I thought I'd try calibrating my ATC digital ph meter with the gh standard 4.01 solution and I tried to see what the ph was in the distilled water and it's reading 4.39 and I know that isn't right. I've been putting ph down during the week and after I tried calibrating it showed it was off by alot. It showed my ph was low after the calibration So I had been putting ph up and now I noticed some of the tips are burning. Guess my question would be did anyone try this solution and since I don't have anything else to re-calibrate with right now any advice to try to get the meter close to what it should be until I get another ph calibration solution. Or did I screw up and needed to do a two point calibration? Thanks for any help!
GH standard reference solution ph 4.01
- Thread starter sekonic
- Start date
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
pH meters don't work on pure water. Measuring the pH of pure water is meaningless either way.
It's very normal to measure pH that low in distilled water. Trust me, it means absolutely nothing. Distilled water's pH will drop that low just from the CO2 in the air dissolving into the water. This is simply because of it's zero buffering capacity.
pH becomes more meaningful and measurable the higher ppm is. Don't bother measuring the pH of your "pH'd water' either. That measurement is also somewhat meaningless. In fact, don't even bother pHing your water.
It's very normal to measure pH that low in distilled water. Trust me, it means absolutely nothing. Distilled water's pH will drop that low just from the CO2 in the air dissolving into the water. This is simply because of it's zero buffering capacity.
pH becomes more meaningful and measurable the higher ppm is. Don't bother measuring the pH of your "pH'd water' either. That measurement is also somewhat meaningless. In fact, don't even bother pHing your water.
Thanks for the reply churchhaze. I was just curious, cause the meter would always measure the ph in the distilled water around 7. something. I was thinking last night when i decided to use that solution thinking that I can calibrate it with that one solution. now my meter has to be completely out of wack. I guess I should try to use test strips until tuesday when my calibration order comes in. btw I don't ph water unless I refill the rez. I ph after I mix the nutes. I just tried to check to see if that measurement was somewhat accurate which I know is not. I just don't want to mess things up at this point in the game. I was planning on switching to flower this weekend. Guess I'll wait to make sure all is kosher before doing so. I wanted to change out the rez but paranoid right now. Thanks again!