PH Meters - What's a good cheap one?

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pappysmears

Well-Known Member
SeattlePot

SeattlePot

Well-Known Member
Ph meters? There are good ones, and there are cheap ones. But there are no good, cheap ones.

Get some ph strips from the pet store.
 
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pappysmears

Well-Known Member
the only thing that sucks about the strips is that I'm color blind and I have to wait for my wife to verify the colors.
 
SeattlePot

SeattlePot

Well-Known Member
Even the 100 dollar ph meters rarely last a year. If you buy a cheap one you'll be lucky if it works out of the box and probably wont last more than a few months.
 
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pappysmears

Well-Known Member
OK then send me some of those shrooms and maybe I can hone in on licking the water and determining the PH levels. Shrooms may add to my senses to make that possible :):hump:
 
SeattlePot

SeattlePot

Well-Known Member
Are you growing soil or hydro? Hydroponic nutrients contain ph balancers. My juice is usually right on ph after mixing in the nutes. It does slowly creep up, but that is becuase of the medium I am using, rockwool. Depending on what type of growing medium you are using, you may find that your plants are growing wonderfully without ever having to check or adjust your ph.
 
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pappysmears

Well-Known Member
I've actually had no ph level problems yet, I just read a thread where someone with an aerogarden (i'm using an aerogarden) said you should check the ph a few times a day since you have so many plants in a small reservoir. I am using the cherry tomato nutes and I heard they balance the ph, but I guess I got myself worried over nothing.

I have been having a problem keeping my plants dark green the whole time so instead of worrying about PH I should probably just buy some foxfarm nutes.
 
SeattlePot

SeattlePot

Well-Known Member
Adjusting ph has been a real pain in the ass for me. I just picked up this hobby a few months ago and am learning as I go. I bought the Hanna Ph pen for 100. I have used it probably 50 times and it is already having a difficult time holding calibration. I usually have to calibrate every fourth or fifth time I use it. Calibration fluid is expensive as well.

If you are using an aerogarden then you have no medium, such as rockwool that would cause fluctuations. I could be totally wrong about this but I would think that as long as your nutrient sollution contains ph buffers and you are changing your nutes out for fresh reguliarly, you should be fine.

If you see any signs of nutrient lockout or slow growth, ph would be the first thing you'd want to check. But if that hasn't happened and your happy with your plants growth, let it ride.
 
Twistyman

Twistyman

Well-Known Member
pappysmears said:
the only thing that sucks about the strips is that I'm color blind and I have to wait for my wife to verify the colors.
Click to expand...
I used paper strips when I was a printer..they worked fine...plus if you screw up the PH on a printing press the ink won't dry and you screw up thousands of $'s of paper..so I've never had a prob. with them...I've seem $100+ meters screw up because of low battery & shit...
 
Twistyman

Twistyman

Well-Known Member
pappysmears said:
I've actually had no ph level problems yet, I just read a thread where someone with an aerogarden (i'm using an aerogarden) said you should check the ph a few times a day since you have so many plants in a small reservoir. I am using the cherry tomato nutes and I heard they balance the ph, but I guess I got myself worried over nothing.

I have been having a problem keeping my plants dark green the whole time so instead of worrying about PH I should probably just buy some foxfarm nutes.
Click to expand...
For that green you need a lot of N for good veg.. A cheap good nute is
20-20-20 for veg.. start at 1/4 strength and increase slowly..
 
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shenagen

Well-Known Member
pappysmears said:
Good to know, thanks a lot guys. I'll just stick to bugging my wife with the strips.
Click to expand...

I'm sure al the guys know what they're talking about with some of those cheap meters....but let me turn you onto this company. I've had mine a year and they still work great. I don't loose calibration if I drop it...I don't have to store it in any solution...and they are accurate. They even sell more accurate ones than what I bought at this company. I also have their climate controler, and its functions perfectly too.

www.controlwizard.com ... or they're sold on ebay at new england hydroponics store.
 
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