Why do I monitor ORP?

Ebslinger · Sep 27, 2019

I know its been discussed before, but I am thinking of removing my ORP probe. I'm basically ignoring it anyways...

Having an Undergraduate degree in chemistry, I have a basic understanding of ORP, albeit very basic. however, nothing I do is based on it.

I think I want a high ORP, but clean salt water has a low ORP...

Is there any reason I should monitor ORP if I don't use ozone?

Thank you in advance for your reply.

LobsterOfJustice · Sep 27, 2019

I used to monitor it, but unplugged my probe a few years ago and don’t miss it. My original idea was to set alarms based on my tanks typical range to alert me to potential issues like dieoff, toxin contamination, oxygen depletion, etc. But I would get alarms that the ORP crashed and upon investigation, everything in the tank was just fine, so I soon disabled the alarms and eventually the probe altogether.

Wiskey · Sep 28, 2019

I'm following, I just got an Apex 2016 with one of these probes and I'm monitoring it for the first time. I'm not really doing anything with it, just watching. I did notice that PH and ORP seem to have an inverse relationship, as PH goes up, ORP goes down.

Whiskey

Waters · Sep 28, 2019

No, I personally don't think you need to monitor it if you aren't using ozone. That being said, I keep my probe going because 1) I like gadgets, and 2) I already have it so I may as well use it. I have gotten alarms in the past though which I now just ignore, and normally just change my ORP range to shut the alarm off lol.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 28, 2019

It’s only real uses are to make sure you do not overdose oxidizers such as ozone, or to see if there’s a sudden problem like a dead fish somewhere. I too stopped using it after a few years.