PH Pen

[bluter]

anyone point me in the direction of a half decent ph pen ?

tried to calibrate the amazon special i got and it clearly was having none of it. i tested it against strips and a wet test and the pen is a world of fail. never used once. and good thing. guaranteed to kill your plants. won't settle on a reading and only tosses errors when trying to calibrate.

another ph pen led to killing all my clones, this time i was extra cautious.

don't mind purchasing another off megabuy site, just need a better one.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Saw the same question recently here- What is pH?

 

[bluter]

the things are really pissing me off. the tds and ec meters i have are bang on reliable.

the ph pens seem intent on murdering anything green.

the test strips i have are good and the wet test backs it but i want a more precise measure. closest i can get is about a 1/2 point out with the old school alone.

 

[Stunned]

haha, I feel your pain on this subject
My last one died after less than a year of service
I rolled the dice on this one
Apera Instruments PH60 Premium Waterproof pH Pocket Tester
But I can't help thinking that I should have bit the bullet and gotten a Bluelabs

 

[bluter]

it's kinda telling when there isn't a sponsor for one of these things here lol

i'm $400 cdn into non working pens and not a full grow with one yet. it's money that could've gone to seeds or better lighting. super frustrated.

 

[TurboBucket]

I still have the first pen I bought 2-3 years ago. After much reading I also purchased the Apera 60. No issues to date knock on wood.

 

[bluter]

HM, bluelab, hanna seem to have the better reviews out there. looking at the apera as well.

 

[Calvados]

I use a semlos. Works fine.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I have two cheap ones, I'll compare each if pH seems goofy

But those two look real nice,may snag one next grow next year

 

[TorturedSoul]

anyone point me in the direction of a half decent ph pen ?

Half-decent, lol? Milwaukee pH600. It's cheap, at around $22 most places. Single-point manual calibration. Reads to one point (.1). Does not have automatic temperature compensation (although this is not really a show-stopper). Seems to be pretty generic - and, like all pH meters with non-replaceable electrodes, this is a disposable device - but it'll work pretty well, for a while, assuming it's properly prepped, calibrated regularly, the probe is never allowed to dry out, and the probe is stored in storage solution (or pH 4.01 calibration solution, if you must). This is not a DEEEE-lux (lol) device; it's cheap and pretty generic.

All-decent? Milwaukee(/Martini) pH56. REPLACEABLE probe means this is not a disposable device. (Semi-)automatic two-point calibration; instead of using a screwdriver to turn an adjustment screw, you place it into calibration mode, dip it into pH 7.00 calibration solution, dip it into a pH 4.01 calibration solution (or pH 10.00, but for the use we put these things to, 4.01 is warranted) and... done. Reads to .01. Much more accurate. Is capable of using either set of calibration solutions (but most everyone uses the 4/7/10 set). Drop it in your reservoir? No problem - it floats. Batteries last much longer; this is partially (but not solely) due to this device having an automatic shutoff feature. Has ATC (automatic temperature compensation); also displays the temperature of the thing being tested (which can be handy at times, e.g., for seeing how much one's aeration devices are heating one's reservoir). Not really relevant here, but they are also capable of measuring pH over a significantly wider range, and seem to have some ability to hold up when testing much "harsher" samples (IOW, industrial usage). Cost is usually around $60 to $75.

Never store your pH meter with its probe sitting in distilled / RO / 0 PPM water! This is a great way to leach out the *important* stuff that is inside the little glass bulb (aka "probe"). You want to use some sort of supersaturated solution. That's what they sell storage solution for.

When calibrating a pH meter for the first time (or when picking one up after not having used it for a while, especially if it was not stored upright, probe-down), it can be helpful to "shake it down" in much the same way that people used to shake those old mercury thermometers that they'd stick in kids' mouths for three minutes whilst expecting said kids to (somehow?) not bite in half. There can be a tiny bit of air in the probe, and this can (does) interfere with its operation.

Most every handheld pH meter (in the "hobbyist" price range) is subject to electrical interference. This means that things such as digital timers, HID ballasts, sh!tty Chinese LED panels (or even high-quality ones, to a lesser degree), air and water pumps, et cetera can all have some effect on a pH pen's operation and reading. If you draw a sample from your reservoir, test it, immediately take it to another location in your house - one with few/no electrical devices - and test it again, and find that your two results are different... this is probably the reason why. Workaround: Turn stuff off before testing pH, lol.

Two samples, each containing the same solution, but one of them being highly aerated and the other one not... will tend to read differently when you check their pH. Therefore, if you take a sample from your DWC reservoir just before the telephone rings, and you talk to the person for an hour before getting around to testing your sample, lol... do not expect it to read exactly the same as what a freshly-drawn sample would.

There are pH meters and then there are pH meters. If you've just spent more than $1,000 (it is possible to spend much more than that on one), then many things will be different. For one, expensive pH meters don't require new probes all that often - because they have a handy port for refilling them.

the tds and ec meters i have are bang on reliable.

To be fair, EC (or "TDS") meters are vastly different than pH meters. An EC meter is, essentially, a resistance meter. You can accomplish the same thing with a DVOM and a calculator, lol. Seems like we did exactly that way back in high school science class.

closest i can get is about a 1/2 point out with the old school alone.

A half-point? You mean .05? That's pretty good. Just how much accuracy do you require?

 

[Weaselcracker]

I hate those Milwaukee ph600 pens. they were all I could get in my area at the time and I grew a small mountain of dead ones over the years, and ruined a lot of plants.

 

[MrIcculus]

Bluelabs PH pen has been going strong for me, going on 2 years now. Keeping it saturated in storage solution and calibrated once a month. I haven't noticed any drift yet, it's been great so far.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Edit: Sorry, this post was in response to Weasel's. Took me longer than expected to create it, because my laptop is in the way out and I wanted to spend the day using a cell phone to interact on the forum. HtH does anyone do that, FFS?! I can already see that, when the laptop fails for good, my account here will become permanently inactive. The last root canal I endured was a far more pleasant experience - and, between the massive infection and some technical issues, I might as well have not been given any anesthetic. Oh well, after three edits, I think it's more or less intelligible.

Lol, yeah, but he was asking for something that was half-decent .

Nonetheless, if one understands their obvious shortcomings, they're... more or less acceptable. But this device is something you might buy if you kid in 9th grade came home and said, "I need something called a pH meter for science class," and you were pretty sure he would be far more likely to become a carpenter - or even an architect - than a chemist.

I had five in about four and a half years. One failed much earlier, but the other four lasted almost a year, on average. I wouldn't suggest that they're designed to last longer than six months. It's a ~$20 pH meter with a non-replaceable probe, how much is reasonable to expect ?

I've had others that I kept for backups, but they didn't seem to last as long. Probably because they were used only sporadically and I tended to let their probes dry up.

If I had a grow going, needed a pH meter, and only had $25, I'd buy one. Unless I figured I could come up with another $50 or so real soon.

<SHRUGS> Like all cheap Chinese crap, the failure rates are higher than consumers should accept. But that goes for most everything. If one doesn't arrive defective and doesn't fail right away, it should last six months. Again, assuming the user understands proper use/care/maintenance/calibration procedures - and is rigorous in following same.

 

[Icemann420]

Blue lab at Hanna would be my choice. I spent a numerous amount of money on those 25$ one on eBay and Amazon I’m like hey it’s only 25$. Then I look to the left and there is a stack of 15. Wtf that’s money waisted. There’s nothing better then a two part calibration. And get a pen with a replaceable electrode and a wick. Hanna. Has the best. For average growers. If you’re doinf big time go blue lab.

 

[Icemann420]

I still have the first pen I bought 2-3 years ago. After much reading I also purchased the Apera 60. No issues to date knock on wood.

What’s up turbo. Looks like our lights are coming from China. I thought MaxBloom was an American Distributor

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've had some bad experiences with a few ≤$400 Hanna testers, both in growing cannabis and in the automotive industry (mostly using them fine to ten times per day testing customers' antifreeze as part of the recycling/"rejuvenating" procedure). But enough other people have posted good reports that I don't actively recommend against them these days. And their expensive products seem to be as good as any, and are likely to be found on the counters of municipal water treatment plants, right beside the other brands.

I've also been reading generally good reports about BlueLab products for years.

 

[TurboBucket]

because my laptop is in the way out and I wanted to spend the day using a cell phone to interact on the forum. HtH does anyone do that, FFS?!

Yea it's not all it's cracked up to be is it? Unfortunately it's my only option.

What’s up turbo. Looks like our lights are coming from China. I thought MaxBloom was an American Distributor

They are, they distribute in America lol. They just manufacture them in China first. There's very few companies that can compete with the Chinese marketplace they make all the diodes and driver's to begin with so there's very little hope of direct competition. Nice to see they offer a line with the Cree chips looks like good warranty coverage. Should be pretty good units I'm excited for some spectrum control. They must really like you no mention to me of annual upgrades haha

 

[Icemann420]

Idk man I’m nothing special. They just emailed me asked by to post some pictures and do a video review. Then they offered yearly upgrades with my proper Cooperation I just bought that bad ass quantum board. I don’t think lll give up on it. I’ll just gift off the max bloom lights to fellow 420 magazine friends.

 

[TurboBucket]

That's cool though. There's some folks that would really appreciate that. It's definitely the biggest hurdle to getting started.
Nope told me they were sending some slaps please put them in the tent. I have a couple cheap blurples that I would like to get swapped out eventually but I'm a bigger fan of spectrum control than I am white light plus I can't buy fusion boards anymore.

 

[GrizzWald]

Can only be out so many times and buy so many pens before you say, No to calibration...