I could rip ten sites easily that all cover the info you need on ph meter care, heres one now go read the rest, they will detail not to store in water but kcl, how to rehydrate with kcl or buffer, how to bring back from dry periods, monthly maintenance.
What are you doing with the distilled water?
The instructions for my ph meter state to mix the 6.86, 4.01, and 9.18 pouches with distilled water to go through the calibration process. I was asking if distilled water could go bad because I was having trouble getting results that match that of drops with a brand new ph meter than had been calibrated as the instructions instructed (and my distilled water was 8-months old)..
Yes, thank you again Kingrow1. Your article link was helpful but I have been reading a lot about this topic and was following all the Google directions but was still having problems in getting reliable results with my new meter after calibration. I did not store the meter in water, distilled or any other. I understand the roll of kcl in storage after damaging my last meter, and I didn't realize that a brand new meter had potentially gone through a dry period in the package and required revival (my last new ph meter didn't require this). That's why I make posts with lots of information and very specific questions. I think often some on these forums don't fully read the post before they supply their response.
Yes, thank you Lucky, but the filtered tap water my house provides starts with a ph 8.0. I feel that even though soil helps to equalize ph, this is higher than I'd like to feed/water with so I want to ph-down. Since I like to ph-down, I like to know the number that I'm ph-downing to.
I feel like your problem is not having proper buffer solutions of ph 4/7&9.
The answer to the question is ph4.2 - waters ionization constant.
My experience has been ph meters that come with poor, incomplete or nearly worthless instructions! The average person needs to research probe care!
Interesting, all my meters came with liquid solution in the pouches.
Soil doesn't equalize it buffers and swings throughout the wet and dry cycle.
Sorry, I used poor wording when I said "equalize"... buffer would have been better. As for why I'm using filtered water, for this grow I'm using Great White Mycorrhizae and my understanding was that Chlorine in the water was bad for this product. My city water has Chlorine so the filter I installed greatly reduces that. I also let the water breath for 24 hours before use. If you have any input on this, I'd be happy to hear.
Lots of people grow veggies, they have huge veggie gardens..ever see any of them measuring PH or PH adjusting their tap water? Me either.
Ignore chlorine, its harmless in tap water.
