Hey guys I am about to start my first grow and I want to be prepared and do things the right way..I need to get a ph meter to check my water and nutes and to check my soil to see how it is.. Is there a combo meter to use??? Do I need a seperate meter for watering and checking runoff compared to a meter for checking soil??? Don't have a lot of money after laying out for lights soil and the great Mephisto genetics:drool: So is there a budget alternative compared to something like a accurate 8 meter to get me by on the first grow before I upgrade???? I appreciate some of the master growers answering this for me
If money is short then get a
"soil PH probe" around £5 ebay
"Ph probe" around £6 ebay
"EC pen" around £8 ebay
"PH calibrating powder" around £4
"Ionised water" around £3 a liter
The list above is purely the cheapest on ebay, when you can afford to It would be better to invest in some better quality meters.
A EC pen is used to measure the concentration of nutrient solutions with chemical nutrients.
If your using organic nutriment an EC meter (or a PPM meter/ TDS meter) won't work.
Note : A TDS (Total Disolved Solids) meter measure the strength of a sloution, by measuring the "Total Disolved Solids" in the solution. A PPM (Parts Per Million) meter measures how many "Parts Per Million" of nutrient are in your solution.
One problem with TDS & PPM is that not all meters use the same system to measure the nutrient solution.
EC is the only universal method of measuring the nutrient solution.
Here is table theat shows how they differ in their measurements.
A lot of people like the "Acrrate 8" soil PH probe for checking the soil ph.
Hanna is a respected brand of PH pen meters
Bluelab make a great selection of PH,EC & soil meters.
I'm sure there will be some other suggestions from other members too.
How to use calibration powders when calibrating your PH pen
