PH, EC, and TDS meters

[Phat J]

I'm curious what most people growing in hydro use most. Personally I have used ph and tds. Most meters I used gave "close numbers" but never seemed to be totally consistent. Lots people preach quality. Finally broke down and bought the bluelab kit. PH and EC meters. Holy shit, what a difference. I will never buy cheap meters again. Now back to the question, when measuring PPM or EC what do you trust more for concentrations? PPM seems more precise cuz it gives you a 3 or 4 digit reading (700ppm) but it's just a conversion multiplying your EC. So how accurate is it really? EC seems more generic, only 2 numbers (1.9) but seems to be simpler? Is it close enuf? What do most of you guys use?

 

[Nizza]

most people go by 500 scale I'm pretty sure. If it's a rounded number , then to avoid confusion it is good to just use EC when discussing. But when it comes down to it... you can be off by quite a bit when discussing PPM vs EC when people don't state the scale they are using.

yeah with ppm you are gonna get a little more accurate I see what you're saying. but I don't think you have to be so accurate

 

[Renfro]

EC can also be expressed in microsiemens, and that is the direct 0.5 conversion, so EC 2.0 = 2000 us = 1000 PPM @ 0.5

I always use the PPM @ 0.5 conversion as it gives me precision and it's the most commonly used PPM conversion among us growers.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Honestly you can use whatever scale you want as long as you get comfortable with taking readings and what that number means to you and your plants.
Bluelabs work. I like the combo meters because you can just leave the probes submerged, walk out and press a button to get your readings.

 

[Budget Buds]

I bought the Milwaukee ph and ppm meters and am totally happy with them https://www.ebay.com/itm/Milwaukee-Instruments-MC110-pH-Continuous-Monitor-Meter-SMS110/271676377142?hash=item3f412c8836:g:nvMAAMXQs8FSNolU the ppm meter looks the same, It's awesome to just glance at the wall and see my numbers

 

[Gushers]

I personally just picked up the blue lab ph and ec pen combo as well after getting tired of using the cheap ones. Excited to see how it performs overtime.

 

[Phat J]

I bought the Milwaukee ph and ppm meters and am totally happy with them https://www.ebay.com/itm/Milwaukee-Instruments-MC110-pH-Continuous-Monitor-Meter-SMS110/271676377142?hash=item3f412c8836:g:nvMAAMXQs8FSNolU the ppm meter looks the same, It's awesome to just glance at the wall and see my numbers

That's pretty cheap for a wall unit. How long have you had it? How durable and how often do you have to replace a probe? $?

 

[Budget Buds]

2 yrs, never needed to change the probe... they're around 35 bucks.... I check calibration once a month. It's never needed to be adjusted

 

[icetech]

For PH i use a Apera PH60, it is easily the best money i have spent on growing period... no more fucking drops that are vague.. Plus i check the calibration like once a month and this thing has been staying almost dead on the entire time.. no constant calibrating.

Apera Instruments AI311 Premium Series PH60 Waterproof pH Pocket Tester Kit, Replaceable Probe, ±0.01 pH Accuracy: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Apera Instruments AI311 Premium Series PH60 Waterproof pH Pocket Tester Kit, Replaceable Probe, ±0.01 pH Accuracy: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[rkymtnman]

2 yrs, never needed to change the probe... they're around 35 bucks.... I check calibration once a month. It's never needed to be adjusted

i love my Milwaukee MW 101. had it for years, same probe, calibrate once at start of grow and once at 12/12. never off by much either when i do calibrate it

 

[Gushers]

After using some cheap vivosun pens I have to say the BlueLab pens are very high quality and seem like they will last. I got their growers kit on Amazon.

 

[waterproof808]

Bluelab Truncheon is worth every penny. Dont care too much for their PH Pens even though I still use em.

 

[Phat J]

After using some cheap vivosun pens I have to say the BlueLab pens are very high quality and seem like they will last. I got their growers kit on Amazon.

I also got the kit on Amazon. Little over priced but pretty nice stuff. There wall mount units look nice but way to pricey for a hobby guy like myself

 

[Budget Buds]

I've had bluelab guardians before. Both times they craped out right after warranty... I have a few friends that have years of trouble free use from them...... go figure lol

 

[Renfro]

Dont care too much for their PH Pens

What exactly is it that you don't like about their pH pens? I have the liquid only pen and their soil pen and they have both been so hardcore reliable that it's amazing. I have even let them sit for 3 or 4 months without touching them (were stored with the KCl solution) and I was amazed they stayed calibrated. My only complaint is the reading is slow, so you gotta wait to see if it's done drifting, but once it's stable the reading is accurate. I have compared readings to my apera and if the blue lab says 6.7 the apera says it's a number between 6.70 and 6.79, it doesn't round up at 0.5, so I noticed that. But it was always giving the right number. Just takes longer than the apera and the nice thing about the extra digit of precision is you can tell when it's done drifting a lot easier.

 

[fragileassassin]

I gave in and bought a bluelab guardian. I was realistic and realized I can't be bothered to go down there and manually check shit every day.
With this, I can open the basement door and check it without even going down the steps. Some days its lucky I do that so I know I wouldn't go down and manually check it.
I've been using it for nearly 2 years and calibrate it randomly when I remember, but it hasn't needed any adjustment yet.
After having this, I will buy another one or similar system when this ones dies.

 

[Renfro]

I gave in and bought a bluelab guardian. I was realistic and realized I can't be bothered to go down there and manually check shit every day.
With this, I can open the basement door and check it without even going down the steps. Some days its lucky I do that so I know I wouldn't go down and manually check it.
I've been using it for nearly 2 years and calibrate it randomly when I remember, but it hasn't needed any adjustment yet.
After having this, I will buy another one or similar system when this ones dies.

View attachment 4564727

Wish I could, all at once, click the like, love and laugh reactions to this post.

 

[fragileassassin]

Wish I could, all at once, click the like, love and laugh reactions to this post.

So many design and method decisions ive made down there were me being real with myself and knowing im lazy AF and can have periods of days at a time that I cant be bothered to put any effort into anything.
That meter was easily one of my best purchases.

 

[Renfro]

So many design and method decisions ive made down there were me being real with myself and knowing im lazy AF and can have periods of days at a time that I cant be bothered to put any effort into anything.
That meter was easily one of my best purchases.

I agree and as lazy as I am I have things I must do so why make other tasks take more time. I like my stirring plate, to hell with mixing dry salts by hand.

 

[waterproof808]

What exactly is it that you don't like about their pH pens? I have the liquid only pen and their soil pen and they have both been so hardcore reliable that it's amazing. I have even let them sit for 3 or 4 months without touching them (were stored with the KCl solution) and I was amazed they stayed calibrated. My only complaint is the reading is slow, so you gotta wait to see if it's done drifting, but once it's stable the reading is accurate. I have compared readings to my apera and if the blue lab says 6.7 the apera says it's a number between 6.70 and 6.79, it doesn't round up at 0.5, so I noticed that. But it was always giving the right number. Just takes longer than the apera and the nice thing about the extra digit of precision is you can tell when it's done drifting a lot easier.

Mostly just the slow readings and the non-replaceable probes. Like I said, I still use them but I feel like I have to baby them to make them last the longest. A PH version of their truncheon would be bad ass.