pH meter ?

What pH meter do you recommend?

Depends what you want to spend, cheap ones are crap.

Ph paper is always accurate and it's quick and easy to use, a ph pen/meter needs specific storage and ph calibrating solutions with weekly calibrations, you don't have that bs and added expense with ph paper.

If you want a ph pen I'd recommend the Apera ph 60 in part because you can replace the tip for £30 and because it's never far away when calibrating.

Blue lab is a good meter, kind of pricey but youll end up saving money in the short run.. i wave about 5 cheap pens laying around my home all over the place.. it would take me at least an hour to gather them.. if you do get a cheap pen make sure to get yourself a bottle of this

Or just buy the cheap pH kit from GH. Test bottle and drops. Extremely accurate. Comes with small bottles pH Up and pH Down. Or the drop test kit alone.

A cheap pen. Cheap because you are going to fuck it up anyway... Drops are good for those with perfect colour vision.

Lilmink said:

What pH meter do you recommend?

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Hm digital.... calibrate frequently and use storage solution

oill said:

Hm digital.... calibrate frequently and use storage solution

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Yeah, and remember to top up the solution even when you aren't growing... That's the hard part imo.

Drops are cheap and easy but litmus strips are better imo for Nute mixes that have a color of their own. I use an hm80. Have a blue lab EC pen quality but hm isn’t bad for budget

milwaukee

Star Dog said:

Depends what you want to spend, cheap ones are crap.

Ph paper is always accurate and it's quick and easy to use, a ph pen/meter needs specific storage and ph calibrating solutions with weekly calibrations, you don't have that bs and added expense with ph paper.

If you want a ph pen I'd recommend the Apera ph 60 in part because you can replace the tip for £30 and because it's never far away when calibrating.

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I have a Bluelab which is a good meter but would probably go with the Apera if I was buying one today because of the replaceable probe. The Bluelab was the best one they had at the store when I bought it. I didn't want one of those cheap $20 ones and needed it right away.

Amazon.com : Bluelab Combo Meter Plus - Handheld Digital Hydroponic Nutrient and pH Meter for Measuring pH Levels, Conductivity & Temperature in Soil & Plants - Accurate pH Measurements - Bonus Carry Case Included : Patio, Lawn & Garden

I have just the solo leap probe but the combo may or may not be worth it to get the combo unit I just own a seperate ppm/ec pen by bluelab. It is rarely off of calibration with minimal cleaning

this is the leap probe, it works in solutions and directly in soil or coco
Bluelab Multimedia pH Meter (Leap Probe Included) (monstergardens.com)

You need cleaning and calibration solutions and storage solutions to keep your probes working great. A replaceable probe is always nice

The display itself is not waterproof on this leap probe

Don't have the cash for the bluelab ones so I'm going with the apera. Thanks everyone

I've had reliable, repeatable results with an Apera PH60. Proper calibration and storage is a must.

$10 pH drops are accurate and reliable, color of nutes is irrelevant to getting an accurate measurement

$10 pH pens are wildly inaccurate and a waste of money; better off using drops or spend enough on an accurate pH meter

Lilmink said:

Don't have the cash for the bluelab ones so I'm going with the apera. Thanks everyone

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Your just gonna buy it in the future anyways… use drops in the mean time and a cheap ppm meter..

Lilmink said:

Don't have the cash for the bluelab ones so I'm going with the apera. Thanks everyone

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For reliable ph readings that's a sound buy, it's worth picking up a spare probe when you get the opportunity.

I have an Apera, flawless operation and accuracy for the past year, I calibrated it once but check it against reference solutions occasionally. I would get a bluelab next though. I always have a PH kit around just in case though, so be sure to get one of those no matter what probe you get. Make sure you have the 4/7 ph reference solutions to calibrate it, and most importantly, you need KCL storage solution. Keep that tip marinating in KCL whenever you aren't using it. One tip about the PH kits I learned from my aquarium days, if you have trouble figuring out which yellow or green you are looking at with the hydrofarm kit, get yourself a SERA freshwater PH kit-it's a couple of dollars more, but your paying for German accuracy and extremely easy to identify PH colors. The cheap PH pens aren't worth it, if that's all you can afford get the PH kit instead.