Help with checking pH

[AR15]

So I've never checked pH before and I'm a little confused on how this is to be done. I have one of the liquid testing kits with the little capsules and the container with the color chart.

So container has two lines. The first line, near the bottom, designates where you fill the soil up to, and the second line, way up at the top, designates where to fill the water to. It says to take your soil, filter out anything like rocks out of it, dry it out and mix it up good, and fill the container up to the soil line. Then it says to fill the rest up to the water line with preferably distilled water.

Ok. And this is where I'm confused. So let me get this straight, and please correct me where I'm wrong. The general idea is that I want to know the pH of my water, my soil, and the runoff water, right? If so, how would I do this?

It seems the directions my pH tester give are to finding the pH of the soil. So how would I find the pH of my water (I'll be using tap)?

Do you check the runoff just when you have plant problems, or is it something to be checked anyways? And if so, how would I check that.

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm really stuck on this. I didn't think it would be this confusing, but I'd like to get this cleared up before I try and germinate. It will be my first grow, so I'm still learning things. If pics are needed, just say and I'll attach some. Any help is appreciated. :jointsmile:

[Rusty Trichome]

Try a freshwater aquarium ph test kit. Will give you a good idea where your tap water stands. It's color-coded results won't help much with run-off ph, nor after adding your nutes.

[Twentyinches]

I think strips are a pain in the ass, I would just get a good pH meter, then you can adjust nutes, and test runoff :jointsmile:

[fiddyonefiddy]

sounds like its giving you a total for soil and water which would be run off, stinky says check at run off,water you plants and dip the tab into the run off. by what you are explaining , you can check it b4 watering with that kit if you wanted to and adjust accordingly to get the right run off ph.which actually sounds to me like the right way to do it .
i dont know how accurate the soil part would be.i just bought a ph pen. measure run off. adjust accordingly. done

speedy

[carinia]

Soil test kits, imo, are a friggin rip off. I mean, what youre really going to find out is what your soil ph is in conjunction with your tap water. Which really isnt your soil ph or your runoff ph.

You can pick up a ph meter at home depot for less than 20 bucks. Id recommend at least getting one of those. Also the aquarium test isnt a bad idea, at least then you can test your soil runoff/tap water and make some educated guesses on your soil ph. Like, if your runoff is an 8, then you know its to high.

Idk, thats what I would do. :)

[boiStone]

The $20 pH meter from Lowes works fine for me. You can mix ferts in a gallon of water, then add lime as necessary to bring the pH somewhere around the low 6s. Meter also has a fert gauge, which I think is useless. The catch is you have to strip the oxidation off the prongs if it's been sitting for a few days. It comes with a little scouring strip to do that, but it wears out pretty fast. Gotta see if I can find some more or maybe use something else to scour. :confused:

[daihashi]

The $20 pH meter from Lowes works fine for me. You can mix ferts in a gallon of water, then add lime as necessary to bring the pH somewhere around the low 6s. Meter also has a fert gauge, which I think is useless. The catch is you have to strip the oxidation off the prongs if it's been sitting for a few days. It comes with a little scouring strip to do that, but it wears out pretty fast. Gotta see if I can find some more or maybe use something else to scour. :confused:

I've never had any luck with these. Even when they're brand new. The meters just never move.

[AR15]

THanks for all the input. I think I'm gonna invest in one online. Probably this one. (http://store.eseasongear.com/ph600.html). It's been recommended by some experienced members here, so I'm gonna take their word for it.

Thanks again everyone.

[cwesto]

gunboy, get an oakton

[daihashi]

gunboy, get an oakton

:thumbsup: I have an oakton. Works great!

[fiddyonefiddy]

The $20 pH meter from Lowes works fine for me. You can mix ferts in a gallon of water, then add lime as necessary to bring the pH somewhere around the low 6s. Meter also has a fert gauge, which I think is useless. The catch is you have to strip the oxidation off the prongs if it's been sitting for a few days. It comes with a little scouring strip to do that, but it wears out pretty fast. Gotta see if I can find some more or maybe use something else to scour. :confused:

go get some white scotch brite pads from a autobody supply or any bodyshop will sell you one for a buck.or theyll probably give you some worn out ones for free.worn out for them is not worn out for you.will still work fine for what you are going to do with it.
i use oakton also i have the ph tester1

[stinkyattic]

Lime as a pH up? Lime is best used as a SOIL amendment, and use a proper pH up to fix a troublesome combination of your source water plus ferts. If you want to add calcium, use calmag. Soil pH range is 6.4-6.8 btw. Since most soils will tend to drift lower rather than higher, set your pH to 6.8 to water, unless you observe something else in your own setup.