what does everyone use to measure the ph of there water? ive been looking around for a cheap and reliable electronic ph tester but it seems most of them are either really expensive or you have to buy additional substances to calibrate them. does anyone have some suggestions as far as what is cheap and works best?
Cheap or expensive, you will still need the additional solutions. No getting around that. Myself, I have a Milwaukee SM-101. Wet
Sofar the Bluelab Truncheon meter is the only one I have seen that doesnt require calibraition. But he will still need PH Up & Down solutions. I use the Blulab Combo meter. If I were using the Truncheon meter I would still use the calibration solution to test the accuracy of the meter occasionly just for my own peace of mind with it. http://www.getbluelab.com/shop/Bluelab+Truncheon%AE+Meter.html
Milwaukee PH600 [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Instruments-pH-Pen-PH600/dp/B001DTQJ8O]Amazon.com: Milwaukee Instruments pH Pen, PH600: Kitchen & Dining[/ame]
Hey guy I use a Eco Tester Ph1 not sure how it compares to the others. I got it for 70 bucks at my local grow shop. The storage solution is 18.96 and the two different calibration liquids were like 7 bucks apiece. So it was a little over a hundred bucks for the setup. I used the liquid dropper method for a few years and finally got this electronic one when I started indoors. It seems to work really well. A little bit of a hassel making sure you always have it in storage solution and calibrating, but for a nice accurate reading instead of trying guess what colors match best is worth it.
Free shipping from this website, they have the Milwaukee PH600, and both 4.01 & 7.01 calibration solutions, it doesnt show the solutions in the optional accesories under the PH 600 but do when you click on the other models. For the calibration solutions its cheaper to buy the bottles instead of the sachets. I had a $70.00 Milwaukee meter and after 2 1/2 grows it started giving inconsistant readings. It may get you by for one or two grows if more then that then you got luckier then me. Milwaukee Waterproof Portable pH Testers - at the Test Equipment Depot
You can just get PH Up/down and it comes with a little PH dropper test vial. Catch the run off of your container, put a few drops of the tester stuff and itll turn a certain color depending on the PH.Than you can adjust...
I tried a couple different ones of the dropper test kits that come with a little vial and some solution and they give you a general idea but are not very accurate and if your run off water is darker from like using molasses or something like Maxi Crop liquid seaweed which is almost a black liquid then thats gonna make the run off so dark you wont be able to compare to the color chart that comes with the test kit. I learned from using a dropper test kit, a cheap soil tester that they are not very accurate and can still lead to problems and that a cheap tester will get you through a few grows but dont expect it to last a long time. When it comes to tester I learned that you really do get what you pay for.