Measuring ORP with a handheld

[Edward Smith]

I'm using a Red Sea Aquazone 100mg, running it at it's lowest setting 24/7, hence I've never bothered measuring ORP. The intent was just to get water clarity, which it has done well.

I'm thinking about increasing the amount gradually to achieve the other desired effects of ozone.

I don't know what my baseline ORP is yet, but I think I would be shoot for around 380. It's my understanding that ORP does not fluctuate quickly. If that's true, I'm thinking to do this:

Buy a handheld (Milwaukee or Hanna), get a baseline, very very gradually increase the ozone (weekly) and monitor the results intermittently. Once (if) I get it to 380, I'll hold it there and manually test it once a week.

This would avoid the use of replaceable probes and the hand held should last for quite a while?

Thoughts?


Thanks

[bertoni]

I don't think that sounds like a very safe approach. ORP can fluctuate, especially when a water change is done, for example. I'd probably get an ORP controller, and set it to shut off the ozone when the ORP gets high enough. Otherwise, you might run into issue with a change in the feeding schedule or something similar.

What effects are you trying to achieve?

This article is part of a series, and might be useful:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/rhf/index.php