ph & ec meters

ph & ec meters: how necessary are these. I have a digital ph meter, but it's really a pain because of the requirement of calibration solutions and storage solutions for the electrode. It gets expensive using the storage solution all the time. I am using r/o and am testing ph every time I change the ratio of nutes to water, but if I am using the same amount of nutes to water I don't test. I change the water 100% (this is a DWC setup) every two weeks and have only been topping off with r/o in between changes (I don't add any nutes when topping off).

So, am I asking for trouble going on like this? do I really need these expensive and fiddly electronics?

I could go out and buy a combo ph/ec/tds meter but that + all the calibration / storage solutions I am looking at $200 and probably $50 every 6 months for the solutions. Not to mention it is a pain to put in storage solution after each use and then carefully rinse it off before each use.

Oh I am using fox farm nutes + just a little bit of epsom salts to give a little hardness to the r/o

you might consider buying a qualitiy combo meter that stay in the reservoir. No need for storage solution, a simple calibration solution bottle will last a year.

I use a nutra dip constant ppm meter it works good. Definetly worth the money it was like 125

Non-Electric PH testing is simple. Might want to look into that if you find electric annoying.

thank you Xan2. while I have 4 separate dwc buckets, I guess I could leave it in just one and then move it around when I need to test. Not a bad idea. That takes care of one of my big complaints, which is the storage solution. All that's left is the money

So you are of the opinion that I should get a good combo meter. That seems to be the majority opinion from what I've read in other posts.

I'm assuming you use one. Do you often make adjustments in between water changes based on the readings you get off the meter?

thizz13, thank you. I saw that when I was looking them up on the web...I currently have hannah ph meter. It's a nice unit, but it's not really meant for constant immersion. I am leaning towards getting a ph/ec meter, and that seems a reasonable way to go.

Hi Shayden, if you are talking about the ph test strips (like the ones you can get for fish tanks) I've tried them but I do not think they are accurate enough. For instance, I think 1-6 ph is all pretty much just lumped together since those are all to low for fish, so it would be hard to know exactly what ph I am working with and from what I've read 5.6-5.8 is very good.

If you know of other methods that are both accurate for my desired range, say 5-6.5 then I would appreciate any more details you could provide, because I couldn't find much doing a google search.
Thank you for your reply.

ilcattivo said:

thank you Xan2. while I have 4 separate dwc buckets, I guess I could leave it in just one and then move it around when I need to test. Not a bad idea. That takes care of one of my big complaints, which is the storage solution. All that's left is the money

So you are of the opinion that I should get a good combo meter. That seems to be the majority opinion from what I've read in other posts.

I'm assuming you use one. Do you often make adjustments in between water changes based on the readings you get off the meter?

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To be honest i have decent sized garden to take care of and i am a lazy ass.. lol but i do caliber my meters once a month to be accurate. I use not more than 500ml of solution every year.
If it is possible for you to do so, i would link those 4 DWC bucket togheter using bulkheads and add a pump so you'll have a recirculated dwc system wich is what i had on my 1st grow. Awesome to run..

thizz13 said:

I use a nutra dip constant ppm meter it works good. Definetly worth the money it was like 125

Click to expand...

Are you talking about the blue one? If so, i have one of those, they are nice but mine is sometimes unreliable. Maybe i got a bad one.

I dont use a ph meter or ppm meter. For ph i use a solution by a droper that changes colors, been doing this for a while and i know the entire color spectrum. For ppm I i just crank it up by tsp per gallon until I start to see nute burn. Ive been growing the same strain for a while now so im pretty comfortable with nute usage.

Thanks for the reply, SlimDigital. I'm probably going to do this grow with just the hanna ph meter and see how it goes. If I have too many problems I'll get the ec/ppm meter. Right now I just messed up cause I didn't test the PH often enough (even though I have a meter...ugh). Anyway, I appreciate your input.