PH Pens

[Blue61]

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me.I just bought a new ph pen and they say to calibrate it using the 3 packets of buffers that came with it.
I have always just calibrated my pens with 7.0 calibration solution. Do you get an accurate calibration this way without using the buffers?
One other thing,They say to dry your pen after use but I have never been able to find anything that will fit in it to dry it,any ideas?

 

[Japonica]

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me.I just bought a new ph pen and they say to calibrate it using the 3 packets of buffers that came with it.
I have always just calibrated my pens with 7.0 calibration solution. Do you get an accurate calibration this way without using the buffers?
One other thing,They say to dry your pen after use but I have never been able to find anything that will fit in it to dry it,any ideas?

Yes.i use bottled water that says on the bottled the ph range.i checked it also several times with two different brands bottled water 7.7 and 8.0.

 

[Japonica]

Yes.i use bottled water that says on the bottled the ph range.i checked it also several times with two different brands bottled water 7.7 and 8.0.

Maybe needs a bit more time.but if u calibrate on the one bottle and says the right ph and then go to the other bottled water and see

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me.I just bought a new ph pen and they say to calibrate it using the 3 packets of buffers that came with it.
I have always just calibrated my pens with 7.0 calibration solution. Do you get an accurate calibration this way without using the buffers?
One other thing,They say to dry your pen after use but I have never been able to find anything that will fit in it to dry it,any ideas?

What brand and model did you get?

 

[nizmoKush]

1st point calibration then 2nd point and 3rd I thinks 7 them 4 and last 10.. i have the apera ph60 and it came with the 3 solutions. I did the 3 point since they came with when I got it and its been a couple weeks and still no need to re calibrate at all. I see it as the 3 point cal as more assurance of what I'm ph'ing.. I'm am stoned af right now diamonds and badder..

 

[Japonica]

"Testo 206 ph2," mustbe a good ph meter.never usedit but i used some of their other meters and works great and fast

 

[Blue61]

What brand and model did you get?

It's made by S'UMGOTT. It was a cheap ph pen and tds meter twin pack.I just wanted to try it because my other ph pen you have to adjust with a screw in the back which is a pita.This one has a button in the front.

 

[Olderfart]

Word of warning, cheap pH pens are notoriously delicate and unreliable. Make absolutely sure that you do not let the sensor dry out even briefly. If it dries out, it will likely lose calibration and fail shortly after. And store it either in pH7 calibration fluid, or in proper storage solution. Do not store it in tap, RO, or distilled water. If you are lucky and careful, you may keep the pen alive. Mine died in less than a week, most likely due to drying out for fifteen or so minutes.

As to calibration, for our purposes, calibration with the ph7 calibration fluid is all you need. Calibration with all three fluids just tightens the accuracy a bit, not that critical for weed growing purposes.

 

[Blue61]

Word of warning, cheap pH pens are notoriously delicate and unreliable. Make absolutely sure that you do not let the sensor dry out even briefly. If it dries out, it will likely lose calibration and fail shortly after. And store it either in pH7 calibration fluid, or in proper storage solution. Do not store it in tap, RO, or distilled water. If you are lucky and careful, you may keep the pen alive. Mine died in less than a week, most likely due to drying out for fifteen or so minutes.

As to calibration, for our purposes, calibration with the ph7 calibration fluid is all you need. Calibration with all three fluids just tightens the accuracy a bit, not that critical for weed growing purposes.

Thanks man.About the drying out,I have read to store in something but also have read to make sure to dry it off completely
before storing.I have to admit a little confused by this.

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks man.About the drying out,I have read to store in something but also have read to make sure to dry it off completely
before storing.I have to admit a little confused by this.

I call complete bs on "drying completely". Do not touch the little glass sensor, and definitely do not let it dry out. If you try to clean it or dry the sensor itself by wiping, you will almost certainly bugger it. The best way to use the pen, in my opinion, is to take it out of the storage cap, turn it on, take your reading, give it a good vigorous stir in distilled water to remove any nute solution, wipe the water off the outside plastic of the pen without touching the sensor, gently shake the excess distilled water out of the sensor area, and replace in the storage cap. If you need to adjust pH of the mix you are testing, you don't need to clean and store the pen as long as you do your pH adjustment immediately, and take another reading before the pen dries out.

The reason that you want to remove excess nute mix or distilled water is that every time you put the pen back in its storage cap, you would be diluting and/or contaminating your storage solution, which would eventually bugger it up. This will still happen slowly even if you are careful, so you need to replace the storage solution once in a while. Mine gets replaced every week or so during a grow or when the level goes down in the cap. You want the glass sensor to always remain submerged during storage.