WWIII]

The calibration fluid was at room temp. And the tank at 78. I’m not sure if I can manually enter a number . It automatically picks up a number once in the fluid. I just don’t see how 2 refractometers could be reading wrong . I just actually recalibrated the probe with new fluid and still seems to be reading high

The apex probably uses the temp probe for temperature, if you can't enter one manually. I would float the calibration solution for like 30 mins and try that. Just put it in a ziplock, or if it's a open packet, maybe a couple ziplocks. 5 degrees or so can make a little difference.

 

[leepink23]

You can disable the alarm on it until you get the readings accurate, go into the Salinity and Uncheck alarm.

 

[Ryan Rioux]

The apex probably uses the temp probe for temperature, if you can't enter one manually. I would float the calibration solution for like 30 mins and try that. Just put it in a ziplock, or if it's a open packet, maybe a couple ziplocks. 5 degrees or so can make a little difference.

I’m going to give it some time to see what happens . Thank all of you guys for the help.

 

[Kyl]

Hellllo, so I recently purchased and setup my first apex system . I’ve had it setup around 3 weeks now and in the beginning the probes were off even after calibration. . Now , 3 weeks later the salinity probe is SKYHIGH . It’s reading 38.5 PPT . I’m wondering if it’s the placement of the probe. It’s in the sump located next to filter media . The only reason I’m questioning the probe reading is because I have 2 redsea refractometers and BOTH are reading that the water is at 1.025. So I’m just wondering how the probe reading can be so off . Also the alerts on my phone constantly because level is above 37 ppt is annoying !!!! Any help is appreciatedd

The probe needs time to calibrate, and is easily interfered with via bubbles and electrical interference (like power cords).

Try and run the cord alone, away from everything else for a few days, see if it clears up.

 

[Pongo]

On fusion click the pull down menu in the upper left hand corner.
Select "inputs"
Scroll down and select "cond" in the type column.
On the page that opens select "advanced"
On the advanced page you should see "temperature compensation"
I have mine set on 2.2 to get it to read the same as my refractometer.
Play around with different setting to see if you can get it close.
On that page you can also disable alarms and set high/low values for the alarm.

 

[Scott.h]

The only reason I use distilled water is because the directions for them state to use it so I’ve always used it . Maybe I’ll get some solution for it . The solution I used to calibrate probe says not to use it to calibrate refractometers .

Correct. If you calibrate it with water, then right after see where it's at using the correct calibration fluid you'll see the difference.

If your tank is at 35 ppt, the first few times just calibrate it in the sump. It's gonna drift no matter what.

 

[BlennyKravitz]

Absolutely make sure there are no bubbles in the probe. I put mine next to my skimmer intake.

 

[Ferrell]

The calibration fluid was at room temp. And the tank at 78. I’m not sure if I can manually enter a number . It automatically picks up a number once in the fluid. I just don’t see how 2 refractometers could be reading wrong . I just actually recalibrated the probe with new fluid and still seems to be reading high

I’ve got the same problem and from what I’veread there’s a couple of explanations for the difference in probe vs refractometer mainly because refractometer measures with light and the probe measures with conductivity. My problem is the probe wanders from 30 and increases a point an hour. I’m just going to disable it for about a month and let it sit like the previous poster said and just keep using the refractometer for a bit. See our post on the Neptune community site.

 

[andyg1960]

Don't worry about it, it will come around. Make sure the probe and wire are completely away from pumps, heaters and power cords. Very important. It takes a bit for a coating to build on the probe tip and it will work better. For now don't waste the calibration solution and just calibrate it to the tank water. Also make sure the temp probe and solution are the same temp. Also very important.
I have 3 apex units. One I just set up last week. The tank water is 35. It started at 31. I won't bother recalibrating it or looking at the reading for about a month. 6 months from now it will be stable an accurate. It's just the way it is.

I agree with this. I too am a new Apex owner, and made myself crazy for the first week trying to get the salinity probe to show an accurate reading. It was way high compared to my refractometer and a Milwaukee meter. I opened a case with Neptune support and they respond d with a very detailed email about the differences between how their probes measure salinity vs. refractometer vs. hydrometer vs, Milwaukee. I said thats great, but if its so far off how is it useful? In the meantime, I moved the probes out of the central portion of my sump and over to the return section. I couldn't calibrate them another time so I just let it be. One day, without changing anything, the reading became accurate meaning the same as the other measuring systems. Not sure why, so I would suggest you just put the probes in your return section let them be and hopefully will have the same thing happen.

 

[Ferrell]

Glad it’s not just me. Thanks for the input

 

[Rick Krejci]

Yea, mine drifted a lot...after about a week, I set my tank to 35 ppt using a trusted calibrated refractometer and then calibrated the probe to the tank water...been stable ever since.