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.