pH problems.. read lots of info, still need help!

[xm177e2]

Wow I feel your Situation,
First off Ph is sometimes difficult to deal with as your experiencing.
I also have the Milwakee ph-600 pen paid like 20-25 for it delivered off of e-bay and I like it. I also got a bottle of General Hydroponics 7.0 calibration solution and it also serves as a storage solution. The pen works really well but does need to occasional tweek(calibration) mabey once or twice a week. but once its dialed in its great. I also have the general hydroponics ph test kit. but i ditched that after seeing my nutrient solution when mixed resembles a tea like color and thats at 1/4 strength. But my point is a color test kit is useless because you need to check the nutrient solution after you add the nutrient's to the water and thats why ya need the ph meter. I never tried FF and dont know if you have the same color change as I do. but if you do for now try to calibrate the ph pen with your color ph test kit. get your water use the test kit for a reading and then use the pen in the same water and with the little blue screwdriver it came with dial it in to the color test kits reading. Mind you doing it this way is not as accurate but you will get your pen back in range and be able to fix your problem, do this till you can get some calibration solution and for the ph-600 milwakee says you need a 7.01 cal solution which i cant see why since it only reads to the tenth not the hundreth. Like I said earlier i got the GH 7.0 cal solution and i swear by it all.

I calibrated the Milwaukee pH pen every time before using it.. it was always all over the place and did not give consistent readings. My GH pH indicator dye works fine with my nutrient solution. I always check the water after adding the nutes and the color is yellow. My pen came with the 7.01 calibration solution and I was calibrating it every time prior to using it. I just dont trust it, it doesnt correspond with the colors on the liquid test, it is way off. Trying to calibrate it to the ambiguous colors of the test liquid would be a shot in the dark and is not worth it.

[420barista]

i dont trust the powdered calibration solutions because you mixing the powder with an unknown variable. I have seen distilled water vary in ph same brand even once was 7.5 and another was 6.8 and with that varience i cant see a powered solution being accurate. and mind you the pen's reading will fluctuate till the solution in the pen acclamates to the solution your testing. usually takes 30 secs to a min to settle. and for now till you can get some pre mixed 7.0 solution I would use your manual test kit to cal the pen and i dont know if you noticed but when calibrating sometimes after removing the screwdriver the numbers jump you need to tweek it lightly till the number stays where you want after removing the screwdriver.

[xm177e2]

i dont trust the powdered calibration solutions because you mixing the powder with an unknown variable. I have seen distilled water vary in ph same brand even once was 7.5 and another was 6.8 and with that varience i cant see a powered solution being accurate. and mind you the pen's reading will fluctuate till the solution in the pen acclamates to the solution your testing. usually takes 30 secs to a min to settle. and for now till you can get some pre mixed 7.0 solution I would use your manual test kit to cal the pen and i dont know if you noticed but when calibrating sometimes after removing the screwdriver the numbers jump you need to tweek it lightly till the number stays where you want after removing the screwdriver.

I did not use powder.. it was liquid 7.01 solution

[Rusty Trichome]

I calibrated the Milwaukee pH pen every time before using it.. it was always all over the place and did not give consistent readings. My GH pH indicator dye works fine with my nutrient solution. I always check the water after adding the nutes and the color is yellow. My pen came with the 7.01 calibration solution and I was calibrating it every time prior to using it. I just dont trust it, it doesnt correspond with the colors on the liquid test, it is way off. Trying to calibrate it to the ambiguous colors of the test liquid would be a shot in the dark and is not worth it.

You can test a clean cup of water with all the means at your disposal, (liquid test kit and ph pen) then, take the same cup of water to the local aquarium store and have them test it for ya. Will give you a very good idea which is correct. I suspect your ph pen's electrode is toast. Mine just took a dump yesterday, too.

[xm177e2]

You can test a clean cup of water with all the means at your disposal, (liquid test kit and ph pen) then, take the same cup of water to the local aquarium store and have them test it for ya. Will give you a very good idea which is correct. I suspect your ph pen's electrode is toast. Mine just took a dump yesterday, too.

i dont know why the elcetrode would be toast, its brand new. Okay, we have extablished that my pH pen is no goood. But I still wanna know, what kind of water should I give my plants.. my tap water is very hard and extremely chlorinated. Is there any kinda water I can buy at the supermarket to give my plants??

[Rusty Trichome]

Honestly...I'd at least try to use your properly ph'd tapwater. Just let it sit-out uncovered overnight, which dissipates the chlorine. I use pretty hard wellwater myself, (260 to 300 mg/L) and have no ill effects. Used it for my coral tanks, too, but admittedly used it half-n-half with R/O water. Worth the effort to at least find out the plants reaction to it. Could save shitloads of effort and money.

[xm177e2]

Honestly...I'd at least try to use your properly ph'd tapwater. Just let it sit-out uncovered overnight, which dissipates the chlorine. I use pretty hard wellwater myself, (260 to 300 mg/L) and have no ill effects. Used it for my coral tanks, too, but admittedly used it half-n-half with R/O water. Worth the effort to at least find out the plants reaction to it. Could save shitloads of effort and money.

i must say my tap water isnt even fit for human consumption. I have let it sit out for 2 days once (which raised the pH through the roof) and it still reeked of chlorine.. very chemical smelling. The plants dont seem to like it, and now the runoff color is coming out the same color as the water that goes in, the soil isnt buffering it at all. All of the plants are showing chlorosis and the lower leaves are yellowing then dying. I need to find a solution to my watering problems. I wish I could just give them straight distilled or R/O water, it would make things so much easier for me.

[ditdotter]

I think the logical thing for you to do is go to Ebay and purchase another ph pen, calibrate it, and use it. I would concetrate on the water going in first. After you solve those problems then you can start checking the run off. If you can not get the ingoing water properly ph'd you will never get the run off balanced to your liking. I hate to be the one to break this news to you but the bottled drinking water that you purchase at the store more than likely came from a tap just like the one you have in your home and will have a ph of around 7.0.

[xm177e2]

I think the logical thing for you to do is go to Ebay and purchase another ph pen, calibrate it, and use it. I would concetrate on the water going in first. After you solve those problems then you can start checking the run off. If you can not get the ingoing water properly ph'd you will never get the run off balanced to your liking. I hate to be the one to break this news to you but the bottled drinking water that you purchase at the store more than likely came from a tap just like the one you have in your home and will have a ph of around 7.0.

I know it will have a pH of 7.0 but isnt that what I should be using if my runoff is coming out at like 4.0? I dont feel comfortable adding pH down to my tap water to bring it to the correct level when my soil is so insanely acidic already, I'm afraid the pH down is just gonna make the problem worse. I know the stuff at the supermarket is tap water but it has been filtered, my home tap water is so chlorinated, bottled tap water has gotta be better.. Since my soil pH is so low, is it ok if I just water them with high pH water?

[ditdotter]

Let's try this at a different angle. I do not know how you are watering your plants volume wise. When I water I have a rule that seems to work for me and you may like to try it and see if it works for you also. I water by the size of the pot the plant is sitting in. A one gallon pot receives 1 pint of liquid every other day, a two gallon pot 2 pints every other day, and a 3 gallon pot 3 pints every other day, and so forth. Whenever I decide to flush I just double the amount of liquid going in. If the plants need any more than that they will tell you.
Now by doing this you are not going to have a lot of run off and you do not waste nutes by it running out on the floor...it stays in the pot where it belongs. If you are using so much water that you are having run off each time you water you are basicly flushing everytime you water. Maybe this is worth a try.