Need Advice on pH meters & pH adjustment

  • Thread starter SourDC
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SourDC

SourDC

6
3
Greetings,

New to cannabis cultivation in 2020. Still traversing this mountainous learning curve by making mistakes (doh!) and seeking help. I'm growing with the apotforpot kits, both 2 and 5 gallon sizes.

I purchased the cheapest pH pen I could find (mistake, I believe), a Vivosun pH meter & TDS meter for $19.99. The TDS meter seems ok, but the pH meter requires frequent calibration (every 10 days as recommended by Vivosun) and persistently drifts when attempting to take a reading. The instructions say nothing about storing the electrode in a solution, and in fact says to dry before storage. At the same time, it warns to not allow the electrode to dry out. šŸ˜³
  • Anyone else have similar experiences with this meter, and perhaps determine a better way to utilize this meter?
  • Recommendations for alternative pH meters?
A related issue I've been struggling with is adjusting the pH of water given to my plants, both with and without nutrients. I have been using the Gen Hydro pH Up and pH Down products. Additionally, I have been using bottled water with 0 PPM. I've used several different brands, both labeled as "Spring" and "Distilled", and in each case I measure a starting pH consistently in the 5's, which surprised me. I have since learned that 0 PPM water won't yield a reliable pH measurement. My experience with the pH Up and pH Down products has been that just a couple drops to a gallon of water can produce wild swings in pH in both directions. I did glean some useful info from @Aqua Man's useful post on pH regarding the lack of buffering capability of 0 PPM water. My tap water is over 300 PPM and rather alkaline, and I don't have a water softener.
  • If I'm starting with bottled water with 0 PPM, how can I get around the lack of buffering issue when trying to adjust the pH for my "no nutrient" waterings? One drop of pH Up sends me to alkaline city, and a drop of pH down to correct that causes the pH to plummet.Similarly, when trying to adjust a low dose (2 ml/gallon) Cal-Mag solution or low dose nutrient solution, I have the same experience.
  • Are these pH adjustment problems stemming more from the pH meter or my pH adjustment procedure?
I do appreciate any input.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Greetings,

New to cannabis cultivation in 2020. Still traversing this mountainous learning curve by making mistakes (doh!) and seeking help. I'm growing with the apotforpot kits, both 2 and 5 gallon sizes.

I purchased the cheapest pH pen I could find (mistake, I believe), a Vivosun pH meter & TDS meter for $19.99. The TDS meter seems ok, but the pH meter requires frequent calibration (every 10 days as recommended by Vivosun) and persistently drifts when attempting to take a reading. The instructions say nothing about storing the electrode in a solution, and in fact says to dry before storage. At the same time, it warns to not allow the electrode to dry out. šŸ˜³
  • Anyone else have similar experiences with this meter, and perhaps determine a better way to utilize this meter?
  • Recommendations for alternative pH meters?
A related issue I've been struggling with is adjusting the pH of water given to my plants, both with and without nutrients. I have been using the Gen Hydro pH Up and pH Down products. Additionally, I have been using bottled water with 0 PPM. I've used several different brands, both labeled as "Spring" and "Distilled", and in each case I measure a starting pH consistently in the 5's, which surprised me. I have since learned that 0 PPM water won't yield a reliable pH measurement. My experience with the pH Up and pH Down products has been that just a couple drops to a gallon of water can produce wild swings in pH in both directions. I did glean some useful info from @Aqua Man's useful post on pH regarding the lack of buffering capability of 0 PPM water. My tap water is over 300 PPM and rather alkaline, and I don't have a water softener.
  • If I'm starting with bottled water with 0 PPM, how can I get around the lack of buffering issue when trying to adjust the pH for my "no nutrient" waterings? One drop of pH Up sends me to alkaline city, and a drop of pH down to correct that causes the pH to plummet.Similarly, when trying to adjust a low dose (2 ml/gallon) Cal-Mag solution or low dose nutrient solution, I have the same experience.
  • Are these pH adjustment problems stemming more from the pH meter or my pH adjustment procedure?
I do appreciate any input.
Mix your tap 50/50 with distilled or RO and you should be good to go. That should give you about 150ppm and likely a very good alkalinity for a stable PH. Do NOT use spring water it often has high ppm and mineral content.
 
Last edited:
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
Greetings,

New to cannabis cultivation in 2020. Still traversing this mountainous learning curve by making mistakes (doh!) and seeking help. I'm growing with the apotforpot kits, both 2 and 5 gallon sizes.

I purchased the cheapest pH pen I could find (mistake, I believe), a Vivosun pH meter & TDS meter for $19.99. The TDS meter seems ok, but the pH meter requires frequent calibration (every 10 days as recommended by Vivosun) and persistently drifts when attempting to take a reading. The instructions say nothing about storing the electrode in a solution, and in fact says to dry before storage. At the same time, it warns to not allow the electrode to dry out. šŸ˜³
  • Anyone else have similar experiences with this meter, and perhaps determine a better way to utilize this meter?
  • Recommendations for alternative pH meters?
A related issue I've been struggling with is adjusting the pH of water given to my plants, both with and without nutrients. I have been using the Gen Hydro pH Up and pH Down products. Additionally, I have been using bottled water with 0 PPM. I've used several different brands, both labeled as "Spring" and "Distilled", and in each case I measure a starting pH consistently in the 5's, which surprised me. I have since learned that 0 PPM water won't yield a reliable pH measurement. My experience with the pH Up and pH Down products has been that just a couple drops to a gallon of water can produce wild swings in pH in both directions. I did glean some useful info from @Aqua Man's useful post on pH regarding the lack of buffering capability of 0 PPM water. My tap water is over 300 PPM and rather alkaline, and I don't have a water softener.
  • If I'm starting with bottled water with 0 PPM, how can I get around the lack of buffering issue when trying to adjust the pH for my "no nutrient" waterings? One drop of pH Up sends me to alkaline city, and a drop of pH down to correct that causes the pH to plummet.Similarly, when trying to adjust a low dose (2 ml/gallon) Cal-Mag solution or low dose nutrient solution, I have the same experience.
  • Are these pH adjustment problems stemming more from the pH meter or my pH adjustment procedure?
I do appreciate any input.
I've had the hanna ph pen for a couple years. It's not the fastest but it's still going and was relatively inexpensive, also you can change the probe if needed. I'm hoping santa will bring me a blue labs ph pen though. Regarding your other questions I'll let someone more knowledgeable than myself give you some answers, still have my training wheels on.
 
Beachwalker

Beachwalker

7,055
313
Greetings,

New to cannabis cultivation in 2020. Still traversing this mountainous learning curve by making mistakes (doh!) and seeking help. I'm growing with the apotforpot kits, both 2 and 5 gallon sizes.

I purchased the cheapest pH pen I could find (mistake, I believe), a Vivosun pH meter & TDS meter for $19.99. The TDS meter seems ok, but the pH meter requires frequent calibration (every 10 days as recommended by Vivosun) and persistently drifts when attempting to take a reading. The instructions say nothing about storing the electrode in a solution, and in fact says to dry before storage. At the same time, it warns to not allow the electrode to dry out. šŸ˜³
  • Anyone else have similar experiences with this meter, and perhaps determine a better way to utilize this meter?
  • Recommendations for alternative pH meters?
A related issue I've been struggling with is adjusting the pH of water given to my plants, both with and without nutrients. I have been using the Gen Hydro pH Up and pH Down products. Additionally, I have been using bottled water with 0 PPM. I've used several different brands, both labeled as "Spring" and "Distilled", and in each case I measure a starting pH consistently in the 5's, which surprised me. I have since learned that 0 PPM water won't yield a reliable pH measurement. My experience with the pH Up and pH Down products has been that just a couple drops to a gallon of water can produce wild swings in pH in both directions. I did glean some useful info from @Aqua Man's useful post on pH regarding the lack of buffering capability of 0 PPM water. My tap water is over 300 PPM and rather alkaline, and I don't have a water softener.
  • If I'm starting with bottled water with 0 PPM, how can I get around the lack of buffering issue when trying to adjust the pH for my "no nutrient" waterings? One drop of pH Up sends me to alkaline city, and a drop of pH down to correct that causes the pH to plummet.Similarly, when trying to adjust a low dose (2 ml/gallon) Cal-Mag solution or low dose nutrient solution, I have the same experience.
  • Are these pH adjustment problems stemming more from the pH meter or my pH adjustment procedure?
I do appreciate any input.
Hello and welcome, try these..
Screenshot 20200315 174958 Chrome
 
Moshmen

Moshmen

8,218
313
Iā€™m switch into the drops spent couple hundred bucks on pens this year alone outside of a commercial grade meter(expensive) I think unless your colorblind drops or strips are it
 
SourDC

SourDC

6
3
Iā€™m switch into the drops spent couple hundred bucks on pens this year alone outside of a commercial grade meter(expensive) I think unless your colorblind drops or strips are it
I have used strips before (years ago in school), but never drops. I saw @Beachwalker's drop kit with a 6.0-7.6 range, presumably with a precision of 0.1 pH. Do they make drops that read down into the 5's range? Also, are strips equally precise, that is to the nearest 0.1 pH?
 
Beachwalker

Beachwalker

7,055
313
I have used strips before (years ago in school), but never drops. I saw @Beachwalker's drop kit with a 6.0-7.6 range, presumably with a precision of 0.1 pH. Do they make drops that read down into the 5's range? Also, are strips equally precise, that is to the nearest 0.1 pH?
They do make them that have a broader range however in soil I don't work below 6.0 so I have no need for such a low measurement, plus the range is tighter for more accuracy on the above drops then the other type with the broader range
 
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