When I used to do hydro, my biggest aggravation was pH testing as a whole.. I ended up splurging and bought a real-time pH/ppm/temp meter and it worked great!!! I only had to calibrate it once and it worked like a charm!! Problem was, my last job, I used to have to travel, sometimes at the drop of a hat, and often times, not knowing how long it'd be for; could be 2 days, could be 2 weeks.. The wife isn't exactly science/tech savvy, and I tried exhaustively to teach her the very basics of adjusting pH and worst case, adding water and a little pH down and it still didn't work because she was more worried about ruining the plants.. I get it, but it was frustrating.. Who knows how many ozs I lost due to plants being stunted from horrid pH shifts.. Worst one, I came home from a 5 day and I think I had a little too high of an EC.. Plants looked rough and wilty, but not dried out.. Checked the pH w/ a pen and it said 3.4.. I was beside myself, and thinking it was calibration, I calibrated it, only for it to come back at 3.5 now.. SHIIIIIIIT!!!! So I flushed the rockwool w/ unpH adjusted water and then fed it low strength nutes to the tune of a 6.0 pH.. Plant bounced back in about 2 days, but all the wife had to do was dump a chunk of the pH up in there 2 days before and the plant probably would've been huge!!
If you can afford it, I'd suggest getting one of the real-time meters because they really do work well!! I used the the Control Wizard 24/7 Meter, and got it on Ebay for $125, but they're usually a little more.. I only needed to calibrate it once in the 3 grows I used it for, but I left the pH probe out and it dried up a bit, so if I decide to grow a hydro photo this Winter, I'll have to get another one..
If you can afford it, I'd suggest getting one of the real-time meters because they really do work well!! I used the the Control Wizard 24/7 Meter, and got it on Ebay for $125, but they're usually a little more.. I only needed to calibrate it once in the 3 grows I used it for, but I left the pH probe out and it dried up a bit, so if I decide to grow a hydro photo this Winter, I'll have to get another one..
