What Gauges and meters are a must to have?

doc111

doc111

Well-Known Member
jimcity21 said:
So whats the must have meter or gauage in order to keep everything exactly where u want it?
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I consider a pH meter a must have. TDS meter if you are doing hydro. Now you can grow without either of these but they sure do help IMO. Moisture meter is a good one to have also (some people don't like them but I find them useful at times). :bigjoint:
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
I agree with both the PH and the TDS/PPM meter.(even in soil) I grow in soil, and I'm really glad I have a PPM meter to check things. It's nice to have that extra 'control'. It's nice to know what PPM you are feeding the plant, especially when you decide to check a sample of runoff. For example...if you're normal feed is 200 PPM and your runoff is coming out at 300 PPM, that shows that you have a little waste/fert buildup in the soil. If you have 800 PPM coming out, common sense would tell you that you have quite a bit of buildup. If you're feed is normally 600 PPM and comes out at 800, then common sense would tell you that it isn't a huge problem yet. Now, if you had no idea what PPM you were dumping into your soil, it would make the runoff alot harder to read, or better yet....'guess'.

I also find it handy for flushing, or knowing when to flush. Like I said above, if you are feeding 200 PPM, and the runoff is coming out at over 1,000 PPM, then your plant is going to thank you for having all that shit washed out of the soil. Also, if you have a problem and are suspecting 'nutrient lock', you can check the runoff to give you some more evidence to back that up. And, when i flush, I check the intitial runoff(just because i like to know.lol), then flush down to around 70 PPM, which is plenty low enough. Also, it saves time flushing. The main reason everybody says to use 3X the volume of their pot, in water, is because that'll make sure it's clean even if you have no idea how dirty it was to begin with. I very rarely have to use more than 2X the volume, and usually it's closer to 1 1/2, which saves alot of unnecessary time and effort. That alone, is worth the $20 for a TDS meter, if you ask me. :wink:
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
MrBlanco said:
I'd say they're not really even all that mandatory. Ever try to control that outside? :)
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No, not mandatory, but, that info is nice to 'know'. I hardly even look at mine anymore, but that's because I'm confident that everything is within an acceptable range. Walmart has 'em nice and cheap, so throw one of those in the cart too. :)
 
MrBlanco

MrBlanco

Active Member
jawbrodt said:
No, not mandatory, but, that info is nice to 'know'. I hardly even look at mine anymore, but that's because I'm confident that everything is within an acceptable range. Walmart has 'em nice and cheap, so throw one of those in the cart too. :)
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Which is why I have a thermometer and hygrometer in my grow room. :)

But in a general sense, there really isn't anything that's a "must have". There are for specific applications, though. Everything else is for absolute environmental control.
 
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