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Parts Per Million for Dummies (US) using TSP/Gallon Teaspoon

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
The best pH meter....

719NV7rpDNL.jpg
 

ETERNAL FIRE FARMS

Active member
I got that meter n it broke on me after 2 uses n filled that see thru dome with clonex water when I was testing pH of airoponic cloner.. the guy on ebay refused to replace.. said I broke it.. put me off that meter after that.. maybe it genuinely was a one off bad faulty meter.. n a bad ebay seller..
 

Ca++

Well-known member
I got that meter n it broke on me after 2 uses n filled that see thru dome with clonex water when I was testing pH of airoponic cloner.. the guy on ebay refused to replace.. said I broke it.. put me off that meter after that.. maybe it genuinely was a one off bad faulty meter.. n a bad ebay seller..
If you can see the fluid in the tip, you may need to stand it in kcl. I have had you where you could see movement, and though it was fine, it should be full. This is the reference fluid, which isn't always sealed tight, but instead there is a permeable membrane.
Our meters span a few designs, so we really need to look what we have. Some for lab use have fill points to ensure the kci is fresh. You literally empty and refill them. Ours tend to have a membrane, so we stand them in kcl, and I guess some sort of osmosis goes in. Others are just sealed, while rubbish one's have no reference at all. Though that will about do for soil growers.

iu

iu


tbh I have not looked long enough to understand it. Nor found the instructions provided to be particularly useful. KCL is calcium chloride, which is a powder. Some of these contain gel not saturated fluid. I think mine perhaps contained powder, so was meant to go in clean water to hydrate it. Others in a saturated kcl fluid, which I think we can make easy enough. I'm surprised my cheap yellow even had a serviceable fill. My pricey meter had zero instruction regarding this topic at all. I just put a new £50 tip on, leading to the £3 meter purchase, and use thereof. About now I will wake up, and find my 4.01 sachets, to make something obscene. Forget 250ml, I'm making porridge. If it's indeed kcl as I expect.
 

ETERNAL FIRE FARMS

Active member
If you can see the fluid in the tip, you may need to stand it in kcl. I have had you where you could see movement, and though it was fine, it should be full. This is the reference fluid, which isn't always sealed tight, but instead there is a permeable membrane.
Our meters span a few designs, so we really need to look what we have. Some for lab use have fill points to ensure the kci is fresh. You literally empty and refill them. Ours tend to have a membrane, so we stand them in kcl, and I guess some sort of osmosis goes in. Others are just sealed, while rubbish one's have no reference at all. Though that will about do for soil growers.

iu

iu


tbh I have not looked long enough to understand it. Nor found the instructions provided to be particularly useful. KCL is calcium chloride, which is a powder. Some of these contain gel not saturated fluid. I think mine perhaps contained powder, so was meant to go in clean water to hydrate it. Others in a saturated kcl fluid, which I think we can make easy enough. I'm surprised my cheap yellow even had a serviceable fill. My pricey meter had zero instruction regarding this topic at all. I just put a new £50 tip on, leading to the £3 meter purchase, and use thereof. About now I will wake up, and find my 4.01 sachets, to make something obscene. Forget 250ml, I'm making porridge. If it's indeed kcl as I expect.
Lol see the air bubble after I shake it and the purple clear clonex water still in from months ago lol?? Ph is way off now also.. might av to get some pointers n guidance off u brva qs I never understood a word of all that lol!?! Not really used these before with organics but wana fine tune everything in.. thanks for Yr time tryna explain to me tho dude lol if u can guide me thru how to fix this n where to get the bits I'd be very grateful 😆🙈🤷🏻‍♂️💯💚🙏
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ETERNAL FIRE FARMS

Active member
Ahh so Yr sayin I just need to get some more 4.01 sachet buffering solution or powder yes? I already used all the sachets of different buffering powder the day I got it as I thought I needed to calibrate from new.. il have to buy some more I guess..
 

Ca++

Well-known member
Looking at that ingress, you would think it's physically broken. Like an actual hole in it. Are you saying it's still in use as an EC meter, and still hasn't washed out in months?

I suspect, if it's still in daily use, that this is gel filled. Gel that came as powder you had to hydrate. So this has soaked in, and is staying there now.
I think these are $10 so buying another might be easier than $5 on powder and rubbing your magic lamp for another wish. I myself have a bulk buy of powder, and a £50 tip to save, that is only slow not buggered. So I will try to save mine, but yours.. I'm afraid I would walk away.
I fridged my pH fluids, as the packet makes a lot. There are sites where people have tested shelf life of many brands, in terms of years. My commercial 4 is still a 4, and it's years old. My 7 drifted about 0.2 but these are 10yo bottles. Just kept in a box. I can't say how the sachets will hold up, but I'm finding out. I expect a year, at least. My 7 was expected to drift that much. It's all pretty standard stuff. I have the sachet mixes in glass though, not plastic. Just because..
 

ETERNAL FIRE FARMS

Active member
Looking at that ingress, you would think it's physically broken. Like an actual hole in it. Are you saying it's still in use as an EC meter, and still hasn't washed out in months?

I suspect, if it's still in daily use, that this is gel filled. Gel that came as powder you had to hydrate. So this has soaked in, and is staying there now.
I think these are $10 so buying another might be easier than $5 on powder and rubbing your magic lamp for another wish. I myself have a bulk buy of powder, and a £50 tip to save, that is only slow not buggered. So I will try to save mine, but yours.. I'm afraid I would walk away.
I fridged my pH fluids, as the packet makes a lot. There are sites where people have tested shelf life of many brands, in terms of years. My commercial 4 is still a 4, and it's years old. My 7 drifted about 0.2 but these are 10yo bottles. Just kept in a box. I can't say how the sachets will hold up, but I'm finding out. I expect a year, at least. My 7 was expected to drift that much. It's all pretty standard stuff. I have the sachet mixes in glass though, not plastic. Just because..
No I haven't used it since I noticed it filled up with the clonex water months ago when checking ph.. n straight after that it filled up and stopped workin and had wrong pH.. I just saw Yr thread and remembered I had same 7in1 meter and last round I really burnt a couple plants with too much N rich ferments so now I was hoping to use it to dial in those sensitive plants and find there preferred dose of food and keep it too that..
 
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ETERNAL FIRE FARMS

Active member
Looking at that ingress, you would think it's physically broken. Like an actual hole in it. Are you saying it's still in use as an EC meter, and still hasn't washed out in months?

I suspect, if it's still in daily use, that this is gel filled. Gel that came as powder you had to hydrate. So this has soaked in, and is staying there now.
I think these are $10 so buying another might be easier than $5 on powder and rubbing your magic lamp for another wish. I myself have a bulk buy of powder, and a £50 tip to save, that is only slow not buggered. So I will try to save mine, but yours.. I'm afraid I would walk away.
I fridged my pH fluids, as the packet makes a lot. There are sites where people have tested shelf life of many brands, in terms of years. My commercial 4 is still a 4, and it's years old. My 7 drifted about 0.2 but these are 10yo bottles. Just kept in a box. I can't say how the sachets will hold up, but I'm finding out. I expect a year, at least. My 7 was expected to drift that much. It's all pretty standard stuff. I have the sachet mixes in glass though, not plastic. Just because..
Also I did let it soak for a bit in the water with the pH buffer stuff inside it like it said in instructions 🤷🏻‍♂️ then tested it in tap water and worked fine.. then soon as tested the pH of water in airocloner with clonex in water it soaked into this dome and won't come out n since then its giving wrong pH readings.. I haven't even bothered to use for ppm or ec incase it was incorrect for those now too..
 

I Care

Well-known member
@Lester Beans. I really like PH strips. It’s so easy and basically you either see what you wanna see. There no quantifying it, just yea it’s good or no it’s not.

Sucks about that meter of yours @ETERNAL FIRE FARMS, order a new one. Or two.

Idk what my meter was actin up about yesterday, I checked that same run off today, after it had sat and it came out at 6.7.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
Thinking about it, you can get new probes for these. Not every seller has them, but it's going to be cheaper than the whole meter.
 

I Care

Well-known member
That’s true, probably safe speculation for a need to properly calibrate PH and PPM with replacement probe.
 

I Care

Well-known member
Looks like it’s only a 25% difference replacing probe vs meter. If these affordable meters are in fact calibrated, if may be worth the small amount of funds to replace the whole thing.
 

I Care

Well-known member
Revisiting PPM.


First in regards to pH fresh water run off readings as low as 4.
Fresh water in around neutral pH and 55ppm, runoff stuck around 370pp and between 4 and 5 ph.

I don’t know if this is some kind of soil acidifier or what.

My consideration is to put in a neutral water with a higher PPM in order to utilize harder water to bring up the PH.

Is this solid thinking?
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Revisiting PPM.


First in regards to pH fresh water run off readings as low as 4.
Fresh water in around neutral pH and 55ppm, runoff stuck around 370pp and between 4 and 5 ph.

I don’t know if this is some kind of soil acidifier or what.

My consideration is to put in a neutral water with a higher PPM in order to utilize harder water to bring up the PH.

Is this solid thinking?
Hello friend. You need to buffer your water more to keep your pH from dropping so low. If you are using a starting water with only 55ppm you will need to supplement the water with cal mag. The starting water needs to be at least 120 ppm or more to buffer the pH. If you add cal mag and let it set for a few hours or overnight the pH will rise closer to 7pH. Using water with a 7 pH repeatedly will raise the substrate pH.
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Also using a pH meter with only 55 ppm can give false readings. The reason is that the meters work off of conductivity. If you lack particles in the water it has nothing to bounce off. Make sure you have at least 100 to 120 ppm in the water before testing for the best pH reading.

Conductivity is a measure of a solution's ability to conduct electricity. Since electricity needs charged particles in order to flow, there is generally a positive relationship between the concentration of ions and the ability of a solution to conduct electricity. Google
 

I Care

Well-known member
Thanks CP!

I know if the cloudy water, testing immediately upon run off, can cause interference with the pH sensor. I’m not keeping good notes, reading on run off after settling for a day.

Possible I am worried over false readings? Next time I administer food and water I’m going to photograph metering from tap to run off.
 

I Care

Well-known member
Also @Ca++ I don’t want to be misinterpreting what you’re saying in the LED and Bud Quality thread, did you suggest you’re having issues with Canna lately? I planned to travel a great distance to get boflores this week
 

I Care

Well-known member
Asking because I feel like I read somewhere something is different for using lines. Something that I need to buy bio boost if I want the same canna that I used years ago. I might be making all this stuff or spending too much time on the internet, mixing bits of this and that.
 
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