Ph pen jumped one full point.

[chronosync]

brand new hand held meter.
tested tap water first. it read 7.
calibrated with 4.0 solution.
tap water reads 7.
good. right?

ive been using the meter for almost a week now, everything seemed right. tonight i tested ph after mixing nutes like i always do. 7.9!
ok. so i check the tap again. it read around 8.

ive been keeping it wet in tap water when not in use.

what do i do? other than return it and get some strips for now. anyone else have this happen? anything i may have done to set it off? ive been really careful with it.

its the cheap yellow one with the black cap. it says Milwaukee pH600 on the package.

 

[queequeg152]

ph pens are notoriously shitty.

just re calibrate it. if it wont hold a calibration, or wont stabilize and calibrate, toss it.

you should be storing it in buffer solution, not tap water.

 

[stoned-trout]

ya that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^... I threw mine away long ago when I went organic living soil...yeehaw

 

[St. Phatty]

I finally found my OLD litmus paper, in perfect condition.

Measured a run-off bucket when I first got up this morning and went to turn on the heater (1K light).

5.5 !

That's from FFOF in 2 gal buckets, with well-water measuring about 7.1 (that was using a digital pen.)

I like litmus paper.

I thought 5.5 would be low, but the plants are liking it.

I feed the run-off in the buckets to houseplants ... figure it's a bit like compost tea.

 

[chronosync]

man! i couldnt find any litmus paper. i ended up getting ph test drops. i guess its going to have to be good enough, the kit reads between 6.0 and 7.6 and comes with a color chart. ive just been knocking it down until it looks close to yellow and hope its around 6.2ish

stoned-trout. im def thinking about living soil a lot more.

 

[chronosync]

That's from FFOF in 2 gal buckets, with well-water measuring about 7.1 (that was using a digital pen.)

phatty, what do you feed with? just water? so how do you guys grow?

 

[John.Snow]

BLUELAB COMBO METER.........100% accurate. Never had a single issue with mine. Just make sure to calibrate it once a month and use the BlueLab Probe Storage Solution

 

[EastCoast710]

man! i couldnt find any litmus paper. i ended up getting ph test drops. i guess its going to have to be good enough, the kit reads between 6.0 and 7.6 and comes with a color chart. ive just been knocking it down until it looks close to yellow and hope its around 6.2ish

stoned-trout. im def thinking about living soil a lot more.

that pen has the screwdriver and screw on the back to calibrate.. calibrate it and check it a few times turning it on and off.. but in reality that's your problem lool.. you should be calibrating before EVERY SINGLE USE.... especially with that one. I had that one it works .. but u gotta be careful with it. no dropping it.. no getting it wet..

 

[DemonTrich]

my hm meter will hold calibration for a few months. then jumps +.2ph. I store mine in the cap with drops of solution.

 

[chronosync]

calibrate every time? forget it.

calibrate every time? forget it.

that pen has the screwdriver and screw on the back to calibrate.. calibrate it and check it a few times turning it on and off.. but in reality that's your problem lool.. you should be calibrating before EVERY SINGLE USE.... especially with that one. I had that one it works .. but u gotta be careful with it. no dropping it.. no getting it wet..

id be better off buying water

im going to stick to paper and drops in the range of 6 is good enough for me. i know my nutes drop it a few 1/10th's if im around 6.2-5.8 is what i was shooting for anyways. 5.5-6.5 is fine as long as im drifting around 6ish right? gonna find out. trout has some very low PH and i guess thats working fine. what are you growing in trout?

 

[chronosync]

my hm meter will hold calibration for a few months. then jumps +.2ph. I store mine in the cap with drops of solution.

drops of solution, what ph? how many drops? it stays completely covered in solution right?

+.2ph every few months.... thats not bad. what kind of meter?

 

[Bwanabud]

I agree with all of the advice given, use a buffer/storage solution...the mfg. usually recommends which one, and what PH it should be...and clean the probe correctly, the nutes will plug up the glass probes ability to read correctly...it's a voltage/electrode issue.

 

[DemonTrich]

It's the buffer storage solution for ph pens. DO NOT use the El cheapo red/yellow ones from amazon/ebay. They work for a week then in the shitter. My hm been in use for 2+yrs. 1x a month I check the pen out. But I know my water, what my nutes bring my water to, what other mixes do to my ph so honestly I might check my ph 1x a week.

Tap is 7.3
Nutes bring it to 6.2
None of my other additives mess with ph

 

[ganjygav]

I see this thread earlier and tonight I remembered to check my pen. It's only a cheap essentials pen and I've been using it from the first calibration for 9 weeks.
I hadn't bothered checking it in all that time but use it every time I feed or water.
Well I dropped it in the ph7 buffer solution and it still reads 7.0.
I'm well impressed

 

[queequeg152]

id be better off buying water

im going to stick to paper and drops in the range of 6 is good enough for me. i know my nutes drop it a few 1/10th's if im around 6.2-5.8 is what i was shooting for anyways. 5.5-6.5 is fine as long as im drifting around 6ish right? gonna find out. trout has some very low PH and i guess thats working fine. what are you growing in trout?

litmus paper is just fine. i use litmus paper as well, imho a digital probe is not warrneted for day to day stuff... though i do own a lab bench style ph meter.

you can get very good litmus paper if you want more accurate results... wittman or wattman makes some very good papers, just make sure you are getting water quality papers, NOT the papers meant for urine.

drops of solution, what ph? how many drops? it stays completely covered in solution right?

+.2ph every few months.... thats not bad. what kind of meter?

ph meters are like galvanic cells(batteries). age is a huge factor. if you are getting a new probe, it could last a very long time.

construction has a huge impact too.

I agree with all of the advice given, use a buffer/storage solution...the mfg. usually recommends which one, and what PH it should be...and clean the probe correctly, the nutes will plug up the glass probes ability to read correctly...it's a voltage/electrode issue.

salt nutrients will not clog the glass membrane. its organic nutrients that will. protiens... sugars, milk, blood, anything with long chain molecules and lipids... starchy shit and sugars and oils and hydrocarbons.

if you are measuring any of the above, you need a wash bottle full of alcohol. simply jet out the tip after you measure something with the alcohol, then jet it out with distilled water, then remove excess water and put it back into the buffer storage.

there are also etchant solutions for restoring badly fouled membranes... ibought a bottle way back when i didnt know fuck all, and ive used it like 2 times. its mostly for folks measuring badly fouling solutions.

also construction has an impact on probe fouling... the double junction probes tend to foul less than single junction probes owing to the additional junction.

It's the buffer storage solution for ph pens. DO NOT use the El cheapo red/yellow ones from amazon/ebay. They work for a week then in the shitter. My hm been in use for 2+yrs. 1x a month I check the pen out. But I know my water, what my nutes bring my water to, what other mixes do to my ph so honestly I might check my ph 1x a week.

Tap is 7.3
Nutes bring it to 6.2
None of my other additives mess with ph

its all about age with any ph probe. check your packaging. most have some date stamp.

I see this thread earlier and tonight I remembered to check my pen. It's only a cheap essentials pen and I've been using it from the first calibration for 9 weeks.
I hadn't bothered checking it in all that time but use it every time I feed or water.
Well I dropped it in the ph7 buffer solution and it still reads 7.0.
I'm well impressed

its not unusual for a ph probe to hold a calibration at its 0mv point(7ph)... check its calibration at 2 or 3 points and i think you will find that its out of calibration.

ideally you want a ph meter with at least a 2 point calibration. 4 and 7. this is the range of nutrient ph.

i always try to warn people off of the shitty pen products. yes they are all shitty imho, even the bluelab thing.

what you want is a lab bench style meter... one with a replaceable standard BNC probe with an EXTERNAL totally independent temperature probe.

why? because then you can buy cheap non proprietary 40$ single junction, non ATC compensated, gell ph probes and toss them out every few years or so. or if you want to be a cool guy... you can get a glass refillable, serviceable ph electrode. that will last you quite a while if you take care of it.

ph pens all have these proprietary electrodes that cost to much.

you can get a bench meter on ebay for like 100 bucks easy... i got an accumet ab15 for that, it came with some other shit too.

reccomend you find one that will handle an external atc probe though. otherwise you have to wait until the sample to be tested reaches the same temp as the probe was calibrated.

also get one thats got automatic, not manual calibration, and one that will display the actual millivolts of the cell.

 

[ganjygav]

I calibrated the pen when I first got it in ph4 and ph7 buffer. I'm also sure I could have calibrated it to ten ph aswell but I don't have a ph 10 solution just the 4 & 7.

I just dropped it into the ph 4 buffer and it read 4.1 ,I still think for a £30 pen that's not bad. Like I say I've used it nearly everyday for 9 weeks without calibration.

 

[Bwanabud]

I certainly found that nutes like Fox Farm & Jungle Juice clogged up my meter, far worse than GH 3 part...a tan slime on the probe.

If your reading is jumping all over the place, or taking a long time to settle in...it's dirty, and inaccurate.

 

[chronosync]

thank you, everyone for the great tips and info! what trich has going on is something im looking for, set it and forget it range. anyone have any tips on how to buffer? the medium? im getting more and more ideas about using coco as an active substrate as well. looking to use more organisms. i checked a plants root ball that i had drenched with OregonismXL a few times and it is impressive! super thick white and feathery roots. this plant has been growing very healthy with zero complaints, im surprised its not dead yet, not really, but at least suffering because i dont give it much attention, and it is in fact thriving. i havent checked any other plants because they are in flower, im sure they have great roots too, they poke out the bottoms and look white and alive. these are in 3 gal containers. i just have a feeling the mycorrhizae and trichoderma have something to do with its vigor.
i also want to add kelp or seaweed product but i dont know what.