AquaController III Pro and conductivity probes

[simon.007]

Hi,
I just picked up a conductivity probe and it seems to vary from day to night. Moreover, even after calibrations it does not stay accurate. I use a refractometer to gauge it. Is the conductivity probes accurate? Any recommendations on its placement? I have it currently in my ref. recommendations?

Thanks

Simon

[clp]

Yes, cond. can be a vey accurate measure of the salinity of the tank. We recommend that the cond. probe is mounted in a drip cup to prevent the possibility of electrical interference from stray voltage/currents in the tank. The drip cup is typically mounted at the top of the sump, and has water from the over flow dripping into and out of it. Since there is no electrical conduction path to the rest of the tank water stray currents/voltage are eliminated.

Curt

[simon.007]

Ok thanks Curt, I will try!

[simon.007]

Is it ok in my CA reactor cup? I hate to add another cup in my sump area, getting messy ?

[ReefMeister2]

Simon,
I found out with my conductivity probe that if any air bubbles at all get inside the tip of the probe (such as with turbulent water) it will cause a false reading on the low end (makes sense if reading "air" I suppose). You can confirm this by lightly shaking the probe to disperse any trapped air that may have accumulated and observe the reading on the controler....it should increase immediately to around 50-52 where it should be.

If placing in a drip cup is not convienient, perhaps there is a more cryptic area somewhere in your refugium with a slower flow and not so turbulent where bubbles would form.
Even the smallest of bubbles will cause the false reading.

Kevin

[simon.007]

Nice to hear from you Kevin! I now have it in my CA reactor drip cup and its better but still the conductivity # moves around. Sometimes I have to reboot ACIII to reset the conductivity # ? Anyways most of the time it works.

Simon