Low ORP reading ?

[h2o]

What's your ORP reading I have the apex ORP probe that's reading on the low side 250-300 day night my sps don't look good at all i remember my ORP last year used to stay close to 400 and things were doing great and now I think its way to low I got small ozone generator with bubbler in my sump running a couple of days and still low I read a lot of treads and they say a big skimmer should keep it around normal range 350-400 my skimmer is rated 600g on a 127g still not doing it any other options ? What's in the water that don't belong and is keeping my ORP low ? How do I get rid of it ?

 

[h2o]

Bump

 

[prattreef]

ORP used to be all the rage many years ago. I don't anyone that still monitors ORP.

 

[Gabe]

What's orp??

 

[Seth The Wine Guy]

I used to monitor ORP with my APEX just to control my ozone generator. I've long ditched ozone but still monitor my ORP. Key is you must clean the probe once a month at the very least to be accurate. I don't use it as a measure of the tanks health like I do with things like Mg, KH, or Ca. Instead, I use it as a flag to tell me when something is awry.

I think PO4 and NO3 are much better measures as to why your SPS aren't at their best. Even then, it may not tell you what caused your problem. If you don't regularly monitor PO4 you might measure your PO4 and it says .02. You think, "Oh, that's great!" but it's not great if it was .25 the week before and due to a large WC and reactor full of new GFO brought it down to that in a weeks time and you didn't know you were at .25 before. I've bleached out more corals by cleaning the water up too quickly than dirtying up too quickly.

Careful too "bubbling" ozone in. It can quickly bond with other molecules to become Chlorine. Get a chlorine test kit. Also, run your ozone through something where the discharge can go through carbon to prevent chlorine from building up in the tank. Like a skimmer. Put a filter sock with carbon on the skimmer discharge.

ps Sorry for the run on sentences. In a hurry and don't have time to use proper writing skills!

 

[SethKim]

...my sps don't look good at all... I think its way to low I got small ozone generator with bubbler in my sump running a couple of days

Hi, I don't know how your set up is, but your sps not looking well has more to do with how you are dosing ozone. Many aquarist including my self, feed O3 into the skimmer, and also make sure all 03 is leaked out before hitting the display tank.

As for ORP, read this article http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rhf/feature/index.php

I like to monitor ORP to
1. keep O3 in check,
2. sudden crazy drop means I got something rotting in the tank.

Best luck

 

[h2o]

I have no idea whats what i test my water with elos test kits 127g tank
CA-450. ALK-9-10 . MG-1400. NO3 0-1. PO4-0 < low range kit
Apex probes calibrated last month PH 8.28 TEMP 79.8 ORP 278
also i had my water tested at my local pet store came out perfect my friend had his water tested it was a mess and his sps are doing good so i have no clue
new bulbs, new esv carbon ones a month and 20g water change esv salt new change from h2ocean local supply ran out it has to be orp it had a strong smell coming from generator first 3 days and now i dont smell a thing skimmer was acting up full cup a day im gonna check those links see but the ozone i got is verry small i cant over dose with this bs

 

[SethKim]

1. Your sps could be reacting to new bulb
2. If did not run O3 properly, it would do more harm than good. If it got sucked into the return pump, chances are you've showered your sps with ozone, and I think that's what might have happened.

 

[Frank@Wall]

i used to monitor orp with my apex just to control my ozone generator. I've long ditched ozone but still monitor my orp. Key is you must clean the probe once a month at the very least to be accurate. I don't use it as a measure of the tanks health like i do with things like mg, kh, or ca. Instead, i use it as a flag to tell me when something is awry.

I think po4 and no3 are much better measures as to why your sps aren't at their best. Even then, it may not tell you what caused your problem. If you don't regularly monitor po4 you might measure your po4 and it says .02. You think, "oh, that's great!" but it's not great if it was .25 the week before and due to a large wc and reactor full of new gfo brought it down to that in a weeks time and you didn't know you were at .25 before. I've bleached out more corals by cleaning the water up too quickly than dirtying up too quickly.

Careful too "bubbling" ozone in. It can quickly bond with other molecules to become chlorine. Get a chlorine test kit. Also, run your ozone through something where the discharge can go through carbon to prevent chlorine from building up in the tank. Like a skimmer. Put a filter sock with carbon on the skimmer discharge.

Ps sorry for the run on sentences. In a hurry and don't have time to use proper writing skills!

+1

 

[h2o]

1. Your sps could be reacting to new bulb
2. If did not run O3 properly, it would do more harm than good. If it got sucked into the return pump, chances are you've showered your sps with ozone, and I think that's what might have happened.

no i had it in the sump skimmer section in the corner then water go tru refugium bubble trap then return and carbon reactor now i have it going straight into skimmer and added the filter sock with carbon on the discharge
will see if it go up. where u guys keep the orp ?

 

[SethKim]

Mine around 200-260

 

[h2o]

Mine around 200-260

thats on the low side ? how the tank looks lps sps wise ?

 

[h2o]

update my orp is now 300 thats the high side of the day and highest its been in almost 6 months got a poly pad on the drain pulling out floating alergy water looks super clean right now orp going up but very slow i also cleaned the probe with soft tooth brush.
thanks for the link, let the battle begin

 

[h2o]

Update its been 2-3 weeks so far my skimmer been pulling a full cup a day is this normal ?
ORP is moving up 350 high of the night 300 low of the day .
I seen my friends tank this week sps r looking good ORP on his tank is 450 with no ozone or UV light or anything like that being used on his set up and ORP always stay high
I added 3 sps frags yesterday to see if they make it pink milie green stag and purple tip ausie sps just to see how long they stay alive . Frags before those first tips burned or bleached then alergy starts growing they turn brown and within 3 weeks all done now orp is higher by 100 so I got high hopes oh and also did 2 20g water changes this week just to keep track of my experiment zoas not a huge fan of my experiment lps seem like they like it will see I update next week

 

[h2o]

Update its been 2-3 weeks so far my skimmer been pulling a full cup a day is this normal ?
ORP is moving up 350 high of the night 300 low of the day .
I seen my friends tank this week sps r looking good ORP on his tank is 450 with no ozone or UV light or anything like that being used on his set up and ORP always stay high
I added 3 sps frags yesterday to see if they make it pink milie green stag and purple tip ausie sps just to see how long they stay alive . Frags before those first tips burned or bleached then alergy starts growing they turn brown and within 3 weeks all done now orp is higher by 100 so I got high hopes oh and also did 2 20g water changes this week just to keep track of my experiment zoas not a huge fan of my experiment lps seem like they like it will see I update next week

 

[ecvernon]

Sorry I can not help with your orp problem. It's not something that I have ever monitored. But I wanted to know if you calibrated your orp probe? If they are any thing similar to ph probes they need to be calibrated even when brand new.

 

[h2o]

Hey I was told new ORP probe don't need calibration I read some treads and some people say it does so I'm looking for the solution right now but half the treads I found say u dont need to if its a new probe .
Its similar to ph probe need to be kept clean also read a post that if PH and ORP probes r next to each other it will give false reading .
So uptate time new sps frags still look good awsome polyp extention and still holding color but I started to get diatom bloom on my sand bed , ORP still in the 350 s any thoughts ?

 

[Paul B]

My ORP reading is about the same as yours and my corals are doing fine and are many years old. Don't worry to much about ORP, it varies a lot every day and times of the day.

 

[h2o]

My ORP reading is about the same as yours and my corals are doing fine and are many years old. Don't worry to much about ORP, it varies a lot every day and times of the day.

Thanks right now its in the ok zone but it was going down to 220 before I started playing with ozone and that's way off from 350-400 is where I want it to be I know the reading drops by 50 everytime I feed my fish but if water was good it should not go below 300 at any time