How often do you calibrate your ph and tds pens?

[Hydroburn]

My hannah PH pen floats around a lot and has to be calibrated at 7.0 pretty much every week (4.01 side stays pretty dialed in).

My blue labs PH pen no longer calibrates after 10 months of use and is a paper weight.

My hannah PPM pen has been calibrated twice in over a year with 1382 and was spot on both times.

I feel like I have to calibrate my ph pens too much to where it's almost easier to just use GH liquid drops. I store them either with water from the res in the cap, tap water in the cap, or in a glass of tap water if not using for a while. My tap water is 150ppm at 8.2 PH

 

[tip top toker]

I bought one of those generic stick ph pens, think it was branded essentials or something, i used it for 2 years, stuck it in some solution and it still read perfectly. So all in all i guess in 3 years i didn't have to calibrate it.

My tap water was slightly higher in both ph and ppm than yours. I also just ran the pen and lid under the tap and stuck the lid back on.

 

[Nizza]

try buying some storage solution and leaving the bluelab pen in it for a month or two. Believe it or not i bought a new ph pen when my probe dried out and got the storage solution with it, so i put it on the old probe and it started working lol.

but i think cleaning is important if you have salt buildup on your pen
best way to avoid salt buildup is rinse it every use.
also know how to properly store your pens!Very important

 

[smokegreenshlt]

My Hanna goes outta wack if I leave it on...sucks. Lol. But other then that it stays pretty close

 

[RetiredMatthebrute]

i calibrate my hannah PH pen about once a month...my PPM pen stays pretty dialed in but needs a slight adjustment every 3-4 months...just the nature of the game...


what works great is putting your solutions in some mason jars so you dont have to transfer them to cups and back to the bottles every time.

 

[SnapsProvolone]

I calibrate my pen whenever I want an accurate reading. Funny thing is the cheapo pen I bought works better than the bluelab or hanna I had.

 

[Ibex]

My blue labs PH pen no longer calibrates after 10 months of use and is a paper weight.

Email bluelab. As long as you did nothing to directly cause the fuck ups, IE letting the probe dry, getting the circuit board wet, then they should replace it. You have/had a 1 year warranty on it. IMO the pen from any company is only ok at best; the meter is far superior than pens, from both milwaukee and bluelab.

Thats unlucky yall have had bad experiences, I have had two bluelab ph meters personally and both have worked great, the mmj company I grew for had all bluelab's and same story.

http://www.getbluelab.com/Support/Bluelab+Product+Guarantee.html

To answer your question

I calibrate my bluelab meter about once a month or if I begin to see odd numbers. I have come to learn what the ec and ph land on before and after nutrient dosage for that given week. It is also cleaned after every use, everytime.

I have never calibrated my ec meter. My reasoning behind this is that it doesnt matter if the meter is right compared to the scale, as long as it reads consistently as I use the same nute dose for that given plant week over multiple cycles.

 

[BigLittlejohn]

I keep my PH pen in 7.0 calibration solution. I've had to calibrate it twice since I bought it. I've never had to calibrate my TDS meter.

 

[ilikecheetoes]

i use a hanna black combo pen. I have it calibrated by the hydro shop guys whenever I buy new batteries for it. every 6 months or so. I change batteries when they are at 94%. tbh I start thinking I need to change the batteries when they get to 94% but its usually around 85% before I actually take it in. Im to lazy to change the batteries myself and the shop will swap them and calibrate it while I'm there.

 

[smokegreenshlt]

....seriously. I hope ur a chick...lol

 

[ilikecheetoes]

nope but im pretty cute.

 

[smokegreenshlt]

Lmmfao priceless or should I say PRINCESS lol

 

[farmasensist]

I've had a super cheap ph pen for about 3 months and calibrated it twice just to make sure it wasn't off. Both times I was only off by about .05. When I put it away I just shake the res water off and put the cap back on, maybe wipe the end off with my shirt if its really wet.

 

[HGK420]

i vote check it when you open it in some 7.0

ALWAYS POUR THE 7.0 INTO A GLASS TO CHECK DONT DIP YOUR DIRTY THINGY IN THAT BEAUTIFULLY CLEAN 7.0!

if it doesn't read 7.0 then calibrate it.... its probably gonna float right back to where it wanted to be...

i know this sounds dumb but none of my shit is calibrated... i just dip it into 7.0 and if it reads 6.8 i do the math... I'm sure I'm gonna get flamed for this but I've had my meter forever and i used to calibrate it all the time but i ran outa the stuff so i just did the math from checking it in 7.0, it likes to hang out at 6.7 or 6.8 for some reason and i just deal lol

i just recently got a new pen that calibrates in 7.0 so that's kinda cool. i think if it was ever off id calibrate it but so far its been on.

 

[Usernamewastaken]

I calibrate each time I use it..

to vital of parameter and so easy to ensure it's correct

 

[waterdawg]

I calibrate each time I use it..

to vital of parameter and so easy to ensure it's correct

Wow every time? And is it out every time?

 

[Hydroburn]

If I was going to calibrate every time I might as well just use liquid drops. I think I could take better care of my ph pen after reading some of your comments. I have started rinsing off the probe with tap water after using and storing it in tap water in the cap... as opposed to salty ass nute solution.

 

[Usernamewastaken]

Wow every time? And is it out every time?

Not by much

it takes me no more than 3 minutes for piece of mind. I run probe under tap and store it with distilled water in the cap.

nit sure why peeps are acting like this is such a tedious task... Very simple , quick and easy

 

[waterdawg]

Not by much

it takes me no more than 3 minutes for piece of mind. I run probe under tap and store it with distilled water in the cap.

nit sure why peeps are acting like this is such a tedious task... Very simple , quick and easy

Never said it was a task just wondering why is all. Also I could be very wrong but I thought Bluelab suggested not using distilled for their storage solution. I do know they sugest tap water or 4 ph solution but have heard they change it as well and now say not to use 4. Guess I should go check lol

 

[GreenSummit]

I never calibrate. Don't use either one anymore