Recommend PH & PPM tester for Coco plz

[bloads]

Reading here has taught me that with testing the runoff of coco, though useful in determining a ballpark figure on what's going on inside your coco, it isn't exactly accurate.

From what I hear, the best testers for coco are the ones with an externally wired needle/sensor/probe that goes down into your coco. Testing inside your actual coco is the most accurate method, as opposed to testing runoff. Correct?

That being said, these are usually the more expensive models. Does anyone have any personal experience with the cheaper models? Enlighten us plz.

 

[hiboy]

I dont use coco,
but i dont think you stick that tip in your medium
Instead you put it in the rezzie, or in your run off container.
I like my Hanna with the wand.
I also have a blue lab same design.
Ive replace the wand once in the Hanna in a 2 year period
They worked awesome for me.
H

 

[iscrog4food]

I have to say Oakton is the pimp shit. It uses to seperate probes and measures ec between and I have never had to calabrate it in 8 months! I also have the pimp hanna wand but I prefer the Oakton. It gets to the reading much faster and with the hanna you have to recal like once every 2 weeks (or I do).

Also I do grow in coco but you dont measure ph of the medium. It has been my experience that soil probes are not that accurate anyhow. If you are trying coco for the first time I would reccommend you set up a drain to waste system and just ph the nutes you put in. I will also reccommend you mix in at least 40% perlite for drainage. In drain to waste no need to check runoff.

Also I have replaced my hanna wand once (after 1 year under warranty)

 

[hiboy]

How much was that oakton. Always looking for something better
h

 

[organicfreak]

I have 2 meters from hanna they KICK ASS ,but are not cheap 900-1000 for both

digital in soil ph meter

99121

digital ppm ec ph meter for liquids
991301N

O

 

[organicfreak]

I have to say Oakton is the pimp shit. It uses to seperate probes and measures ec between and I have never had to calabrate it in 8 months! I also have the pimp hanna wand but I prefer the Oakton. It gets to the reading much faster and with the hanna you have to recal like once every 2 weeks (or I do).

Also I do grow in coco but you dont measure ph of the medium. It has been my experience that soil probes are not that accurate anyhow. If you are trying coco for the first time I would reccommend you set up a drain to waste system and just ph the nutes you put in. I will also reccommend you mix in at least 40% perlite for drainage. In drain to waste no need to check runoff.

Also I have replaced my hanna wand once (after 1 year under warranty)

imho the ppm's of the runoff is crucial to know if your over feeding under feeding

ph SHOULD NEVER BE READ IN THE RUNOFF use in soil meter or place a pinch in water and mesure that with ph meter..

COCO OPTIMUM PH = 5.8 HAD good results down in 5.5 range and up to 6.2
after 6.2 they show defficency's anything above 6.5 will eventually die or be real dog shit smoke

o

 

[Rasta Man]

i have two meters from hanna, i calibrated them last week and i went to use them yesterday.. i thought the readings were a little off so i checked them again and the calibration was out on my ph meter..

what will change the calibration on a meter.. i store it in a drawer it hasnt moved since last week

 

[ProdigyGrower]

Ph should be 5.8 to 6.0 ppm's depend on size of plant bro

 

[20north]

buy hanna and only HANNA and choose the water proof ones because they dont break. the non water proof is the same computerchips... they just break... buy a ph meter and a tds meter do not buy a combo.... they will break. make sure to all ways leave your PH METER IN WATER. THIS MEANS THE ELECTRODES ARE ALWAYS UNDER WATER AND NOT DISTILLED NEVER PH distilled water it is bad shit. most people dont like digital ph testers is because they are not educated on the fact it needs calibrated every month and must be in water all the time... thats why it has a cap so you can put a spunge in it ...a tds meter can be calibrated every 6-8 months without drastic changes . just keep it clean.

coco uptake is anywhere from 5.6-6.3 but somewhere in the middle is always nice

have fun and dont be influenced in buying bad shit

 

[Darth Fader]

bLoads, I think you grow method will determine what meters are best for the situation. If you've doing a dtw, a $8 bottle of GH test drops and cheap $29 ppm pen works fine. I effin hate pH meters - they lie and they break. I've returned an $80 HM pH pen twice now. Bottom line - those thing will lie, drops won't. And they're not nearly as much of a pain as you'd think. Never had a prob w/ my cheap ppm pen and it's definitely good info to know - ex. - you're feeding at 1000ppm but you runoff measures 1400 - tells you that the plant isn't using close to 1000ppm and salts are building up. Then you drop feeding down to 750ppm and your runoff drops down & stabilizes at 900ppm - tells you the plant is consuming about 750. A ppm meter will allow you to really dial in you nute levels. OTOH, If you're using a res for flood & drain, I'd say the BlueLab combo meter for the res is the way to go. G/L

 

[SofaKingHigh]

Bluelab is word as fuck. Their Guardian monitor will remind you when to calibrate, stoner-proof.

I've never measured coco or its runoff.

 

[Hopefull Stoner]

hope this helps

Reading here has taught me that with testing the runoff of coco, though useful in determining a ballpark figure on what's going on inside your coco, it isn't exactly accurate.

From what I hear, the best testers for coco are the ones with an externally wired needle/sensor/probe that goes down into your coco. Testing inside your actual coco is the most accurate method, as opposed to testing runoff. Correct?

That being said, these are usually the more expensive models. Does anyone have any personal experience with the cheaper models? Enlighten us plz.

Yes, medium testing is the realdeal.not the run off.
However,it doesn't have tobe done with those expensive probe types unless you want to do that.

you can take a sample of the medium and then test that by itself. any decnt meter will tell you the ph/ec/ppm from that sample.

check out control wizards product line, and then hunt for the best prices on already resaonable prices for that line.

i use there truncheon and will get there ph meter when i can do so. i use the non digital meter btw ,works great and really simple too. :icon_animal26:

 

[20north]

some people on here dont know coco at all and are talking out of their ass it looks like.
lol just flush your shit every week and test the run off lol..... if your having that much trouble keeping things stable.... that you have to use a medium tester!!!!! LOL you should probably try a different kind of growing method.

once you do actually get to know coco and use it more than once..holyshitomfglol.. you will DISCOVER..... PPM run off is THE most important..... because coco has to run off all the time or else you get salt build up. you need 30% run off on every feed. If you have good drainage you will have no problems with coco. why would you need to test the medium if you have good even drainage? you wouldn't because you wouldn't have any problems with salt build up. if you actually are testing the medium you might have got a bad batch of coco in the first place.

Look at this... hopefulstoner doesn't even have a digital ph meter and IS talking shit about them. god damn can you please NOT DO THAT. @ THCFARMER WE VALUE REAL ADVICE AND REAL HELP. DONT WASTE ANOTHER FARMERS TIME BECAUSE YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT

***thread closed****

 

[antimatter]

Truncheon on hand if needed and a ph test kit is really all you need, the ph pens requiring calibrating quite often. I used to check the ph all the time, but my nutes always adjust into the 5.7-5.9 range and if it drifts I don't care.. I don't even bother checking my ph anymore.

 

[Hopefull Stoner]

20north you owe me an apology. we need to read the post before we say what hasn't even occured; especially in a way that makes a member seem less then credible.

i find it strange that with your advice in post #13, you would then use me as an example.

btw i actually agree with what you said basically about coco, not really needing the use of a ppm/ec meter.

btw i mentioned medium testing the way i did based on his asumption that it's best to test the run off. also so far as testing the run off coco is the medium that is propbaly the #1 exception to testing the medium as opposed to testing the run off itself.

i didn't talk any shit about digital meters of any type, to include the digital truncheon from control wizard. i didn't buy the digital because i didn't need the xtra cost of that, knowing the regular one would work just fine. i have nothing against didgital meters and you will never find any post of mine that say otherwise.

only meter you might need with coco imho is a ph tester to get your water right. yet, i/we know many folks don't even do that with coco.

 

[Darth Fader]

Sorry 20North, but ppm runoff is only important if you HAVE runoff - as in DTW. Again, depends on the grow style you're using. You can certainly be successful in coco with other grow styles, including passive wick with no runoff whatsoever. Here's a link to a guy who just grew a 22oz plant in a 5gal bucket of coco, no runoff.

 

[phenotyper]

After looking up the Hanna soil PH meter HI 99121N, I just had to buy one. Does anyone know how well it works depending on the soil mixture? Is there variability?


I get really tired of measuring runoff, especially when it's not accurate. This seemed like an easy choice over my $160 ph pen.

 

[bloads]

Thanks for the replies about the instruments guys. PH is really what I'm interested in. I haven't used my PPM pen since I dropped it in the water a few times, a few months ago.
Not even sure why i'm trusting my PH pen anymore, I haven't calibrated it in months, it has gunk all over it, and it takes a few seconds of swirling it in the solution before the real(?) PH number even pops up.
Strips sound like the way to go it sounds like.
The real reason I wanted a PH probe was so because of this thread (will edit in after I search for it)

 

[Hopefull Stoner]

After looking up the Hanna soil PH meter HI 99121N, I just had to buy one. Does anyone know how well it works depending on the soil mixture? Is there variability?


I get really tired of measuring runoff, especially when it's not accurate. This seemed like an easy choice over my $160 ph pen.

hey pheno...,
dude you should always ask the relavant questions before you drop your coin.
answers to them might have you regrettying a purchase you dig.
and all things are not created equal, and you don't always get what you pay for either. another consumer buying myth.

20north,
you were man enough to make a statement that wasn't truh about me disparaging, but not man enough to apologize. i guess that says a lot about who you are and how you operate.

yet, your post said this " @ THCFARMER WE VALUE REAL ADVICE AND REAL HELP. DONT WASTE ANOTHER FARMERS TIME BECAUSE YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT "

seems that you are guilkty of what you wrongly accused me of . I WOULD THINK THAT @THCFARMER, members value other members more when they can be more accurate & not so shameful that they can't admit they were horribly wrong and mislead other members with there comments.:mad0233:

 

[freegrow]

these work and cheap

accurate too

http://www.urbansunshine.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_52&products_id=17140

http://www.urbansunshine.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_53&products_id=16454

good growing brother

ok if you look at this fourm for every type of growing one grower does it this way one does it that ...both get good results its like guitar randy roads dont sound like jimmi hendrix , david gillmore dont sound like eric claption ....well thats because we all do the same thing different I meen really if i shit in my coco to charge it and it works for me why does that bother you ...just simmer down now lol

:smiley_joint: