# Cheap reliable ppm pen.



## NewbieG (Jan 14, 2009)

So after attempting to do vegetative state without ppm concentration, I have decide that for flower I would like to push the plants and need to know my concentrations from day to day. 
     I have been keeping pH with drops, which has worked fine and been very easy. I can even tell when i between full numbers by the tint of the color that I see so I don't really want to spend the 150 on one of those pH/ ppm meters. I JUST want a solid, reliable, ppm meter that if possible is in the $20-$50 range IF they exist. I have seen ppm pens for $15.00 on ebay but I want to make sure that it wont last me a day or two, or just give me unreliable readings that will lead to me killing or hurting my plants.
     If any of you guys could point me the correct direction, I would appreciate it. Thanks.


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## Tater (Jan 14, 2009)

If you are serious about your new hobbie save your pennies and by some real gear.  Especially if you plan on doing hydro.  Growing hydro without a good ph pen and ppm meter is the equivilant of sky diving without a parachute.  Sure everything will start out great but when problems arise they will come at you fast and it will never end well.  You need to understand PH scales, a movement of 0.1 is equal to the solution being 10 times more acidic or basic. (IIRC maybe I need to understand ph scales lol.)  If you don't have an accurate ppm reading and ph reading don't expect much help when things go south besides comments like
"buy a ph/ppm meter"

Hannah, bluelab, nutridip are three great brands.  If you are going to buy a no name whatever from ebay thats fine, just research it first so you don't end up with a 50 dollar paper weight.


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## D.W.FAAMER (Jan 14, 2009)

the sunleaves tds essential pen is like $39.95 at htg supply. they're nice mine has always worked well. i did order a very nice industrial type pen though. it tests everything. bought only because it takes all readings temp,salts,tds,ec,and p.h. and i enjoy my garden so spent the money on nice pen.


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## Mutt (Jan 14, 2009)

I'm not a hydro guy, but all the hydro peeps i chat with say that DO NOT spare expense when it comes to a PPM meter. The peeps that preach this are cheap, but they have pounded in my head that a good ppm meter is a must. Also one you can recalibrate yourself. not one that can't be done. Truncheon or Oakton seems to be a fav. I've heard that Hanah is a PITA by several. 80buck min. seems to be the gen price for a quality PPM meter. Like my PH meter storage and maint. is #1 with making a meter last


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## D.W.FAAMER (Jan 14, 2009)

my new one in an extech exstik ii $154.00. worth the money. or more.got it through shop so it would be more at hydro shop. no doubt. i firmly agree to get good test equip. but the sunleaves digital tds pen is more than adequate.get calibrating solution for like 7 or 8 $ .


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## Tater (Jan 14, 2009)

I got the nutridip tri monitor.  It monitors 24/7 and has a big LCD screen.  Measures EC, TDS, and PH.  289 plus tax.  Worth every penny, just watch those ph probes they are easy to break and costly to replace.  I built the rest of my room with diy ingenuity.  You just can't skimp on your meters they are a must.


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## D.W.FAAMER (Jan 14, 2009)

no doubt


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## NewbieG (Jan 15, 2009)

I think I'm going to go with the sunleaves pen as it is cheap. From the sound of things though, I'm going to need a pH pen as well. So I guess thats my next thing to look for. A cheap reliable pH meter.


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## SmokeyTheBear (Jan 17, 2009)

NewbieG said:
			
		

> From the sound of things though, I'm going to need a pH pen as well. So I guess thats my next thing to look for. A cheap reliable pH meter.


 
You dont need to buy a PH pen   You can go to your local fish or pool store and get a PH tester kits. The pool store might be your best place to go, they have better test kits and will have a wider range on PH charts.

But yes your all in one testers are they way to go. Will save you money and time


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## BuddyLuv (Jan 17, 2009)

My Hanna is nice it was around 200 bucks. I know that Hanna make small pen types that do both pH and TDS. You may just want to spend the extra ten bucks on one of those rather then buying two pens.


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## INTHEDES (Jan 18, 2009)

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> You dont need to buy a PH pen  You can go to your local fish or pool store and get a PH tester kits. The pool store might be your best place to go, they have better test kits and will have a wider range on PH charts.
> 
> But yes your all in one testers are they way to go. Will save you money and time


 


DONT FORGET,some nutes/teas alter the color of the water,there for messin w/ the drops(this method involves 20-25 ml of water and 1-2 drops,shake & compare to a chart)so you can see how the color of the water would severly mess w/ the color of the water after the solution was added.I have first hand experience with this problem,I lost(killed) about $200 dollars worth of top quality beans.I was embarissed when my buddy came over only to school me as I showed him how I check my water.He went home and brought his ph/ec/tds/temp ( $175)pen over to compare and my reading was off bu 1.7.
 I quickly bought his( he bought constant monitoring pen$315), called jack and bought More MAGICAL beans & all is now good in my world of grow.
 DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID BY THINKIN YOU SAVED A BUCK,ITS COSTLY.............TIME IS MONEY.BOOD LUCK.


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## BuddyLuv (Jan 18, 2009)

Exactly, your pH pen is one thing you do not want to cheap out on. You can get good results with cheap ballast, bulbs, and DIY systems but you can not grow crap without the proper pH/TDS.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jan 18, 2009)

If you only have money for one thing, I would be advising you to get a pH tester first.  The test strips are not nearly accurate enough for hydro, which should be kept between about 5.3 and 5.8.  If you pH is not on, it won't matter how "on" you are with your nutes--your plant will not be able to utilize them.


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## Tater (Jan 18, 2009)

Hemp goddess is right, you can adjust your ppm's by following the directions on the label and knowing how much water you have.  Simply start off at half of what the bottle reccommends and bring it up slowly.


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## D.W.FAAMER (Jan 19, 2009)

they are right about the ph meter being very important. i figured that the cheapo i got at ace hardware(the kind that you use in dirt). not accurate in water at all.helped me to about kill my gals.as for nutrients go 1/4 of what the directions say on first resevoir if you aren't going to get a tds meter now.using maxi bloom,anything over 550-600ppm starts to burn my leaves.really get both meters if you can afford it.the sunleaves registers perfect.39.99 or whatever at htg supply good deal in my book.but listen to goddess ph will make you or break you.


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## NewbieG (Jan 19, 2009)

D.W.FAAMER said:
			
		

> they are right about the ph meter being very important. i figured that the cheapo i got at ace hardware(the kind that you use in dirt). not accurate in water at all.helped me to about kill my gals.as for nutrients go 1/4 of what the directions say on first resevoir if you aren't going to get a tds meter now.using maxi bloom,anything over 550-600ppm starts to burn my leaves.really get both meters if you can afford it.the sunleaves registers perfect.39.99 or whatever at htg supply good deal in my book.but listen to goddess ph will make you or break you.



I see your point about the cheap pens. I've actually ordered a very cheap ppm pen from ebay for 15 bucks and will use that until I can get some good stuff. I've been thinking about this and am thinking of going with the individual pH and ppm meters from bluelab. I figure it will be 200 dollars, but I wont have some of the electrode issues that the dual pens have. I've really been trying to keep spending on the dl as I've blown quite a bit of money on this thus far but you guys have all convinced me that its needed and hopefully it will pay for itself with extra yield. At the prices bud are these days if I can get an extra quarter total from this grow, which means I don't have to buy it, im 3/4 of the way done lol.


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## happiehippie (Jan 19, 2009)

Tater said:
			
		

> If you are serious about your new hobbie save your pennies and by some real gear. Especially if you plan on doing hydro. Growing hydro without a good ph pen and ppm meter is the equivilant of sky diving without a parachute. Sure everything will start out great but when problems arise they will come at you fast and it will never end well. You need to understand PH scales, a movement of 0.1 is equal to the solution being 10 times more acidic or basic. (IIRC maybe I need to understand ph scales lol.) If you don't have an accurate ppm reading and ph reading don't expect much help when things go south besides comments like
> "buy a ph/ppm meter"
> 
> Hannah, bluelab, nutridip are three great brands. If you are going to buy a no name whatever from ebay thats fine, just research it first so you don't end up with a 50 dollar paper weight.


 
yes......try to buy the best you can...even if you have to save a minute to get it.       good luck.


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## glyph (Jan 20, 2009)

the sunleaves meter ($40) has worked great for me, tho i've heard others not being so stoked onnit. reall tho, the hanna "gro'check" combo meter (the black one, @200) is a geta meter, calibratable(?), accurate, sturdy...
measures temp, PH & PPM/EC. easy


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## NewbieG (Jan 20, 2009)

glyph said:
			
		

> the sunleaves meter ($40) has worked great for me, tho i've heard others not being so stoked onnit. reall tho, the hanna "gro'check" combo meter (the black one, @200) is a geta meter, calibratable(?), accurate, sturdy...
> measures temp, PH & PPM/EC. easy



This was actually the first pen i wanted to buy but heard that the different electrodes don't like being kept in the same solution and that it actually causes one to deteriorate. To avoid this I want to get 2 individual meters. The only company that seems to have accurate waterproof indiviual meters with a good reputation is bluelab. from what I've heard the other pens are kinda junk.


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