Atlas Scientific Ph Probe weirdness

[Capt. Saicin]

Copied from another thread on cheap probes and boards:

-Only usable in conditions where the water level does not change. Not usable in a reservoir (afaik, haven't got it working properly). Installed it directly in one of the pipes of my recirculating DWC and works really well now, sitting in flow.

Do you have the probe sitting in a tank?

[Morbidbystander]

Do you have the probe sitting in a tank?

The first probe that failed was just sitting in the bottom will minimal flow from the air stones. I was able to get it working again by putting it into the flow but the readings were very slow to react and it fell out of calibration after 5 days.

I changed it out for a new one and installed it in a tee feeding the pump inline. I have 23 different conductivity probes on blow down cooling tower controllers at work that are all installed inline. During the installation I found out they must be in flow to keep them clean. 10 of them have been running for 5 years with no maintenance still providing accurate readings. The rest are younger but need no attention either.

I don't know why I didn't draw a parable from the beginning. Hopefully that does the trick but I still get some biofilm on the probe tip. I was always trained to keep pH probes in storage solution to keep bacteria and algae from colonizing the inside of the bulb.

I would be grateful for any maintenance tips. At the moment I'm just spraying it off with tap water during the res change and keeping it in RO water so it stays wet during the process.

[stud]

my ph and ppm is always in reservoir , i leave in solution with 50/50 water/vinegar for 15 to 30m once a week and calibrate
if i storage , i do put storage solution
i have 2 versions of this atlas ph probe and both work very good

[Capt. Saicin]

I have to admit: i have the cheap analog 2.50€ pH-Probe sitting in-line for 6+ months, no cleaning or calibrating, and occasionally check with a calibrated and well-maintained pH-Sensor. It's drifted couple decimal points, so works really well for maintaining a range of pH. Really happy with the setup.

No algea growth anywhere in the tanks though. Bacterial growth is fairly minimal. Roots are milky white.
It's heavily areated. Four connected 15L recirculating DWC buckets and a 40L tank. Five bubblers on a 3600L/h airpump. Tomatoes and Eggplants are exploding