Lend a Ph probe or test?
 

It seems that my ph has been dropping steadily for the last month, but all indications in my tank say that my ph probe is probably shot. The reason I say this is because the corals are doing really well, even better than in the recent past despite the ph drop. It's gone from an average of 8.4 to 7.99 in about a month. I'd like to check it against a test kit or newer probe if anyone around here has one to lend me.

Thanks,

Danny

When did you last calibrate your probe?

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It's been a while, so long that I can't remember. Probably over a year.

Anyway, they aren't supposed to last much longer than 1 year right?

Try cleaning it and recalibrating, as long as it reads the calibration solution quickly without bouncing the reading all over the place it should be good, mine last 2-3 years before I change them out.

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Well, I just tried cleaning it as recommended above. The little glass ball at the end kind of disintegrated as soon as I touched it. I guess that means the probe was shot. Maybe it was a bit older than I thought. :lol:

The probe was not shot. This glass is superthin and permeable(Ions) so SUPER delicate. The proper way to clean these probes is to shoot DI water at them from a squeeze bottle, NO physical contact whatsoever. pH probes should be calibrated before each use and stored in pH 7.0 solution.

ph probe
 

I found this article on calibrating ph probes, it is a good read, the interesting thing is, the probe needs to be stored in a ph of 4, it appears that it reduces the life expectancy of the probe.
http://www.phadjustment.com/pH_Probe_Service.htm

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Interesting read. It doesn't mention anything about leaving the probe in the water at al times, which is what I've always done. Would this have caused the the glass to thin over time? I've felt the glass ball on previous probes that I've owned and they are strong enough to with stand a bit of handling. Mine was barely touched when it broke.

Thanks for the info though, at least now I have a better idea on how to care for the probes.