Way to calibrate PH meter without solution

Hey guys,

My last ph meter gave out on me (I was testing the PH level of my res when my arm got caught on one of my ladies and i dropped the ph meter in the water)... anyway I had to grab my old Milwake pH600 meter, but its not calibrated.

I don't have any solution on hand and non of the hydro shops near me have any.

Is there anyway to calibrate it using a regular household solution? I tried Milk of Magnesia, which has given me a rough PH level to set at, but is there anything else?

Thanks in advance!

- Farmer monkey

farmermonkey said:

Hey guys,

My last ph meter gave out on me (I was testing the PH level of my res when my arm got caught on one of my ladies and i dropped the ph meter in the water)... anyway I had to grab my old Milwake pH600 meter, but its not calibrated.

I don't have any solution on hand and non of the hydro shops near me have any.

Is there anyway to calibrate it using a regular household solution? I tried Milk of Magnesia, which has given me a rough PH level to set at, but is there anything else?

Thanks in advance!

- Farmer monkey

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I recently questioned a very qualified individual in a grow shop about creating a solution and using it. I was advised that there is no guarantee against ph fluctuation of the DIY solution. I decided to stick with a reputable product. If you can find a safe way to order, Ebay is a winner.

I have a PH600, also. I had read that they need to be calibrated before every use. When I use mine, it may need to be calibrated a couple of times within 5 minutes. I keep it stored in 7.0 buffer solution (to extend probe life), rinse with distilled water (to keep solution steady), and shake off excess before returning it to the solution. It's accurate but pretty laborious to use.

The calibration solution is potassium chloride in water, and to make such a solution correctly you would need analytical grade potassium chloride, a milligram balance, high purity water (18M Ohm) and volumetric flasks.

So, I would say that no, you can't make your own and expect it to have the PPM you think it does unless you have the equipment and chemicals listed above.

I would just buy the solution online. Good luck.


Edit: see clarification below.

I just got the same ph-600 meter today but didn't know that it didn't come with the calibration solution.
so just had to order it myself.

And i look around for some other solution to calibrate it but had no luck, so had to order it.
So i would say the same thing they did and order it.
It was like 13 dollars with shipping costs

ChemisTree said:

The calibration solution is potassium chloride in water, and to make such a solution correctly you would need analytical grade potassium chloride, a milligram balance, high purity water (18M Ohm) and volumetric flasks.

So, I would say that no, you can't make your own and expect it to have the PPM you think it does unless you have the equipment and chemicals listed above.

I would just buy the solution online. Good luck.

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good info!

i think he is more or less wondering if he can calibrate using something common that maintains a steady ph. i had once questioned whether you could take some water and ph it to 7.0 and 4.0 using ph down (acid), then use the water to calibrate. would it maintain an accurate ph through time?

i know... buy the buffer solution.

anyone have a suggestion for a good pH meter $50 or better?

Oh, woops. I was giving info on calibrating for PPM meters. Doh. Reading comprehension fail.

At any rate, calibrating a pH meter still requires a buffered pH solution, something that you can't make easily at home. The pH of every day objects varies enough that it would be useless to use them. Even things such as white vinegar, which is usually a standard 5%, will not be the same pH from batch to batch and it most certainly isn't buffered.

Sorry about the previous answer. Either way, pH and E.C. meters should be calibrated with professionally made solutions. It's just one of those things you really can't "Do It Yourself". Good luck and happy growing.

Thanks so much guys. I had already ordered a PH control solution, but it wont arrive until next friday, thats the reason i asked regarding a home made temporary PH level i could calibrate against.

The reason i chose milk of magnesia was because it has roughly a 10.4-10.8 PH level.

Right now my aero res all stabalize at 6.1-6.2 on the ph meter....except with the 0.4 ph difference in my calibration due to ph of milk of magnesia it could be too high or just perfect....i cant tell (although plants are happy as can be).

Anyway thanks for the replies guys, really appreciate it and if you have any ideas of things i can calibrate the PH meter too in the mean time, they are greatly appreciated.

- FarmerMonkey

You can calibrate just fine to distilled water which by definition is 7.0. But it does not make a good storage solution which is why you need 7.01 solution for both.

I have a digi ph meter omega brand, came with buffering solution and i use it every other time to calibrate, however after calibration i test my local store bought mineral water , mountain sourced with low sodium content and a ph of 6.2, so me being me decided to test a little theory, o ph'd a few solutions made with ph up and down, threw the meter out of calibration and then calibrated it using the store bought water, like i said its always a constant 6.20 from whichever supermarket i buy it, so i tried it with the store bought water and it was bang on, so now i use this way and the solution every couple of weeks,by .2 or so if its out by .2 or so I'm not too bothered, as im a dirtbag , but branching into hydro with a couple of clones . . . hope this helps, even tho im no expert and others are bound to dissagree with me . . . WoW

Shit why doesnt someone get the ph of coca-cola i know they have to make sure that shit has a standard ph. I only got diet mug root beer and monkshine beer if you can find one of those i can tell you the ph on my end

hell you could check dasani and aquafina. too.

I would be willing to go buy some session lager if we "NEED" to get the ph of that. it could be the rollitup official ghetto ph calibrating solution

http://stason.org/TULARC/science-engineering/chemistry/31-19-What-is-the-pH-of-Coca-cola.html

http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-en/trouble-shooting-beer-quality/1113-ph-draft-beer.html

but i am still willing to go ph some session lager.....

captain insaneo said:

http://stason.org/TULARC/science-engineering/chemistry/31-19-What-is-the-pH-of-Coca-cola.html

http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-en/trouble-shooting-beer-quality/1113-ph-draft-beer.html

but i am still willing to go ph some session lager.....

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You guys are awesome. I will grab some water from the grocery store today along with some coke and avg out the PH reading between the two.

Thanks a million guys!

What about pH up or pH down? Would these have a stable pH, or not vary that much? I have a pH meter that hasn't been calibrated in awhile and at my local growshop the cheapest stuff they have is $9.50 for a bottle of it.

Swale84 said:

What about pH up or pH down? Would these have a stable pH, or not vary that much? I have a pH meter that hasn't been calibrated in awhile and at my local growshop the cheapest stuff they have is $9.50 for a bottle of it.

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Necropost

Ok, what is the Ph of Ph up and Ph Down? I just got a meter today, again no solution. But, I have Ph up and down.

I know this thead is old, but just wow. "You can calibrate to distilled water"....... And all this time I thought we needed to use buffer solutions, but it turns out you can just use distilled water, something with 0 buffering capacity, and the ability to swing wildly just from the CO2 in the air! Speaking of experts..... A pH reading of distilled water is likely to not even be accurate, let alone 7.0pH

I think you're better off searching science blogs for making a buffer solution than here prodigalSun. The only guy who knew what he was talking about here ended up suggesting that nothing DIY would be precise enough. The question I'd ask him if i could go back to 2009 is... precise enough for what? lol I do have a milligram scale, and if you dilute something by half, you essentially make the calculation twice as precise.

ProdigalSun said:

Necropost

Ok, what is the Ph of Ph up and Ph Down? I just got a meter today, again no solution. But, I have Ph up and down.

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Ok, I'll just get some solution. I was hoping that something like fresh peroxide or wahtever might be constant and useable. DIY, Sorta like feeding your plants a bathing salt/laxative.

You can just use your favorite soda to calibrate if you have nothing else. They keep that shit pretty consistent so just google the manufacturers ph of the soda and then just dip your probe in the soda to calibrate. Dude at my hydro shop told me about it only done it a couple times with mountain dew, cant remember the ph but make sure to rinse and wipe your probe.