Continuous PH / EC meters

T

TheHouseOfGreen420

Active Member
Hey all.

I’ve been looking into continuous ph / ec meter for the room.

I would love to constantly know the ph and ec without whipping a pen out, collaborating it and what not.

Some allow you to download an app and just track it from your phone.

I guess my question is, who is using them and what brand are you using ?
 
L

Lou66

Well-Known Member
If you're looking at continous measurement (opposed to a few minutes every other day) you have to pay for industrial grade equipment. They cost multiple times and need maintenance. Biofouling is the main problem here.
If you go further and automate something, eg pH control by addition of acid, you have to add additional layers of control such as limiting the amount of reagent that is dosed per unit time.

Ask yourself, what do you want to do and is the effort/money worth it to you?
 
Hollatchaboy

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
My bluelab guardian, is by no means industrial, and though it was a lil pricey, it wasn't over the top. For me, being able to real time monitor my res, Is priceless. I don't have time in the mornings to wait for readings. As for biofouling, I run my res sterile, so I have no worries there. I have 2 ph probes, I switch out every 2 weeks. I clean and put into storage solution, the one coming out, and rinse, and calibrate the one going in. It's simple, and never gives me problems.
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
Again, advise coming from someone who likely hasn't used a reservoir pH probe.

My buddy has had a guardian for 3+ years, the pH probe was replaced once; still accurate and working normally.

I have a similar DIY setup (pH only) for my reservoir using inexpensive AliExpress pH probes, a 24 bit ADC, and a mircrocontoller. After calibration, it's been consistent with my Apera pH 60 meter every time I've checked. The microcontoller will start a peristalic pump when necessary to adjust the pH. Everything gets plotted in HomeAssistant, so it's easy to see if anything needs attention.

The whole setup cost < $100 and works exactly as anticipated. I can't comment on long-term reliability of the pH probe, but if/when it goes bad, it's trivial to swap in a new one. The probes look identical to the one used in the BL Guardian fwiw; quite possibly the same supplier.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
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These RO TDS meters are pretty cool. When I grew DTW more often, I would stick one probe in the main res, and one into the bilge area of the trays. With the flick of the switch, I could see the both the input and runoff waste waters EC, without fooling around as much and using my meter.

Or, when I had 2 rdwc systems going, I would toss one sensor in each res, so I could check both remotely, without going in the room..
 
Timezone

Timezone

Well-Known Member
I began an automation project a while back and chose an Atlas Scientific "Lab Grade" pH Probe and a K 1.0 Conductivity Probe, specifically because, from their ads, these probes "can be fully submerged in fresh water or salt water, up to the SMA connector indefinitely."

Unfortunately, the control box that all the probes and several other sensors attached to, has been misplaced, lost, or stolen. But I still have the probes... It was a pretty heavy hit, I figure about $650 for the box.

Since then, slowly, I've repurchased all of the components and just need to make another circuit board, do the enclosure cutouts, mount everything inside, reprogram and pickup where I left off. More then.
 
D

Delps8

Well-Known Member
TheHouseOfGreen420 said:
Hey all.

I’ve been looking into continuous ph / ec meter for the room.

I would love to constantly know the ph and ec without whipping a pen out, collaborating it and what not.

Some allow you to download an app and just track it from your phone.

I guess my question is, who is using them and what brand are you using ?
Click to expand...
I use a Bluelab monitor that I bought in 2017 and it's worked flawlessly. The only thing I've needed to change was the pH probe after a rat chewed through it. The version I bought does not have WiFi so I put a Wyze security camera in front of it but there's a new model that has WiFi built in. The WiFi model comes with a $100 jump in price.

The Bluelab should be calibrated every 30 days and, when calibration is due, a pair of lights on the display flash to remind you to calibrate. The Bluelab has never been anything but 0.1 units off (don't recall whether it's high or low).

The EC probe does not calibrate but it's been between 0 and +0.1EC.
 
Under the Radar

Under the Radar

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I’ve been using a Hanna meter for 3 years now. I calibrate the ppm and pH once a month.....or so.

They have a new line for growers Groline

I’ll replace my existing one with a groline when it dies. Unless I find a better one for the same or similar monies.

Keep it green!

Sensi Star v2 x Puck on left Appy on right 7W
image.jpg
 
Last edited:
bprestoner

bprestoner

Active Member
TheHouseOfGreen420 said:
Hey all.

I’ve been looking into continuous ph / ec meter for the room.

I would love to constantly know the ph and ec without whipping a pen out, collaborating it and what not.

Some allow you to download an app and just track it from your phone.

I guess my question is, who is using them and what brand are you using ?
Click to expand...
Im interested in Growee’s automated system. I started to dive into the rabbit hole of Raspberry Pi, pumps, probes and power supplies. When all of a sudden I found this company Growee. I am struggling to get real-world feedback. Not some add, or a potential self-written review. It’s a decent chunk of change, but it also looks to be exactly what i was about to invest countless hours in building, and likely maintaining. Whereas, this way I just unbox it, assemble, download an app…. seems almost to good to be true! Why arent there more products taylor made for our little market? Why cant I find dozens of options on automated PH & PPM dosing and monitoring?!? I am glad I managed to find this though. Just hate to drop a couple grand without knowing someone that has one. Appreciate anybody’s thoughts & feedback.

getgrowee.com

Growee Nutrient Doser - Smart Dosing With EC/ PPM Control

Automatic nutrient doser with full EC / PPM control from your phone, Growee will keep your plants nutrient solution balanced 24/7.
getgrowee.com getgrowee.com
 
amneziaHaze

amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
Billy the Mountain said:
Again, advise coming from someone who likely hasn't used a reservoir pH probe.

My buddy has had a guardian for 3+ years, the pH probe was replaced once; still accurate and working normally.

I have a similar DIY setup (pH only) for my reservoir using inexpensive AliExpress pH probes, a 24 bit ADC, and a mircrocontoller. After calibration, it's been consistent with my Apera pH 60 meter every time I've checked. The microcontoller will start a peristalic pump when necessary to adjust the pH. Everything gets plotted in HomeAssistant, so it's easy to see if anything needs attention.

The whole setup cost < $100 and works exactly as anticipated. I can't comment on long-term reliability of the pH probe, but if/when it goes bad, it's trivial to swap in a new one. The probes look identical to the one used in the BL Guardian fwiw; quite possibly the same supplier.
Click to expand...
care to share the build? can you get it working on wifi or bluetooth? what kind of microcontroler do you use?
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
amneziaHaze said:
care to share the build? can you get it working on wifi or bluetooth? what kind of microcontroler do you use?
Click to expand...
It's actually a very simple setup. I use an ESP32 microcontroller which has wifi/BT. An ADC reads the voltage from the probe, converts to a pH value, checks it against the target pH, if it's outside a defined window, a 12v peristalic pump is triggered via a mosfet. The ESP32 sends the pH values over mqtt messages via wifi to a HA server for display/plotting. That's essentially the entire process.

One aspect I could improve is the mounting of the pH probe; I currently have the probe mounted in a "remote reservoir". It was my solution to the changing levels in my trashcan reservoir. I'd like to mount it on top of the main reservoir but my space doesn't allow that. A better mounting solution for the pH probe is my off-season grow project.
 
L

Lou66

Well-Known Member
Billy the Mountain said:
It's actually a very simple setup. I use an ESP32 microcontroller which has wifi/BT. An ADC reads the voltage from the probe, converts to a pH value, checks it against the target pH, if it's outside a defined window, a 12v peristalic pump is triggered via a mosfet. The ESP32 sends the pH values over mqtt messages via wifi to a HA server for display/plotting. That's essentially the entire process.

One aspect I could improve is the mounting of the pH probe; I currently have the probe mounted in a "remote reservoir". It was my solution to the changing levels in my trashcan reservoir. I'd like to mount it on top of the main reservoir but my space doesn't allow that. A better mounting solution for the pH probe is my off-season grow project.
Click to expand...
You can improve 2 things: add a control rule that prevents runaway dosing. If a malfunction happens the dosing should be limited. Define maximum volume to be added per hour/day

Mounting the probe can be done with a styrofoam float (or any other closed cell foam). Just make sure the solution is agitated to ensure the reading is reliable.
 
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