How accurate are pH drops?

[fatbuds420]

I'm tired of the ph pen, needs calibration too often. It's a pain in the ass, are ph drops good?

Whats the margin of error, I need my water at 6ph.but even 6.2 or 5.8 is OK, is it accurate enoguh?

 

[Dwight Monk]

Depending on color of your Nutrients or in my experience anyway I couldn't tell the color differences enough if I added nutrients. I've switched to the PH tape that changes color and the nutrient water doesn't seem to alter the reading unlike the drops. What I have used for 3 years, but varies on what your medium is as Hydro may be less forgiving than me growing in Soil where it can be more of a range than a precise number.

 

[mrking]

I switched to a pen from the crappy strips and drops. Could never get a decent reading.

I bought a Blue Labs pen. They say to calibrate every month, but after two months it was only .1 off. The Blue Labs pen is worth the money IMO. But you do need to but he calibration solution and storage solution - which do last a long time.

For reference, strips said 7.5, as far as I could tell, pen said 6.5. Drops said 7.0, as far as I could tell, and pen said 6.3.

Haven't had any lock out issues since.

 

[Stunned]

They say to calibrate every month, but after two months it was only .1 off.

And that's the important thing to remember with PH pens.
If you get a decent one like the Blue Labs or Apera and not some cheapo on Amazon
It very rarely needs to be calibrated

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

some ph moniters even blink angrily at you after one month until you calibrate but you don't have to think when you did it last at least

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Narrow range test paper is your best bet. Hydrion makes a 5.5 to 8 pH test strip.

 

[fatbuds420]

Narrow range test paper is your best bet. Hydrion makes a 5.5 to 8 pH test strip.

Many people say drops are more accurate, is it true?

 

[fatbuds420]

I switched to a pen from the crappy strips and drops. Could never get a decent reading.

I bought a Blue Labs pen. They say to calibrate every month, but after two months it was only .1 off. The Blue Labs pen is worth the money IMO. But you do need to but he calibration solution and storage solution - which do last a long time.

For reference, strips said 7.5, as far as I could tell, pen said 6.5. Drops said 7.0, as far as I could tell, and pen said 6.3.

Haven't had any lock out issues since.

Well not everyone has that much money to throw on a ph pen, especally when you could invest in other stuff to. Improve the grow...im in soil too so I don't need super accurate tests

 

[Elvin]

I'm tired of the ph pen, needs calibration too often. It's a pain in the ass, are ph drops good?

Whats the margin of error, I need my water at 6ph.but even 6.2 or 5.8 is OK, is it accurate enoguh?

I used to cook in an underground lab.
I found paper strips to be very easy to use unless one is color blind.

 

[oldsmokey]

The bottom line is cheap pH pens are unreliable and inaccurate and will fail quickly. Better pens are metres like blue lab and apera are much more reliable and accurate but will still fail at some point. I have both a blue lab and a apera both are quality but I think I prefer the apera. Now I am growing in pro mix HP using Mega crop and I don't bother checking the PH or adjusting it.

 

[fatbuds420]

I used to cook in an underground lab.
I found paper strips to be very easy to use unless one is color blind.

Walter white is that you?

 

[oldsmokey]

No it's Heisenberg

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Many people say drops are more accurate, is it true?

Narrow range is the key. I think drops do full range. I don't use any, as I grow in a well buffered media.

 

[Elvin]

Walter white is that you?

He used real lab glass.
I used gallon cider jugs.
However, the popo declared I was the best cook in the county (and that was the most active county in the State at the time). I wasn't crushing and stirring nor the idiot Shack and Bake. True Birch cooks (sodium metal/anyhydrous using Uncle Fester's recipe that I modified for pseudo when they decided ephedrine was too naughty to sell anymore) were my specialty. Helpful hint; toluene makes a cleaner product than ether and you can buy it by the gallon at Menards at the same time you buy your Hydrochloric acid by the gallon there.
I got a visit by DEA ninjas with automatics but they screwed up and left over 60 grams drying on a tray and only got me for a couple of grams, so I went State instead of Fed. Sure was a nice when I bailed out a week later to find that right where they tackled me.
BTW; the weekly "small" cook was 60, the big one each week was 110 grams ;-)

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

He used real lab glass.
I used gallon cider jugs.
However, the popo declared I was the best cook in the county (and that was the most active county in the State at the time). I wasn't crushing and stirring nor the idiot Shack and Bake. True Birch cooks (sodium metal/anyhydrous using Uncle Fester's recipe that I modified for pseudo when they decided ephedrine was too naughty to sell anymore) were my specialty. Helpful hint; toluene makes a cleaner product than ether and you can buy it by the gallon at Menards at the same time you buy your Hydrochloric acid by the gallon there.
I got a visit by DEA ninjas with automatics but they screwed up and left over 60 grams drying on a tray and only got me for a couple of grams, so I went State instead of Fed. Sure was a nice when I bailed out a week later to find that right where they tackled me.
BTW; the weekly "small" cook was 60, the big one each week was 110 grams ;-)

We did a few pounds of Quaaludes when I was in college in the '70's. Made it in the lab on a weekend for free with analytical grade chemicals. Lesson learned: don't let the first person to sample the product control the electric drying oven!!! Ether can make things lively when it gets heated.

 

[Elvin]

I have caused lab fires with ether and static electricity before. Toulene made a prettier product (ether made it "dull" looking) and 1/2 g in a glass pipe would burn to a tan smear instead of ether's much dirtier black "ash" (no smears) even when you distilled it to clean it.

 

[Auggie]

The bottom line is cheap pH pens are unreliable and inaccurate and will fail quickly. Better pens are metres like blue lab and apera are much more reliable and accurate but will still fail at some point. I have both a blue lab and a apera both are quality but I think I prefer the apera. Now I am growing in pro mix HP using Mega crop and I don't bother checking the PH or adjusting it.

I had a Blue Lab once for OVER FOUR YEARS. And it was accurate (I keep a spare one on the shelf just in case, and to confirm).
I mentioned that to the grow store guy as I was buying a new one; "My BlueLab finally wore out after four years and I used it every day." He said, "That's probably why it lasted so long - because you used it every day."
A hundred dollars a year is cheap, very cheap.

The one I have now is two years old.

I use coco so ph is important for me.

The $20 ones on Amazon are garbage.

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

I had a Blue Lab once for OVER FOUR YEARS. And it was accurate (I keep a spare one on the shelf just in case, and to confirm).
I mentioned that to the grow store guy as I was buying a new one; "My BlueLab finally wore out after four years and I used it every day." He said, "That's probably why it lasted so long - because you used it every day."
A hundred dollars a year is cheap, very cheap.

The one I have now is two years old.

I use coco so ph is important for me.

The $20 ones on Amazon are garbage.

This is why I spent extra on the bluelab monitor not the pen that way it is wet in a rdwc system 24/7 just taken out to clean during water change. I knew I was bound to dry up any pen no matter how good or bad but the price difference between drops and the monitor