Hello friends. Planning my first grow soon, I have not yet gotten a ph tester and tested my houses drinking water. I read that there is a bottle called PH up and one called PH down. Would these be suitable use for maintaining a ph around 6-7 for the plants? I know some people use specific nutrients. (Are they different?) Or is it more common to go with the whole NPK liquids instead of ph up and ph down
Yeah you can't use PH up and DOWN with out a PH pen because one tiny drop can make a massive difference, if you mix the nutes up to the exact dilution then it should give you a perfect PH range, but it always changes depending on the size and needs of your plant. I would wait to get the PH pen before you start messing around.
I would have to get a pen, i read that the ph up is weaker than ph down, It did mention only like 1ml/gallon. I’ve still got reading to do, if i bought say 20-20-20 and added it to a gallon jug, i then test strip that and see what it reads? if low i add more and vise versa Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Really just the best to get a pen, get one from eBay for like $15 and they will work fine, PH is really a main key to happy healthy plants. As you don't want to much fluctuation and nutrient lock out and so on...
But yes you can do what you said, but trust me will be a massive pain in the ass and not accurate haha
Make sure you grab a bottle of ph dye as well. Your meter will go whack if you don’t keep it calibrated. Dye can never go wrong. That being said just like @Shifte83 said you will learn that the right amount and mix of nutrients you will not need to ph it everytime once you learn your mixes. I generally just check my runoff every once in a while because I know that the mix I am adding set my gallon of water at 6.7 everytime
Unless you are prepared to purchase a self-calibrating pen with calibration solution and to conduct calibration on at least a weekly basis, then I agree with MickFoster. I use a pen and I know... I missed some calibration and tada... pH off by 1.5 points, plants sick, arg. It will be more economical on time and money. I am going to order some drops in addition to the use of my pen(s). And this isn't just a matter of pH calibration, you can include TDS and EC meters as well. Adding pH up/down without using a way to measure is a sure way to destroy your plants.
I cleaned my pen once in 6 Months with the calibration stuff, just always made sure I rinsed it off. And was like .2 off
I don't agree, my cheap pH pen is very accurate. I calibrate every two weeks and it's usually only off by about 0.05ph. It's important to shake off/dry the probe after testing your nutrient water, and also store the probe in storage solution. Before I stored it properly, I'd have to calibrate every couple of days Sent from my BLN-L24 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Hey I have payed for expensive one and cheap ones. Both fucking suck bro. At the end of the day the $100 blu tech one went out on me in 2 months. So that’s why I just order 5 of the shitty yellow ones and I’m set.
I do the same, always have a spare yellow one. Some are stable, some crap out after a few months. I think maybe storing in 3M KCl (cheap) maybe helps them(?) Point is, calibrate or use drops. And after my last calibration between 4.0 and 7.0 I had to settle for 4.15 and 6.85 (ish)... so no, not perfect, but good enough... Do yourself a favor and listen to Mick. (am I telling myself this? heh heh) btw, thanks for saving me money JSgrewit42, cuz I was going to invest in a 'nicer' model, but now, I'm not going to bother.
I should add; 2lbs of KCl costs about $15. It takes 223g (~1/2 lbs) and 1L of RO water to make a 3M storage solution. This will last a very very long time. Maybe bKush is right, I haven't been storing my meter properly for the last few months; I've been such a bad boy.
Don’t get me wrong. With better ph pens comes better reading. More accurate reading. But i oersonally can’t just spend $100 everytime something breaks. They have some really neat ph meters out there. But nothings wrong with a cheapo
I'm telling you, the storage fluid makes a huge difference. Went from calibrating mine every couple days, to only CHECKING calibration every couple weeks. And that's the cheapie yellow one Sent from my BLN-L24 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
<-not being lazy... lol, its not like I don't have it there. I stored it in the solution and will check the calibration later (tomorrow). Maybe the numbers will get better.
Ph up and down are not nutrients Npk is what’s in your nutes. Then you adjust ph level, by ph pen or test strips or test drops. Check and adjust ph after you mix in your nutes to water Good luck Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Okay so step by step it’s fair to say. Water, check runoff ph. Say its low. Next watering comes along, i know its low this time, say its at 5, and i want it at 6.5. I add my nuts to a gallon jug, then i add ph up to get ph around 7. Then i water plant? Also what are some ideas out there for collecting run off water? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
good. Many ways, simplest is have a wire shelf which hold up the plant (always) and have a catch pan (I cut a 5gal bucket) underneath.