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please help 1st hydro set up

T

tyler_ hobbyist

New member
I just set up my 1st hydro set up 120liter tote container with the farm kit for watering 2x 8inch airstones running a 793 air pump hydroton/ rockwool cubes botanic grow 10ml per gal nutrients uc roots 1ml per gal. I'm growing 1 purple kush auto and 1 blue cheese auto 8inch pots. Now my question is for some reason I can not get a true ph reading every time I check it its a different number and will not stabalize even when useing 3 different ph meters each miniute is a different ph can anyone tell me how to get an accurite ph reading with bubleponics? This is the 1st time I have grown bubleponics so any help would be much appricated.
 

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Calibrate your pH meters and/or get a liquid testing kit for an "objective" test. I use the liquid and will graduate to a a tester some day. I have two Water Farms and test them 3-4 times a day. Added oxygen will raise your pH.
Which is good, You adjust down and it ranges up to insure all nutrients are absorbed. What week on the feeding schedule are you? Are you using the GH Trio online chart? I use it at 100%. Many people use half strength. Good luck.
 
Cheap pH meters have only one display, one way to tell you something. If it isn't functioning correctly, it shows 0.00 all the time as an error message so you don't think it is actually measuring your samples. Try re-calibrating it and see if you can get it to show numbers which change when you move it from one solution to another. If not, probably time for a new one, or you may need to buy some new packets of calibration buffers (those solutions don't last forever after you mix them).

Re-think, more details: The '0.00' is really a 'universal error message' telling you that the meter is no longer reading correctly. Can be anything from a low battery to a broken measurement electrode (the fragile glass ball in the bottom of the instrument). You can either buy new calibration buffers and perhaps a battery or just get a new meter. If yours is old, or if you left the end cap off for a few days and the electrode is now toast, probably smarter to just replace it.
 
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I tryed 1 old meter and 2brand new meters and they where calibrated and each one gave me a different reading for some reason????? It's a yellow ph meter that's from this Web site
 
Like the guy with three watches who doesn't know what time it is. Curious -- how far apart are they, especially the two new ones? Clearly these are very cheaply made products, but they should agree better than that. If you test one of the calibration solutions, do they read anywhere near the correct pH?

One other thing is that if you try to measure very weak solutions, even tiny amounts of something left on the meter itself is enough to move the pH reading. Reading the pH of almost-pure water is much more difficult to get right than a stronger sample. It helps to wash your meter with clean water between samples, but that should only make a small change. The calibration solutions are buffers, which means they will actively try to maintain their pH values. Water with some small amount of stuff (nutrients etc.) can be changed easily by just a little contamination.
 
Howdy tyler_hobbyist, It can also make a difference keeping the pH stable with the type of water that You use. I have seen folks that use R/O or distilled water and they seem to have more problems maintaining a steady pH. I use the city tap water which is fairly hard water being that a large portion of the supply is from wells and the remainder is from a surface reservoir.
It does sound like You have a faulty meter. This is why I have bought my first and last meter and now, and will continue to, use pH dual panel test strips. The test strips are accurate and since they use a chemical reaction for the results, automatically adjust for the temperature.
Good luck with Youer grow.
 
I use drops. Not as accurate but gets me in "range". I've tried all sorts of water combinations from straight tap water (550 ppm- 650ppm), 50/50 tap/distilled tap/drinking tap/machine (250ppm-350ppm) straight distilled, drinking, and machine. I have to say that the water from the machine has been the most stable at maintaining pH. $1.25 for 5 gal 24ppm and pH is about 7.0. I use 5 1 gal containers. I mix my nutes in one and add it last. I then check pH after the system runs for an hour. Most of the time it's spot on 5.5 or I have to pH up a little.

One key thing to remember. Try to start with 5.5 pH you just need to get close. Then let it range to 6.5. then adjust down. Higher strength nutrients solutions will fluctuate more. Many people misunderstand "range". Different Nutrients absorb more efficient at different pH levels. So starting lower and letting it range up ensures you're​ getting the most of your nutrients.
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That u very much everyone I finaly got my ph dialed in :) I used 3 different meters and recalibrate each one and left it TN the soluiton til I used it and does this sound right to anyone but. I use 120liter container 30gals and I put in 20 gals of water 40ml of botanicare grow 10ml uc roots and this part throw me off but it might just be hydro but I needed to add 220ml of ph down to acheive a ph of 5.6 does this sound right to anyone?
 
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