Bluelab guardian

[Sup Im BirDy]

What’s up everyone, having some trouble with my bluelab guardian. EC is off, bought the cleaning kit with the 2.77ec solution and I cleaned it multiple times vigorously, made no contact with the sensor with my finger and every time my reading has come to 2.6ec. Anyone else having this issue? I had solution and used it up because the same reading was happening, then bought the kit and again 2.6ec no matter how many times I clean the probe.

 

[shnkrmn]

Cleaning is fine, but did you calibrate it?

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

Cleaning is fine, but did you calibrate it?

The guardian series doesn’t calibrate the conductivity meter. I can calibrate the ph probe but the conductivity probe I guess you clean and check it

 

[calvin.m16]

I never had good accuracy with any BlueLab products long-term even with proper maintenance and KCL Solution storage. I use drops now and basically feed everything by weight instead of relying on meters. Start with fresh water in a big barrel, mix your nutrients and additives then pH to your hearts desire and send it.

This formula ends up around 5.8-6.0 every time with no adjustments needed using RO filtered water.
5 ml/gal Armor Si
1 tsp/gal MaxiBloom

I mix a 50 gallon barrel and 1 level scoop of MaxiBloom after mixing 250 ml Armor Si works great. I plan to switch from Armor Si to Agsil16H eventually but for now I'm a lazy bastard.

 

[Antidote Man]

My bluelab ph pen lasted 6 years in a storage unit but couldn't get it to calibrate after

my oakton ph pen is awesome.

 

[Tolerance Break]

Did you make sure the solution was the correct temp?

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

Did you make sure the solution was the correct temp?

This I did not do, please explain

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

I never had good accuracy with any BlueLab products long-term even with proper maintenance and KCL Solution storage. I use drops now and basically feed everything by weight instead of relying on meters. Start with fresh water in a big barrel, mix your nutrients and additives then pH to your hearts desire and send it.

This formula ends up around 5.8-6.0 every time with no adjustments needed using RO filtered water.
5 ml/gal Armor Si
1 tsp/gal MaxiBloom

I mix a 50 gallon barrel and 1 level scoop of MaxiBloom after mixing 250 ml Armor Si works great. I plan to switch from Armor Si to Agsil16H eventually but for now I'm a lazy bastard.

Yeah but using nutrients like megacrop even weighing out the nutes by scale or tsp can vary so this isn’t always the right approach for everyone.

 

[Delps8]

This I did not do, please explain

Conductivity varies with the temperature of the medium. The Bluelab corrects for that.

Yeh, the EC probe in the Bluelab MONGUA - I've got one, as well - can't be calibrated and you can't replace it, either.

When you calibrated, did you replace the shroud? If not, that will throw off the reading but, if it's always reading 2.6, I'm getting the feeling that you're going to need to "stimulate the economy".

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

Conductivity varies with the temperature of the medium. The Bluelab corrects for that.

Yeh, the EC probe in the Bluelab MONGUA - I've got one, as well - can't be calibrated and you can't replace it, either.

When you calibrated, did you replace the shroud? If not, that will throw off the reading but, if it's always reading 2.6, I'm getting the feeling that you're going to need to "stimulate the economy".

Well always reading 2.6 for the 2.77ec solution

 

[Delps8]

Well always reading 2.6 for the 2.77ec solution

Oh - thanks for the clarification.

That's a little low but within calibration limits. I think they're only good to 5%±.

The trick is to ensure that it's consistent. I use a Bluelab EC pen to make my nutes and the Monitor is in a 35 gallon res. The pen can be calibrated so I use that as a reference and take that into account when I read the monitor. The difference isn't huge - maybe 50 PPM (0.1 EC).

If you've got another device to measure EC, you should be able to do the same "virtual calibration" (new term).

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

Oh - thanks for the clarification.

That's a little low but within calibration limits. I think they're only good to 5%±.

The trick is to ensure that it's consistent. I use a Bluelab EC pen to make my nutes and the Monitor is in a 35 gallon res. The pen can be calibrated so I use that as a reference and take that into account when I read the monitor. The difference isn't huge - maybe 50 PPM (0.1 EC).

If you've got another device to measure EC, you should be able to do the same "virtual calibration" (new term).

Guardians good for +-1. It is -1. But watching all the calibration videos it was saying it should say 2.7,2.8 or 2.9. Maybe 2.6 is another but I contacted bluelab so we’ll see. My other bluelab equipment is down due to not being used for 3 years and will not calibrate.

 

[calvin.m16]

Feed by volume not by EC, are you in an RDWC system? Why does PPM/EC matter if you know what your putting in?

Bunch of unnecessary gizmos with dangly high maintenance easily off calibrated components.

How some people grow


How other people grow

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

Feed by volume not by EC, are you in an RDWC system? Why does PPM/EC matter if you know what your putting in?

Bunch of unnecessary gizmos with dangly high maintenance easily off calibrated components.

How some people grow
View attachment 5315616
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How other people grow
View attachment 5315617
View attachment 5315614

I’m running soil with megacrop and running megacrop not everything weighs the same so I use a scale. I use the conductivity to find out how much of the additives to use with the stage I’m at so I don’t over feed. I am not a noob when it comes to this stuff, different nutrients need these gizmos. Sure my next run I won’t need my conductivity pen but this one does. Using any of these Feed schedules online you can find aren’t for everyone. I found out I have a 250ppm tap, and seeming low, it’s still easy to over feed the slightest bit and have to put that into the persuasion. I know all the different types of growing and how people do it, but I happen to be using this meter. To each is own. This is how i do it and have done it and it works for me in great measure.

 

[Delps8]

Guardians good for +-1. It is -1. But watching all the calibration videos it was saying it should say 2.7,2.8 or 2.9. Maybe 2.6 is another but I contacted bluelab so we’ll see. My other bluelab equipment is down due to not being used for 3 years and will not calibrate.

0.1± is the spec? Thanks for posting that — I was too lazy to check, to be frank.

"contact Bluelab" - good move.

"not being used for 3 years" - same thing here. Did a grow in Summer 2017, power outage, and I mucked up the timers and it revegged so I archived everything early 2021. Big changes between 2017 and 2021! And even between 2021 and now.

 

[Sup Im BirDy]

0.1± is the spec? Thanks for posting that — I was too lazy to check, to be frank.

"contact Bluelab" - good move.

"not being used for 3 years" - same thing here. Did a grow in Summer 2017, power outage, and I mucked up the timers and it revegged so I archived everything early 2021. Big changes between 2017 and 2021! And even between 2021 and now.

Appreciate your guidance and help here my friend. This is why I love the cannabis communities. I’m sorry for the summer of 2017! I too had a mishap with electricity and had an amazing lemon skunk go to waste. Was running DWC at the time and she was stunning but she went through too much stress and I had to cut her down in preflower

 

[Delps8]

Appreciate your guidance and help here my friend. This is why I love the cannabis communities.

Agree. Some very knowledgeable and helpful folks on these sites.

I’m sorry for the summer of 2017! I too had a mishap with electricity and had an amazing lemon skunk go to waste. Was running DWC at the time and she was stunning but she went through too much stress and I had to cut her down in preflower

Ah, that sucks. Funny that we both hit a "showstopper" event at the same time. That was my first grow and I was pretty bummed so I packed things up.

Photo below from 9/1/2017. Rockin' a Kind blurple and mechanical timers. Still using the big res - 35 gallon res that holds 28 gallons. Started growing again in 2021 and ran into the same situation - one plant much larger than the other(s). Tried to figure out why but came to accept it so I only grow one at a time now.

Then


Now